- (Lack of) Privacy and Quietness -

I don’t have a lot of privacy at home and my house is anything but quiet. Those two factors made the challenge look impossible for me to complete. I prefer my workspace to be free of distractions, and those distractions include people and distracting noise. But of course, life does not always work in my favor.

I couldn’t easily write at home because I was never alone. The only time I could write without having to switch windows and hide my work was when everyone was asleep or when everyone was out of the house. It was a struggle writing due to the TV being put on blast and my sister kicking me out of our room whenever she wanted to rest or do her own things. So for most of November, I was writing in the dining room late at night or early in the morning.

My sleep schedule was somewhat messed up last month. I don’t recommend sacrificing your sleep for this challenge.

Writing in public was the second option, but that could turn into a nightmare. I am used to writing essays and reports when I’m out in public, but that is not the case for stories. I tried writing when I was at Starbucks, but the feeling of someone looking over me and reading what I was typing was always present. I don’t know about you, but I am always on my guard whenever I am using my laptop at a public place. November is exam season and the city where my university is located is a hot spot for theft. Laptops are among the most commonly stolen items, and they are the last things students want stolen from them, especially when exam season is in session.

The cafés I would go to had been popular for theft, so instead, I went to donut and boba shops. I did not need WiFi to write since I had already imported my research and was using a software that did not require me to use the Internet, so I did not have to worry about getting the WiFi passwords. Seating was pretty much a given at donut shops, but that was not always the case for boba shops. The donut shop I went to did not have WiFi, so that may be a reason why it was not packed with people on their laptops. The boba shops I went to had WiFi, and because they were popular spots for studying and catching up with people, I wouldn’t always be able to find seating. But if I did manage to get a table for myself, it was a guarantee that no one would want to sit with me. People nowadays want tables for themselves and would place their backpacks and their other belongings on the opposite seat, but doing that made the chances of theft a bit higher, especially if their table was near the entrance/exit. Nonetheless, the places I went to were perfect for me to write and not worry about being watched and all that.

Unfortunately, my stays were short, and that made my progress less than satisfactory. The shops I went to lacked charging outlets (this is to prevent people from staying longer than they need to), so I would leave whenever my laptop was close to dying…or dead. To add to that, because I was alone, I did not have anyone watching my stuff whenever I wanted to go to the restroom or to the counter to buy something. I could have asked a stranger to “watch my belongings,” but I did not feel comfortable doing that at a public place. After experiencing the event of someone asking me to watch their stuff for “ten minutes” and being late to class because that someone came back half an hour later, I knew it was better to just leave and not rely on someone to watch my stuff.

But there was one thing I noticed, and it was that I wrote more when I was listening to instrumentals and piano pieces. I know I (kind of) said that I wanted to be in an environment that had no “distracting noise”, but since I was outside of home, it was a guarantee that my environment was not always going to be quiet. The places I went to played music, and depending on the type that was being played, it had some effect on my writing.

I found listening to music with lyrics to be my biggest enemy. The boba shops I went to always played songs, so there was really no way for me to avoid listening to them (unless I decided to listen to my own music). Of course, listening to my own music does not mean that my productivity got better. My music library consists of songs, instrumentals, and piano pieces, and songs take up a huge chunk of it. There were many cases of me listening to songs while writing, and those lead to me becoming distracted and ignoring my work. One example I can think of is me listening to EXO’s “Drop That” while writing a romantic scene, and that led to me jamming out instead of writing.

Jamming out to “Drop That” was a guarantee for the event of me dropping the words I wanted to write (and it was not in the good way).

Of course, songs were not the only things I listened to. The other things I listened were instrumentals and piano pieces, and to my surprise, they helped me write. Since they had no lyrics, I did not have to worry about the lyrics kicking the words out of my head. If there was one thing I had noticed, then it would be that the tempo and tone of the pieces had some effect on my writing.

The story I worked on during NaNoWriMo is a Historical!AU story. When I listened to pieces that fit my story's tone, I was able to visualize and understand the scenes I wanted to write. I found listening to instrumentals from sageuk OSTs to work best for me since they kept me immersed in the story’s world. I ended up writing my scenes as if a movie was being played before me. Listening to romantic pieces helped me whenever I wrote a romantic scene, and sad pieces kept the mood of certain scenes somber and, well, sad.

Quietness and privacy were not always there. For most of last month, I wrote at home, but there were occassions of me going outside to write. I definitely think I write more when I am alone and when my environment is quiet or close to quiet. If I am in a crowded/noisy place, I can always tune out and listen to my own music, but I have to be careful with my music selections. Things did not always work on my end, so I had to accept what I had and work with them. But I should feel proud and consider myself lucky that they did not stop me from abandoning the writing challenge.

Coming Up: Pantsing vs. Outlining

P.S. This is not related, but I was listening to EXO’s “Ya Ya Ya” while writing this. It took me over half an hour to write the last paragraph because I kept getting distracted by the lyrics.

P.P.S. Since this page somewhat focuses on music, is there a song you’ve been listening to that is currently stuck in your head?