San Diego is a town of countless distractions. What makes the town so appealing, so addictive, to live in is also what can make it so hard to do work: the beach, the brilliant restaurants, the nightlife, the day life, the shows. What a writer needs in such an environment is an escape from the busyness, a sanctuary from the circus.
For Thoreau it was the wilderness; for Hemingway it was the cafes of Paris. It is a place where the writer can escape the distractions of the distraction filled world around them and actually produce work.
But how important is a writer’s sanctuary to producing quality work?
A ‘writer’s sanctuary’ is the ideal atmosphere dedicated solely to the crafting of one’s art. The idea is all about finding what motivates you, whether it is the activity of a crowded cafe or solitude, and surrounding yourself with it. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for your mind to produce the goods.
In an August 2010 Time article Lev Grossman recounts bestselling author Jonathan Franzen’s extreme take on this idea of a personal solitary work space.
In the article, Franzen rents a room specifically for the purpose of writing. It is undecorated with nothing except for a desk, a chair, and a small laptop – its wireless internet card removed and its Ethernet input super-glued closed. He forces himself to work. On a strict writing schedule, Franzen enters his writer’s den nearly daily for a scheduled number of hours. The result is hours of work, or hours of extreme boredom. Either way, time is donated to literary thought.
Designated writing locations also help establish a routine that aids the mental focusing process. An eHomework article “Importance of a Good Study Area” highlights a specified study local as a top way to help build a child’s study habits. Just as walking into a high school gymnasium raises the heart-rate and harkens memories of dodge ball and badminton, consistently writing in the same location builds a regularity of thought processes in which the mind thrives.
Modern technological breakthroughs in addicting online entertainment allied with the exiting pleasures of an always-something-happening city such as San Diego can be a recipe for idleness. The haven is the answer. A writer’s job is to find that haven; someplace such as Balboa Park, or the local coffee shop, or possibly even a windowless dungeon downtown.
A lesson or two can be learned from Franzen’s eccentric computer enhancements, or maybe a more frequent use of the ‘Wireless Disabling‘ function. Perhaps, it’s then possible for a writer to be focused in a zero-attention span world.
C.B. James Writing 