Writing equipment

Journals started off as a private record, think of Samuel Pepys, one of the earliest known journals written in code so other people could not read it. With the establishment of mass communications came the opportunity to share journals e.g. newspaper social diaries, television, video diaries. However it is only with the internet that there is an opportunity to share writing in real time.

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Picture taken by vanhookc

It is so easy to share your writing using the web, with blogging sites e.g. WordPress, Blogger, article sites e.g. Ezine, Squidoo and fiction sites e.g. FanFiction, Fictionpress. In 2005, it was said a new blog was created every second, so people obviously like this method of sharing their writing. But can you write the same online, knowing it will be public as you can in a personal notebook or computer?

I’m sure some people can, but I can’t.

My online writing

My first blog was on Livejournal and I never worked out why I should write there as well as in a journal so it became a strange collection of updates and notifications from other sites. This may explain why I didn’t keep it for much longer than a year. I started a blog on productivity and goals in 2007 and most of the posts are on topics that I would not think about including in my journal. Last summer I kept a log of our summer holiday so my family could read how my 1.5 year old daughter found her first sailing trip, but kept a journal at the same time.

So I’ve had several years when I’ve kept a blog and a journal on similar topics, what does it tell me?

Comparison of online and personal writing

I’ve collected extracts from my blogs and journals which were written on the same day and the same topic.  ... Read more 1312 words, 1 image

Do you have a place where you’d like to write? Do you have a favourite place to write? How do they match to where you usually write?

My fantasy is writing in the middle of things going on around me; I’m so desperate to write I’ve just had to stop and get my pen out. When I see this in my head I’m sat on the stairs at school (I think this maybe an image from the film Heathers). My second fantasy location is sat curled up on a wide window sill, looking out on to a wonderful view when I’m thinking.

What I find interesting is both of these fantasies involve physical books when I actually do most of my writing direct on to my laptop; in fact I’m writing this on my new smart phone. The main writing I do in a book is my journal and the location for that is usually bed. I’ve tried previously to change when I write my journal; morning pages, when I get in from work or whenever the mood takes me (like my fantasy) but they don’t hold so just before sleep is best for me.

The first week of our summer holiday will be on a yacht sailing along the south coast of England. I’m hoping it will give me the opportunity to do lots of writing while sat on deck and looking at the view, combining both my fantasies.

Do you write in your fantasy location? Do you think it would make a difference to your writing if you did?