We all have different schedules, lifestyles, and forms of OCD idiosyncrasies that affect what kind of writer we are.
Which one are you? Take the poll:
I am a combination Tuner Outer and Zoner. Probably more of the latter when I’m editing, and more the former when I’m just creating.
My husband told me I’m like this:
Which is only partly true. 🙂
Ricki Cardenas 
I wish I had more quiet time bc that’s when I’m most productive.
For shizz!
Some of the best writers left their families to get away for several months in order to write and create. Zoning and tuning out is the only way to create. Nowadays, it’s not feasible to leave home, in fact, in my case it is almost impossible. But my day is coming, and when it does I will embrace it with all that I am and all that I have to write all that I can. Future look out, because here I come.
Retreats!
At one point in time I have experienced all of the above mentioned writer moments. Right now, I have grown kids who have moved back home and brought more with them, and a wedding in a month of my youngest daughter, and peace and tranquility blew out the window with the muse and left me bewildered and confused, my mouth gaping with unbelief that my muse would even think of abandoning me. I scream with frustration and glance briefly at my laptop as I pass it repeatedly in the process of all the chaos that dwells in my home. Suddenly, I grab it, clutching it to my chest and I run for Starbucks in Barnes and Nobles. There I breathe a sigh of relief, for sitting in the corner I find my muse smiling and inviting me to join her. The kids will survive without me, and the wedding is still a month away, but my muse and I will enjoy the peace and quiet for now, sharing our thoughts while the words flow into my precious laptop with ease. Today, I’ll be the tuner-outer.
Good luck! And have a great time at the wedding!
Total zoner!! As a matter of fact, it took me like TWO WEEKS after retrieving kids from their various summer vacays to get BACK into my zone – i.e., they had to get back in school so I could have my quiet days back 😀
Yes – GA starts early – that’s awesome!! 🙂
God, I LOVE Jack Nicholson. “Why don’t you start right now and get the fuck out of here.” Awesome.
Anyway, I chose “The Tuner Outer,” but I’m also a “Zoner” too. I think I have to travel through “Zoner” land in order to arrive at “Tuner Outer.”
If I don’t have at least two cups of coffee, fiddle around on blogs and twitter, and listen to some music in the morning, I’ll never get to writing. I have to do all that, and let a good hour or more pass, to arrive at actual writing time.
I’m not always like that, but at the very least I have to check my e-mail and get coffee.
I am the SAME way. I have to ease into it. 🙂
Coffee=a must!
Jack Nicholson=hell yes!
The Zoner. Don’t destroy my peace.
And I don’t wait for the “muse” to arrive. I wouldn’t get anything done.
At 5:00 a.m., I’d better be writing something. In the silence of the morning.
It’s so peaceful then! But I’ve usually stayed up so late, there’s no way I can get up that early!
It’s peaceful at night, too, though. 😉
HILARIOUS! Love the clip.
I’m a Tuner Outer. I have to be. I get time to write sporadically, so I need to be able to get into the zone anywhere. Crowded cafes, airports, buses, tents — thank goodness for headphones!
I wish I were more of a Tuner Outer! But I do have my moments…