I was looking at the #NaBloPoMo home page and two of the writing prompts they’ve put up in the past few days caught my attention: 1) When you are writing, do you prefer using a pen or a computer? and 2) Can you listen to music while you write?

I have been writing since before I knew words. If you looked at my notepads when I was a kid, (or in my books, which is a terrible, terrible bad thing to do) you would see scribbles where I was taking notes or writing stories. I have always known that being a writer was a very special thing. My mother wanted to be a writer, I think my grandfather probably did to, though he did his duty and got a real job and supported his family. My father, of course, is a non-fiction writer. I assume my sister writes. I assume my daughter will write.

Literature flows through my family, books have a huge place. They are go to Christmas gifts, they are points of discussion.

Since I was small I have wanted to be a writer and I have spent hours and hours with pen and paper writing down my thoughts and ideas and stories that came into my mind. I inherited a love of a good pen from my mother, who got it from her father – my grandfather, to this day, writes calligraphy. Even when he writes a cheque. I’ve had tellers ask me who I got a cheque from because of the lovely handwriting. I still have, in my box of memories, a letter from ‘Santa’ written in my grandfather’s beautiful calligraphy.

There is almost no greater sensation that a good pen sliding across good paper. A good pen and good paper make writing a joy. The story I am currently writing for #NaNoWriMo started in my Moleskine notebook – Well, my current Moleskine – on a flight back from Vancouver. When I’m in the right space, and I have my notebook and a good pen, things just flow and it feels natural as anything can be.

Sometimes this space includes music. I have a hard time working without background noise. I’m not sure where this comes from, but I have a really hard time working in silence. Of course, if you’re listening to music that you really love it might distract you. If you’re watching a TV show that you have to pay attention to, it will distract you from the project. Joe will attest that I am very good at watching TV while working on something else. It fact, I have trouble watching TV if I’m not doing something else.

(This was my problem when we started watching The Wire, it was too complicated so I had to give it my full attention or get lost and I had a lot of trouble giving it my full attention).

I find that this all comes back to a question Sara asked after Blissdom – Are you a blogger or a writer? The question still confuses me. I am a writer down to the deepest parts of my soul, and blogging is one outlet for my writing. I can’t separate the two.