Everywhere in Los Angeles, there is noise. There are few waiting rooms, retail or public spaces that don’t have music playing or blasting. I’ve been keeping my place quiet. Sometimes, I seek out a cafe to write and the noise fades into the background as I work, but most of the time, I like the quiet. I was one of those kids who spent a lot of time day dreaming. I was not in a family that understood this activity, berating me for ‘wasting time.’ It’s not a waste of time for writers though. To find interesting and different solutions to writing problems (the cat is up the tree, how to get it down), you need time and, I’d argue, quiet. When it’s quiet and you don’t have the relentless distractions calling your thoughts in other directions, you also have the opportunity to go deeper and that’s something that sorely missing from most of our entertainment and a good deal of our literature.

Julianna Baggott has a writer’s boot camp going on (you can start any time) if you need an extra something to get going.

Just received an advance copy of an anthology I’m published in – will link when it’s available on Amazon.