{"id":20115,"date":"2021-05-11T13:41:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T13:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/?p=20115"},"modified":"2021-05-11T13:43:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T13:43:50","slug":"where-i-write-sonia-overall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/05\/where-i-write-sonia-overall\/","title":{"rendered":"Where I write: Sonia Overall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi Sonia! Where do you write?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I live in an Edwardian terrace in the sleepy town of Sandwich, Kent. Indoors, I write in my attic study. A couple of skylight windows look out over our back garden. When I\u2019ve had too much screen time I stand up and stick my head out of a window for a blast of air; I sometimes come eye-to-eye with jackdaws nesting on the chimney. If the weather allows I\u2019ll take the laptop into the garden and try to squint at the screen. If I\u2019m mapping out a narrative or reordering a piece I end up on the floor, surrounded by notes and cut-up bits of paper. I write a lot outside. My practice involves walking and I regularly write on the hoof. I have pocket notebooks for walking and writing, including one for use in the rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2609<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does your workspace look like?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the day it\u2019s fairly neat. If by the end it\u2019s not littered with pencil shavings, empty cups and cat hair, it\u2019s a sign I haven\u2019t achieved much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a university campus office too. During the pandemic I\u2019ve been working from home, so the books around me include essential teaching texts that have decamped with me. The study is lined with books \u2013 I\u2019ve no idea how all those office books would fit in the house now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bought a rocking chair to retreat to, away from the screen, but it\u2019s been taken over by the cat, Mr Tabbs. He complains if I sit there. Behind my desk is an old trunk full of mumming costumes and props and the cat has commandeered space on top of that too. If he doesn\u2019t get enough attention he will sit right in front of me on the desk and push things off it into the bin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceiling is low; I feel close to the sky up here with the rain on the roof and birds landing on the slates. There isn\u2019t much wall space but we made room for my grandparents\u2019 old clock, which is left unwound because it\u2019s so noisy. I find it comforting, hanging there. Our house is small and the study is usually the place where things in transit get stored, piled up or in boxes. I can ignore a mess if it\u2019s out of sight while I\u2019m working. The temperature fluctuates too much for houseplants, but I\u2019m currently sharing the sunlight with some French bean seedlings after running out of windowsills downstairs. They seem to like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2609<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What time of day do you write?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to say I have a regular writing habit, but with academic work and a family, I don\u2019t have that luxury anymore. I wrote myself a postcard with \u2018writing hour\u2019 on it to remind me to make time; I keep it propped up on the desk. When the writing is going well I stay at it for hours. Other times I write in snatched moments. The best clear writing time for me is in the morning, with a pot of coffee; I often have ideas in the shower, so I\u2019m still holding onto them when I sit down to write. Walking and writing is different though \u2013 that works any time of day, because it\u2019s so immersive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2609<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What font\/typeface do you use to write?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Calibri \u2013 minimal fuss. I like to write longhand in pencil. I have commitment issues with pen, but pencil doesn\u2019t last well in a notebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2609<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has your writing space and practice changed over the years you\u2019ve been writing?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My ambulant writing practice has developed a lot over the years. I\u2019ve found this incredibly freeing: it\u2019s something I always did, but now walking and writing are fused together in many ways. If I\u2019m stuck on a piece of writing I will walk it out. If I\u2019m lucky, I will write my way out of it at the same time. I get ideas in the most impractical of places – my first novel began as scene written on the back of a napkin at a wedding – so I\u2019ve learned to keep a notebook with me. Because I tend to have several projects going at once I now number my notebook pages and keep an index. It took me a long time to get this organised; no doubt I will always have scraps of writing floating about that have detached themselves and are looking for a home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like a cross between the Guardian\u2019s Writers\u2019 rooms and MTV Cribs, our ‘Where I write’ series brings you up close and personal with the furniture of our authors\u2019 lives to discover where \u2013 and how \u2013 the magic happens. In this episode, poet Sonia Overall invites us into her attic writing room and reveals the importance of walking to her practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,307],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20115"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20523,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20115\/revisions\/20523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}