In Note 168 – Writing the old fashioned way with pen and paper I mentioned that I would try writing in bed whilst having a lay in. This morning, after first listening to a meditation track for an hour, I got out my notepad and pen. My thoughts were flowing with so many ideas that I couldn’t write them up quick enough. The lovely thing about it was that my girls joined me and started writing too. It felt great helping them learn new words and spending time writing together.
What I also learnt was that I was relaxed, whereas I am usually tense sitting at my computer. Also, if you write immediately after waking, as explained in Note 132: warming up before the real writing, you can tap into your subconscious thoughts which can be very interesting. This can be known as ‘flow writing’ or ‘stream-of-consciousness’ writing.
Who else writes in bed?
If you’ve read my blogs before, you will know that I usually go hunting around the internet to see who else has the same thoughts as me. It always makes me a smile when I go to Google and see blogs and articles with almost the same title as mine (wouldn’t it be nice to be the first to think of something!). Anyway, this time I typed in ‘Writing in bed’ and it brought back 249 million results!
The Guardian online has a blog by Robert McCrum called The advantages of writing in bed and explains that writers like George Orwell, Marcel Proust, Edith Wharton and Winston Churchill liked writing in bed. He writes “could it have been because writing in bed can help access the unconscious?”. Robert McCrum once spoke to George Orwell’s doctor and learnt that Orwell used to prop up his typewriter on his bed in his dying days.
The next interesting piece I found was written by a fellow WordPress blogger Christine Mareebell who is also a writer of many books for children and young adults. It looks like she had the same idea as me back in July, as she also googled ‘Writing in Bed’ and wrote a great blog as a result. It was very inspired by how she manages to achieve so much in the mornings before she has even got out of bed.
Lastly, there’s Dawn Allcot (website www.craftingfiction.com) who is a full-time freelance writer and editor. She wrote an article called Writing in Bed and Other Strange Habits of Freelancers. It begins with the disadvantages of writing in bed saying that “Fen Shui consultants, sleep experts and probably many psychologists advise against working in the same place you sleep”. She goes on to say that she too finds that there are benefits of writing in bed – the line I love the best in her article is:
“Like the cozy exclusivity of the bedroom, itself, which shuts out the rest of the world, writing in bed makes me forget about everything except what I’m doing at that moment”.
My thoughts: There are some really successful people out there that write/have written in the comfort of their own bed…..I will definitely be doing more of it!
This blog post forms part of my writing challenge. Don’t forget that you can subscribe to receive my daily blogs by email so that you don’t miss any. Just click ‘sign me up’ on the home page. Alternatively you can follow my blogs on Twitter or my ‘Tips and Luxuries‘ Facebook page. Requests for future blogs (punctuation/grammar/writing tips) are always welcome.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
Freelance writer
Please visit www.sandramadeira.com for more information on my services as a freelance writer.
My other blogs:
Sandra’s blog
My OpenLeaf Journey
My Tips and Luxuries website
(includes the introduction to my upcoming book ‘A Gift for Stressed and Busy Parents’)
Twitter: @madeirasandra @tipsandluxuries @OpenLeafJourney
Reference list:
The Guardian
Christine Mareebell
Dawn Allcot – Crafting Fiction
My Writing Notebook 
Hi Sandra,
I write not so much from bed but away from the computer at times for sure.
I find the computer most of the time more convenient, since it does a much neater job than my handwriting.
But a pad and pencil does relax me and encourages me to be more adventuresome and creative.
Nice thoughtful post.
Posted by Bill Polm | October 23, 2011, 10:50 pmThanks for your comments Bill. I write on the train a lot as well – will possibly blog about that one day.
Posted by Sandra Madeira | October 25, 2011, 10:05 pmAll my best writing comes from my bed. There are two things I love so much, being near my garden and being warm. Being in bed gives me both. Bed is warm as we are still in spring and the nights can be a bit chilly. My bedroom overlooks my garden and so during the day I sit and type, and at night I cosy up and type. I find that I also write best when I meditate first. This past weekend I jumped straight into the writing process and found I spent the entire weekend trying to edit what I wrote, and still was not happy with the finished product. Something about meditation calms the mind and allows the writing to flow so much easier than if we just stop what we are doing, sit down and begin to type.
Although listening to other people’s meditations are great, I recommend writing your own, and recording them for you to listen to, because you can get them to focus on exactly what you need and for how long, rather than going where someone else takes you. Both do have their advantages, and it gets you to think differently as you try to write something completely different from what you normally write.
I used to listen to other people’s meditations before I started writing my own. Now I have skipped the writing process and jump straight to the recording. Just the act of recording a meditation without writing it first not only gets my creative juices flowing, but I also fall half into meditation as I go through the process, visualize what I’m describing and come out feeling great. I think the hardest part for me was getting used to listening to the sound of my own voice.
Posted by Yolanda | October 24, 2011, 1:36 amHi Yolanda
That’s great that you record your own affirmations and without writing them down – well done. I have my own voice recorded on mine too – but I do this using Holosync technology (the company allow you to record your affirmations within the peaceful soundtracks they provide). Thank you so much for your comments.
Sandra
Posted by Sandra Madeira | October 25, 2011, 10:03 pmHi, Sandra, Glad you stumbled across Crafting Fiction and thanks for quoting my piece! I haven’t written in bed in quite a while, your post reminded me of why I used to love it! Much success to you! 🙂
Posted by Dawn | October 24, 2011, 3:56 amThank you Dawn.
Posted by Sandra Madeira | October 25, 2011, 9:47 pm