I’ve talked about some of the tools I use to write before; dictionaries, Janet Evanovich’s How I Write, the Howdunit Series, but there’s one tool I use I didn’t mention before, that I know most folks are gonna say “Wha…?” When I really need to concentrate & write, I put in my DVD player a Yule Log DVD. You all know what I’m talking about, usually brought out during the holiday season, these DVDs originally started on television stations with a film loop of a yule log burning in a fireplace, with a traditional soundtrack of classic Christmas music playing in the background. Over the past decade (or longer) various cable stations have played their own versions, and On-Demand have all sorts of Yule Logs. This has expanded during October and November, the Food Network On-Demand airs a Halloween Haunted Mansion, great for parties & airs the prep and cooking of a perfect roast turkey. Fun to watch for awhile I admit.
Now I admit this is a personal thing for me totally, I’ve always wanted and loved the idea of having a fireplace. I once saw a fireplace, with a hearth, cut from a piece of granite, large enough for three or four people to sit on. There’s a lot to be said for a real fireplace and I think it’s fitting for an author to own or have access to one, but that’s just me. It’s relaxing, calming, meditative, and helps put my mind in the right place when I need to work.
That all said I’ve picked up a few Yule Log DVDs and I know it may sound funny to have more than one, but different DVD’s means different options. Now with all of them I can turn the Christmas Music on or off, with one I switch genres/instruments, and if you pay close enough attention, you’ll figure out which ones are wood burning or gas.
Generally, I just put one in, select crackling fire, press play, get my mind ‘right’, then write. Now being in Buffalo, New York I admit three quarters of the year there’s no problem with this, but during the summer when it can reach the 80s or higher and the humidity levels start rising to those ‘HOLY SHIT’ levels, the DVDs don’t really help me out.
Like I said before this is a personal choice for me, because I’m a log cabin, fireplace kinda guy, but if you’re not there are other options. If you hunt around you can find similar DVDs with natural aquariums/ reefs with fish, snowy forests, oceans, beaches, waterfalls, tropical gardens, natural scenery, and lava lamps effects.
My point is this; not all authors have access to a private office, where they can work in seclusion. Stephen King, when writing Carrie, was teaching, married and had his kids, all living in a single-wide trailer, were he wrote, sitting next to the hot-water tank, with the typewriter on piece of plank wood on his lap, and I cant imagine writing like that. We who write all know we must get our ‘minds right’, if we want to write every day, and be productive writers. Real life happens and it can be a bitch; family, illness, jobs, bills, stress coming from ten different directions at the same time. It gets to all of us and we need to escape and clear our minds. In a way for me at least, it’s like cooking. I enjoy cooking and I see it like writing. For me it’s exposing a part of myself to the world, inviting them to come in and get a small view of what’s in my head. Sometimes it’s crap, sometimes I nail it, but whatever it is, on the page or the plate, I’m letting people in. Both activities require me to clear my mind and almost reach a meditative state like I mentioned before.
So, if youre a ten time best seller or new to the game, this is something you might want to invest in to help yourself
Till next time,
CGE
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