Today may prove to be a record-breaking heat day for this area. I’ve closed all the windows to keep in the early morning coolness, but haven’t yet turned on the air. It just seems too early in the year to do so. Besides, I find a bit of perspiration and being uncomfortable helpful to me as a writer.
Once, I was writing a chapter about kids traveling through a desert. The more I typed, the hotter and more thirsty I became. There I was, typing on the computer, while sweat dripped off of me. I kept thinking, “Wow! I must be one terrific writer to imagine things so vividly that I’m physically getting hotter and hotter.” I’d been typing for a few hours, closed up in the den, when I finally got up to take a break and get a drink of water. It was only then that I realized it was 100 degrees outside, and I hadn’t turned on the air conditioner.
Did I turn on the air conditioner at that moment, you ask? No, I did not. I finished the chapter first, taking note of all my hotness and putting it into words.
love this post – makes perfect sense. Being that hot and thirsty, you’d definitely be able to relate to your characters’ situation
I get it…although, I have my AC on, and I’m enjoying my writing while in it. I think I relate my best writing to winter, and our house is always cool in the winter because we keep our thermostat down. Now, the thermostat is much higher than during the winter, but it stills feel like winter writing inside. (smile) Just another way to think of sensing the ambience and putting it into words.