UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

Hi All!

I would like to introduce myself Ahmad Ardalan. Other than my previous introduction on this beautiful forum, this is my 1st engagement.

I would like to break some barriers with some questions (Trivia) to all Our beloved authors, of what they prefer while writing?

1) Tea or Coffee.
2) Silent background or Music playing.
3) Rainy or Sunny day.
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.


Thank you all!

Ahmad

1) Tea, but I usually end up with coffee as it's quicker to make
2)Musics!
3)Not really bothered
4)Indoors
5)Fresh air
6)Digital, my hand hurts after a few sentences with a pen.

1) Tea or Coffee: Tea
2) Silent background or Music playing: Both, depending on where I am.
3) Rainy or Sunny day: It's always raining nowadays so there's no choice.
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating: See above answer.
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air: Fresh air.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing: Digital.

1) Tea or Coffee. Coffee most of the time.
2) Silent background or Music playing. Depends on my mood.
3) Rainy or Sunny day. Rainy. If it's sunny I'd want to be outside going for a walk.
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. Indoors
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. Fresh air.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. Digital.

1) Tea or Coffee. Coffee. I drink two cups of tea a day, one at breakfast and one at tea time, otherwise it's coffee. Usually decaf cos I drink so much of it.
2) Silent background or Music playing. Don't really mind. But I'm easily distracted.

Oh sorry, what?

3) Rainy or Sunny day. Don't care
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. Indoors. Can't read the screen so easily outside.
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. Fresh air. I'm an ex-smoker bore.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. Laptop all the way.

For most of these my answer is "it depends."

1) Tea or Coffee.

If I'm at home I always drink tea, but if I'm out (I love writing in the cafe) I almost always have a latte. I might occasionally break ranks and order a chai, but not too often.

2) Silent background or Music playing.

silence or basic white noise. That's part of what I like about the cafe. It's full of chatter, but not usually enough to grab my attention.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.

Rainy

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.

If I'm early in the writing stage I use a pencil and writing outside is a treat. If I'm latter on in the process and working on the computer I need to be indoors.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.

Freshair, nonsmoker here

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.

See above, I always start in pencil (and it's a pencil not a pen) and then move to the computer once I have a good bit of the plot, character profiles, etc sketched out.

Hey, that was kinda fun. Thanks for the opportunity to play along.

1) Tea or Coffee. Espresso. (Coffee snob here!)
2) Silent background or Music playing. Silence
3) Rainy or Sunny day. Er...
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. What is this 'outdoors' place of which you speak? It sounds scary!
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. Fresh air.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. I wrote my first draft of my first book in pen, but since then I've always typed.

Nice idea!

1) Tea or Coffee. Black coffee. Hot.
2) Silent background or Music playing. Silence works best for me, but I'll play music through earphones if it's a noisy background (next door's gardener seems to have a sixth sense for when I'm writing - I usually manage half a paragraph before the chainsaw or lawnmower fires up).
3) Rainy or Sunny day. As REM once sang, I'll take the rain. I'll take the rain. I'll take the rain. If it's sunny I only end up feeling bad about not being outdoors being active and things. Also the cat stays in and keeps me company when it's raining.
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. My favourite thing is writing in pubs, and even the cover of my book features a pint of beer in a pub garden, so I have to say outdoor seating.
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. Fresh air. I dabbled in smoking as a student in Bordeaux, but I was an obvious amateur. With a history of bronchitus. Hookas smell good though.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. Write longhand and type it up later, that's how I roll. I have a foolish dream where my handwritten notebooks are donated to the British Library in 50 years time. A dream somewhat punctured by the fact that my girlfriend keeps scribbling (often quite explicit) messages in the margins. Oh, and my habit of writing 'UTTER BALLS' next to rejected paragraphs so I don't bother typing them up later.

Utter Balls... sounds like a good title for a book, or at least a blog... :)

Great idea - we ought to do more of these - I'm always interested to know how other people write...

1) Tea or Coffee. Tea - I drink too much so sometimes go 'cold turkey' and drink water, but with the sort of summer we're having a hot drink is much more appealing!
2) Silent background or Music playing. absolute silence if possible, but I have a ten year old daughter - need I say more?
3) Rainy or Sunny day. Depends on what I'm writing - much easier to write about dark brooding skies when there's a storm brewing outside...(Do we get a choice? Haven't sunny days been phased out as part of reducing this country's budget deficit?)
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. Either, as long as there aren't any distractions (see 2) above)
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. Fresh air
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. Digital (I get terrible writer's cramp to the point where I can't read my own writing)

Tim A wrote: "Utter Balls... sounds like a good title for a book, or at least a blog... :)"

I'm already Drunk Writer on my writing blog, I probably need to tone down the wacky at some point :)

I'm already Drunk Writer on my writing blog, I probably need to tone down the wacky at some point :)"

NO!

Thanks, you're probably right. Though given that my most recent blog post was entitled "Why I hate self-publishing" I may need a new blog very soon in any case!

At least it wasn't 'why I hate blogs...' ;)

It could have been - I still prefer my Livejournal ;)

Cudos, Ahmad, for giving me the perfect distraction at the start of my day ...

Coffee, strong and lightly colored, followed by tea, stronger, with a green tinge

Must be quiet so I can hear all the arguing going on in my head between my characters ...

Rainy days (like today) are best - cleanses the palette, so to speak, and brings out the most spectacular colors in the grass and flowers

If weather is OK - I'm still imprisoned by habit and work indoors at my desk, with a large window beside me offering the promise of .... there I go again. On the other hand, if I happen to be on a Caribbean island overlooking the sea from a villa perched above a floury beach, I'm going to be lounging outside with a tall glass of Grey Goose, typing away like crazy!

Fresh Air - keeps the brain cells pumped and the eyes clear

Digital typing if I'm at that afore-mentioned desk or tropical retreat. However, notebook and pen are always in hand for those inevitable inspirational moments that strike while I'm pumping gas or standing in line for stamps.

1) Tea or Coffee. BLACK COFFEE, NO SUGAR

2) Silent background or Music playing. MUSIC
3) Rainy or Sunny day. RAINY DAY
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating. INDOORS
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air. FRESH AIR
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing. TYPING

and whisky...

I would like to thank everyone for their answers.

As for the rest keep them coming!

1) Tea or Coffee - Tea
2) Silent background or Music playing - Silence preferred
3) Rainy or Sunny day - Rainy - hate missing out on sunshine
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating - Indoors but only because I can't read the screen outside - e-ink laptop would be amazing!
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air - Fresh air
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing - Typing

1) Coffee.
2) Either is fine but I prefer it when life is going on around me.
3) Rainy.
4) Depends on the weather, I like both.
5) Fresh air every time!!!
6) A biro and a pad.

1) Tea or Coffee.
Coffee.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Silence

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
As long as it stops raining when I want to go out then either.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
I love writing outdoors but it has to be slightly overcast because of the glare on the laptop.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
Whichever's closest. Not usually fresh air though.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.
For plotting then I use paper, when I come to writing properly, I type.

1) Tea or Coffee.
Neither, I can't stand them. Water or squash.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Depends what time of day I am writing. Mostly silence.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Much sooner have rain, I am photophobic. Bright light hurts.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
Indoors, same reason.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
Fresh air. Why ruin your lungs?

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.
Both. Keyboard if I am on the PC, pen and paper for everywhere else and I always carry both.

1) Tea or Coffee.
For writing, it's always tea.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Silence usually, though my internal radio sometimes ensures that my writing is influenced by music.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Rainy - then I don't feel bad about being indoors.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
Definitely indoors.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
Fresh air. I'm allergic to tobacco smoke.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.
I always write by typing, the action of touch-typing is now an integral part of what I do, and I swear I sometimes use muscle memory to write things in my head. But if I'm thinking, plotting or playing with characters I might have a scribble.

1) Tea or Coffee.
Tea (green is preferred), but I can drink coffee also.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Silent for writing. Music for driving.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Rainy during winter. Sunny the rest of the time (although it can't be too hot - I hate that).

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
Outdoors.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
Fresh air all the way.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.
Digital typing, otherwise a pen.

1)Coffee, definitely. Two cups of half caf/half decaf--organic, fair trade with a splash of non-fat milk.

2)Silence and solitude when writing.

3)Since I live in New England, snow works best for me.

4)Indoors. Too many distractions outdoors.

5)Ha! A piece of dark chocolate.

6)Laptop. I have no idea how people can get the words down fast enough using pen and paper.

Harriet wrote: "1)Coffee, definitely. Two cups of half caf/half decaf--organic, fair trade with a splash of non-fat milk.

2)Silence and solitude when writing.

3)Since I live in New England, snow works best for m..."

I use pen n paper, real ink. But I'm mostly at the poetic end of the spectrum and speed is usually not the key factor. I like to have inky fingers. It feels right, sensuous even. There is nothing more exciting than loading a new cartridge into the Mont Blanc and wondering, 'What beauty might be in the blue there? If I am lucky, vereeeeeee lucky.'

1) Hardcore black coffee (Diet Coke, energy drinks ...)
2) Silence is golden
3) I don't notice
4) Indoors (else I can't see my laptop screen)
5) Fresh air
6) Laptop

Here you go:

1. Tea
2. Not dead silence, but normal room noise, and a few birds chirping outside can be nice
3. Slight preference for rain
4. Indoors
5. Fresh air
6. Digital typing

How fun! Okay, here goes:

1) Tea or Coffee

Tea for me, BUT only if hubby (a brit) makes it. Here in the states, people don't do tea proper. Hubby knows how and showed me how nice it can be!

2) Silent background or Music playing.

Must have music otherwise my focus goes out the window. :)

3) Rainy or Sunny day.

LOVE rainy days. Where we live current (TEXAS) it is always sunny. Hate it. LOL

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.

Outdoors, feeling the breeze brush against my skin. I love the feel of the outdoors.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.

Fresh air all the way.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.

I prefer my comp/iPad when writing, unless I don't have access and then I will long hand if I have an idea come about.

1) Tea or Coffee? Definitely Earl Grey but after five o' clock a nice glass of chardonnay does the trick. (Fortunately, it is always five o'clock SOMEWHERE in the world....)
2) Silent background or Music playing - Classic FM radio.
3) Rainy or Sunny day. I prefer it to rain when I need to write. Otherwise I'm itching to get outside onto the beach.
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating - Mmm. It is definitely more comfortable writing at my desk indoors. Outdoors is a lovely romantic ideal, but when you've got a bit of back problem, comfort always wins!
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air - I'm afraid to admit I smoke cigarettes.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing - Everything is word processed these days ... (I think. :)

*bums a fag offa Karen*

Cool. Let's be social outcasts together. :)

Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "*bums a fag offa Karen*

Cool. Let's be social outcasts together. :)"
I sort of gave up about a week ago. Struggling to write anything which makes sense now.

Keep at it Mark. You can do it lad!

1) Tea without a doubt!
2) Music is a must - something atmospheric and in keeping with what I am writing though
3)Rain - Just something that I have always loved, even being out in it doesn't bother me. Got to a point living in Manchester I have to suck it up and get on with it!
4)Always indoors, that way I have all my creature comforts
5) Digital - my hand writing gets to a point where even I can't read it so typing is by far the better option.

1) Tea most of the time but I like the occasional Coffee.
2) I don't mind either, usually it is my wife playing music while I work. There are some types of repetitive music which provoke me to complain.
3) Sunny day.
4) Outdoors seating.
5) Electronic cigarettes. I smoked until February when I had a heart attack.
6) Digital typing.

1) Tea or Coffee.
Coffee.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Has to be music, at the very least it cancels out the background noise and lets me get on with the writing

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Doesn’t matter

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
Indoors, there’s always too much to do outside

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
Fresh air, I’ve never smoked. I like to think I have other, more interesting vices


6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing
I like to sit at a desk top PC and write. Then I can stand up, walk away, and do something else and it doesn’t follow me round ;-)

Water, because I'm a renegade!

Silence is pretty hard , especially in the summer time with lawnmowers everywhere.

1) Tea or Coffee.
Coffee.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Silence (or birds/animals in the distance) - my neighbour is a power tool fanatic, always blasting his driveway with a pressure hose, mowing his grass obsessively with a petrol mower/strimmer, trimming his hedge for hours on end (again its a petrol trimmer)- very distracting.
3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Really don't mind as long as its ot really hot.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
As I like to type without notes, it has to be indoors. But outdoors is good for proof-reading, etc.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
If i'm stressed, a smoke.


6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing
Type straight into the machine - less work ultimately.

I like this!

1) Tea or Coffee.

Anything caffeinated, up to and including hot chocolate. Kept well away from my computer - a MacBook Air, so notoriously susceptible to liquids.

2) Silent background or Music playing.
Noise, aka music, background conversation, TV, radio... Anything but silence. I'm deaf; I can get total silence with a flick of my hearing aid switch, and four years in boarding school accustomed me to working in a...loud...environment.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.
Either.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.
*shudders* Writing outside?! What a horrid thought. Inside all the way.... (According to my friends, I have some vampire tendencies).

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.
None of the above.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.
I sometimes scribble by hand if inspiration is lacking, but almost everything is digital. Since I got my ipad I often do the digital equivalent of scribbling on it - the Index Card app is great for that.

Great answers. Keep them coming!

1) Tea or Coffee.

Coffee!

2) Silent background or Music playing.

Silence or very low volume classical.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.

Either, but as I'm from Manchester, I am more accustomed to the former.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.

Indoors. It's only a matter of time before the buzz of a lawnmower, glare on your computer screen, or a wasp's obsession with you make you to want to scream and dive back inside. Oh, and I burn ever so easily...

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.

Fresh air, please. Asthma attacks don't mix well with creative writing.

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.

Typing. I get lazy when writing. My abbreviations and scrawl are impossible for even me to decipher afterwards.

1) Tea or Coffee: Coffee and lot of it.

2) Silent background or Music playing: I usually have some old movie playing while I'm writing.

3) Rainy or Sunny day: I'm an indoors cat, so the weather doesn't matter.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating: The outdoors is just that thing I need to walk through to get to my truck.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air: Smoking shortens one's life. I have no use for it, and I encourage other writers to not smoke, so they can live to see their books become bestsellers. :-)

6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing: Both! Sometimes I'll write in longhand if I'm tired of looking at computer screens.

1) Tea or Coffee.

Tea! I can't stand coffee, love the smell though. Maybe I could just sniff the cup....

2) Silent background or Music playing.

Always music. I get some much inspiration from music.

3) Rainy or Sunny day.

We only ever have rainy, sunny days in the UK. So that would be a typical day for me.

4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or Indoors seating.

Indoors, the risk of the rain blowing up my beloved laptop is too much to think about.

5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air.

Normal air in my study is fine.


6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing.

Pen when I'm planning scribbled notes and things but its all digital when the inspiration comes :-)

1) Tea if at home, coffee if in a cafe.
2)Always music. There's few things I don't do with music on anyway.
3)Doesn't make a difference.
4)Indoors. There's no plug outdoors.
5)Fresh air. I never smoked and absolutely hate all of those.
6)Digital typing.

1) Depends where I am.
2) Silent background or general hum.
3) Sunny, unless it's a thunder storm.
4) Outdoor seating.
5) Fresh Air.
6) Digital typing.

Welcome!

1) Tea or Coffee: Neither -- I take my caffeine cold (Coke/Pepsi).
2) Silent background or music playing: Silent or instrumental music only. If there's singing, I can't concentrate.
3) Rainy or sunny day: Sunny (not much choice in Southern California).
4) (If the weather was ok)- Outdoors or indoors seating: Outdoors if the temperature is right.
5) Cigarettes, Pipe, Hooka or just some Fresh Air: Fresh air.
6) Pen/pencil writing or Digital typing: Typing. I'm at a point where even I can't read my own handwriting.

Hi folks :D

1) It HAS to be tea...I'm addicted.
2) Normally have a soundtrack on in the background.
3) Rainy day; love the rain.
4) Indoors
5) Just fresh air..well...unless the cat's pooped on the floor.
6) Gotta be my .doc file ;D

Love this thread. But the best bits are in the general chat threads.

Signed....

A Reader
;)

1) coffee first thing in the morning
2) Silent--I find anything a distraction, even music
3) I can write in any weather
4) I usually get inspiration outside, but do my writing inside.
5) fresh air
6) I do a little drafting with a pen but since I can't read my own writing most of my work is done on computer. I would do my best writing in a monk's cell.

Great idea :0)

1) Definitely coffee - tea is for a hot summer day in the garden
2) iPod on - Kate Bush, Lana Del Rey or Pendulum for scary scenes.
3) Come rain or shine - makes no difference
4) Outdoors - but it's a pig trying to see the words on my screen.
5) Just some fresh air thanks.
6) Digital typing - I can type as fast as I can think, plus I just can't get the words out when using a pen.