SO YOU'RE WRITING - BUT ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

I'm not talking the chair you're sitting in and if it's the right height and shape for you, or whether your screen is the correct distance away so as not to ruin your peepers, or that the room is warm or cool enough. Or that you have something red in one corner of the room and a leafy plant in the other for good karma and feng shui. I'm talking comfortable in what you are wearing. I find this is as important as all the above. Now, I know some writers work happily all day in their nightwear, but even the thought makes me shiver because I can hear my mother's voice in my head telling me it is slapdash to do so. She never even owned a dressing-gown because - in her opinion - it was only a short step to becoming slovenly and taking to slobbing around the house all day in it (her words). Hmmm. But if that works for you and you're comfortable then that's fine. But I can't get my mother's voice out of my head so although I don't dress as if for a wedding when I'm writing I do bear in mind someone might knock on the door unexpectedly and I wouldn't want to frighten the horses. These days I've embraced M&S jeggings as my working 'uniform'. They are stretch denim, with a deep elasticated waist, no zips or buttons to dig into your flesh as you sit. Depending on the weather I wear them (I have three pairs - faded denim, navy, and black)with a long or a short-sleeved T-shirt,or a tunic of some sort. And what's on my feet? Well, in winter it will be Ugg boots because there is no central heating in this house, and in summer I like to wear sandals.

Ah yes, summer ... and the writing of summery stories. If I'm writing a twenty-something female character then I have to think back quite some way these days to get into her head. A quicker way is to wear a strappy sundress (sans brassiere)because it makes me feel younger and more sassy and as I walk from desk to kitchen to make coffee and back again it can feel quite sexy to have the hem flapping against my calves.

And jewellery. I know some people find it irritating but I like to wear a bangle of some sort when I'm typing even though I rarely wear one when I'm out. A psychiatrist would probably have a field day with me over that one, but I find it's a confidence-boosting sort of thing to do. When I was writing RED IS FOR RUBIES (published recently by Choc Lit)I wore a ruby glass necklace my daughter made for me and a photograph of some very covetable ruby earrings pinned on the wall.

This all sounds very glamorous, does it not? Now then, I can suffer a bit with cold hands (even in summer, alas) so I always keep a pair of fingerless gloves in the top drawer of my desk. My dear sister-in-law knits them for me and because she knows I have a horror of wearing clashing colours I have them in shades to match just about everything! Prma donna? Moi?

So, I'm writing....I'm wearing the faded denim jeggings today and with it I'm wearing a peach and white spot floaty, bum length, tunic. Leather strappy sandals because - oh happy day - the sun is shining. What are you wearing to write in?