Clearly I don’t write surrounded by luxury or glamour, so there’s not a huge amount to talk about there. It’s small and there isn’t much room to move which, as a procrastination preventative, might not be a bad thing. No clutter and everything in its rightful place. I’ll confess to being a little bit OCD about that, making sure that everything is lined up and in exactly the same spot at all times. Things out of place irritate me, and as every writer is looking for a distraction I keep everything where it is, was and always shall be.
The notebooks in front of the computer are a relatively recent addition though. I’ve started writing bits and pieces by hand at night for no particular reason. I could do it at the computer but I choose not to. There’s something pleasant about writing by hand, right up until the point that I have to read my own handwriting and type it all out anyway.
It’s a seven day a week gig, so I spend more time in that spot than anywhere else. Same routine every day, spending all afternoon and part of the evening in front of the computer, trying to work out what the hell I’m doing. I wanted a relatively big screen so I can have notes and other assorted rubbish open at the same time for some much needed guidance.
I never write anywhere else, ever. Don’t take a laptop with me when I’m away from home, don’t take my notebooks. It probably wouldn’t be hard to knock out a few words on the road, they might even be in the right order, but I’ve never tried and doubt I will. This is where I right. Here and nowhere else.
Malcolm Mackay
Malcolm Mackay’s acclaimed debut series, the Glasgow Trilogy ( THE NECESSARY DEATH OF LEWIS WINTER, HOW A GUNMAN SAYS GOODBYE, THE SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF VIOLENCE) has been nominated for countless international prizes. The first of the series, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, the Theakson Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, and longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year Award. Mackay was born in Stornoway on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis, where he still lives. You can find him on Twitter.
