Writing Challenge – Update at End of Week 1

So, where have I written this week?  As well as writing at home, I have used my laptop to write with my writing group in a local café and on train journeys, and I have failed to type on a bus journey (the laptop kept sliding around and risked falling off my lap).  I have fleshed out a character while waiting for a physiotherapy appointment, and I even had half an hour with my laptop while my husband was avidly exploring the motor museum at Bentley Estate, before we went to see the wildfowl together.

Have I written more than I otherwise would have?  Well, yes, I have.  A ten-minute wait for an appointment would not normally have cued anything other than a sudoku or similar puzzle, and I usually read on trains.  I even got out a pad and pen on the bus, when I realised I wasn’t going to be able to type, and sketched out some dialogue!

Not only have I written in places where I would usually do something else, I have also written more at home.  Each time I have to stop mid-flow (because my journey has ended, or the person I’m waiting for has arrived), I’m eager to get back to the passage as soon as I possibly can.  And needing to plan what how and where I’m going to write each day has helped to make this a higher priority for me.

So far, this writing challenge has therefore been a very positive experience.  The only downside, as far as I can see, is my aching arms and shoulders!  Having learned to type in the era of heavy manual typewriters, and sleek (but still heavy) IBM golfball machines, I thought my laptop was light and easily portable.  But carrying it for half an hour or so from a bus stop or train station to my destination, or around Bentley Estate, have shown me just how heavy it is!  A couple of colleagues from my writing group are sagely pointing out the advantages of a Notebook (not the sort you use with a pen or pencil); I admit I’m thinking about it!

I shall post another summary next week, and I also post each day on Twitter.