Where To Get Unstuck
October 25, 2012, Washington, DC: This chair by the window seems like a good place to get unstuck. There's no tv back here by the kitchen and it's mostly quiet apart from the low hums of city traffic and the washing machine. Soft lamplight and a softer sunset highlight the chair by the window that overlooks the red brick wall across the alley. I have nowhere to be this evening. Nothing is urgent and the air is warm. From this lovely textured chair, I should be able to write. And yet I sit here for an hour surfing the web before I finally turn to my blog and begin. Even from the best seat in the house, the act of writing does not come easy.
For weeks, the words have been plentiful yet incomplete. Post after unfinished post has piled up on this computer and none of them are ready to publish. But leave it to me to attribute my writer's block to my surroundings. Only someone enthralled by the power of place would conclude the words aren't flowing because they're not being crafted in the very right spot. And so I opt for a change of venue, again and again: Tuesday's location is a coffee shop in Logan Circle where I race unsuccessfully against a self-imposed deadline. Wednesday the scene is a tiny table outside of Georgetown's Dean and Deluca by the C&O Canal, where the Internet is inaccessible and I strive to focus. And tonight, here I am, back in this chair by the window, hopeful the best seat in the house will do the trick. I carry my distractions and unfinished paragraphs from one location to the next. I'm looking for some place to practice this discipline.
Where do you go to get unstuck? What's the best place in your house to be productive?
Related Posts on Neighborhood Nomad
- A Good Place To Write (And To Not) (August 24, 2012)
- If You Lived Here, You'd Be Creative (August 26, 2011)
- Inspiration Oia (July 2, 2011)