Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Working in the car

Does anyone else work in their car? More and more it seems I am. When Mary Rakow (The Memory Room) came on the show, she said she often wrote in her car and I thought, Hmmm. I wasn't sure what to think of it. Now I find myself doing just that. It's pod-like. Fewer distractions than the library. I still work at the library, at home, and elsewhere, but now the car is one more place that works for me.

Today, after I dropped Trav at school, I went to Tully's for a grande nonfat latte, extra foam ("How much extra foam? A lot or just a little?" said the naughty sounding barristo who made me feel San Francisco was right here in Newport Beach ... yay!) and then drove to UCI, parked in a radio station space, and worked up until it was time to go in and do the show.

Dennis McDougal (Five Easy Decades), on the show, said, Carry a pen and paper wherever you go. Always.

Because you forget. You think you'll remember that snippet of conversation but you never do. Not as you heard it.

As I sat working on "A Peeping Tom Comes to Call," two young women got in their car beside me. As they did they said something with a particular inflection, and I meant to memorize it exactly the way they said it, but I was caught up in my essay and I didn't write it down.

But that was before Dennis came on and reminded me of what I thought I knew.

The show will be podcast in the next week or so. If you have current technology, it'll be easy for you to listen.

So...does anyone else work in their car?

11 comments:

Don said...

Work in my car? I mostly just store stuff in my car.

Anonymous said...

Every day, I get to school early to pick up the kids. Sometimes I read, but lately I've been using it as my writing time. It's perfect...till someone comes up to talk!

Anonymous said...

whenever my kids used to fall asleep in the car, i'd pull over somewhere quiet and get out a pen and paper(always have some on me, especially after reading your book) and write.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I cleaned out the glove compartment and installed a keyboard. Not the musical one but one from a computer. My car has a bench seat so it's easy to scoot over and open the glove compartment at red lights and write.

Anonymous said...

Actually, this is a cute idea. But I don't believe you for a second. Thanks for the laugh!

Anonymous said...

Yes....I write in my truck on my lunch hour. Monday was too hot in the front so I opened the tailgate and had my own writing party! It's the only peaceful time of the day.

BJK

avb said...

As a New Yorker, I an without a car to write in. Though I do find my most productive writing time to be those weekends when I take the Metro-North train upstate to get out of the city.

Anonymous said...

I don’t drive (never saw the point of a car) but I know what you mean about a pod-like writing experience. I love writing in the bath. I use a cheap notebook (so I don’t mind if the pages get damp) and a ball point pen. It’s a great way to get a few extra minutes to write, since no one interrupts me while I’m in the bath.

AmyC said...

As a SAHM right now, my car is my office and my kitchen is the conference room. I have been guilty of knitting in my car....yes, on the road, but only at red lights. :/

Facebanned said...

Yes! And I always have the best ideas when I'm driving, so I end up taking out a note pad and trying to write down an idea without looking at whether or not it's legible so I don't crash the car.

Chelsey

Anonymous said...

Raymond Carver wrote in his car to get away from screaming kids and wife, I recall reading. It stuck with me. How could anyone write in their car? I wondered. Now I know you're all out there.