Write Anywhere, Anytime

You don’t always need a desk, a chair, a lamp, or a laptop to write.

Miriam Diaz-Gilbert
5 min readSep 12, 2019

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Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

Louis L’Amour wrote — “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until until the faucet is turned on.”

I say — “Write anywhere, anytime, no matter what.”

Write in a baseball field.

Write with a broken arm.

Write in the chemo infusion room.

Write in your hospital bed.

Write in the waiting room.

Write in a moving car.

Write in the forest.

Write in your sleep.

Write in a tent.

You don’t always need a desk, a chair, a lamp, or a laptop to write.

Baseball Field

I wrote the drafts of two peer-review research papers while watching my son’s middle school baseball games. I’d lug my research data and notes and just write when he wasn’t on the mound throwing strikes. I wrote over the entire season.

Nine innings is a long time. So write.

Broken Arm

Five years ago I broke my left arm while shoveling snow on our driveway. I slipped on a patch of ice.

I suffered bad left humerus fracture. But I didn’t let one broken arm stop me from writing.

Don’t let a broken arm stop you from writing. Photo courtesy of Jon Gilbert

Armed with a sling, my headphones, and my Dragon Dictate program, I wrote a doctoral paper on the letters of St. Teresa of Avila, a prolific writer, via dictation.

I used my right index finger to edit words, sentences, paragraphs, footnotes, and the bibliography one letter at a time.

I used my right index finger to revise, edit, and finalize the 37-page paper.

You don’t need all your fingers to strike the keys and to write.

Chemo Infusion Room

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Miriam Diaz-Gilbert

My debut memoir Come What May, I Want to Run: A Memoir of the Saving Grace of Ultrarunning in Overwhelming Times is published. Website: miriamdiazgilbert.com