There are Only Two Jobs You Can Do From Your Bed

One is obvious…

Now that the winter months are coming I’m looking forward to curling up in super thick winter socks with my coffee under super soft blankets wearing super soft robe and doing a lot of my writing from my laptop in my super soft bed surrounded by my super soft cats!

I feel thankful to be able to create from the comfort of my bed.

Sometimes it just seems easier to stay in bed, especially in cold winter months, doesn’t it? No dealing with the time-consuming chores of picking out what to wear, doing hair, etc.

This morning I was sitting up in bed typing away on my laptop writing a MuddyUm story happily when Bob walked in:

He said, ‘Hey Ernest! I’m off to work!” He refers to me as Ernest Hemingway lately.

I looked up from my laptop and grinned.

Bob reminded me, “Many people do a lot of productive work from bed ya know? Didn’t Mark Twain write all his stuff from his bed?”

I dunno. Of course, I went to research this idea.

I recall hearing that one of my favorite authors SARK proudly said she wrote ALL of her books from her bed in her pajamas. I was envious because I think deep down I’ve always wanted this lifestyle! I loved this book of hers from the 1980s:

There were many productive writers and authors who worked from home in their robe and slippers under blankets and did quite well from their bed like:

George Orwell, Edith Wharton, Winston Churchill, Colette, Mark Twain and Woody Allen.

Some say writing in bed helps access the unconscious. Some say beds and books are perfect companions.

Hmm. OK!

“Writing in bed is not just about convenience or comfort — there’s a psychological advantage, too. If you write in bed in the early morning you occupy an intriguing part of consciousness, somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness Part of you is still in the shadowy cave of dream world; part of you is adjusting to the sharp brightness of reality.

The mixture is fruitful and often suggestive.“ — Robert McCrum

Here are some writers and authors who did great work and even preferred writing in bed:

1. Marcel Proust

“It is pleasant, when one is distraught, to lie in the warmth of one’s bed, and there, with all effort and struggle at an end, even perhaps with one’s head under the blankets, surrender completely to howling, like branches in the autumn wind.”

2. Truman Capote

“I am a completely horizontal author,” said the author of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, “I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy.”

3. William Wordsworth

The Romantic poet apparently preferred writing his poems in bed in complete darkness, starting over whenever he lost a sheet of paper because looking for it was too much effort.

4. Mark Twain

“Just try it in bed some time,” the author told the New York Times in 1902. “I sit up with a pipe in my mouth and a board on my knees, and I scribble away. Thinking is easy work, and there isn’t much labor in moving your fingers sufficiently to get the words down.”

5. James Joyce

The Irish author wrote lying down on his stomach — which doesn’t seem like the most comfortable position.

6. George Orwell

The dying George Orwell used to prop his typewriter up in bed and hammer away at the final draft of 1984. The doctor who treated him in Glasgow said all he could remember was the sound of typing and the fog of cigarette smoke in Orwell’s bedroom.

From HUCK magazine: Why not take inspiration from some of the great artists in history and stay under the covers?

“Beds and bedrooms are extremely creative places where occupants are often caught in states between clarity and slumber, security and vulnerability, health and ill-health, privacy and intimacy.”

Many visual artists also worked well from their beds like Salvador Dali.

So, it’s great to know I am in good company today as I slurp my coffee here in bed.

Today I edited a few chapters of my memoir and then published a few MuddyUm stories while surrounded by my favorite purple comforter, laptop, and 4 lovable sweet cats. (aka furballs of love!) It was nice. Hey, I’ve been steadily working from my bed for a while now and I rather like it.

I look to my future and I know no matter how old, discrepant or sickly I get I’ll most likely always be able to move my fingers, stay in a comfy cozy bed and still be very productive.

That thought makes me feel thankful.

So do you like writing in bed? Do you find it liberating, comforting, productive for you?

I’d love to hear.

This is my daily post on my Extreme Radical Gratitude diet.

THANKS FOR READING!

Michelle Monet has published 5 non-fiction books including 4 ‘Poetic Memoirs’. Her upcoming Memoir will be about her life in show business including her surviving domestic violence, panic disorder and a dependency on prescribed medication. It will be a story of redemption and healing. She also has a Broadway Musical in the works based on her life story.

contact: [email protected]