Where do you get your ideas?

Everyone who writes must hear this question from time to time. I know, I do.

It’s a hard one to answer. When I tell the truth — I get ideas everywhere— the person seems dissatisfied with its vagueness. But I can’t do better. I go through my life, and ideas just come. Or I should say, they usually do. They don’t always appear as often as I would like.

It would be much easier to explain where the ideas move from my head to my fingertips to my keyboard to my computer and finally, after much revision, onto my blog. The place that almost always happens is here in what I call my writing space.

This is the second bedroom of my Abbey, a large space that also serves as my guest room. (Note the sofa bed on the left.) I love being near the windows, where it’s sunny most of the day. At first, I was worried that the outside world would distract me, but that really hasn’t been a problem.

I do glance outside occasionally. I might see Sylvia working in our garden or neighbors walking their dogs or the walking group going by. But those are momentary distractions, not problems. They don’t interrupt my train of thought.

Often I have the “help” of one of my cats. Here is Shadow keeping me company. It does look like I’m on Facebook, though, rather than writing.

Angie’s favorite place is between me and my monitor. That, I have to admit, makes it hard to work.

With WiFi and laptops, it’s possible to work almost anywhere. Still, nearly all of my serious writing is done in this space.

But Friday, this retired teacher is going on a field trip. I’m looking forward to attending a WordPress conference on blogging in Phoenix.

I can’t wait to meet the other bloggers, some quite successful and experienced. I know I’ll learn a lot from the speakers and come home with new ideas, techniques, and inspiration. Perhaps best of all… I’ll be a student, not the teacher.