ECWordsmith

Oil lamp (Photo credit: ralphunden)

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? For me, creative writing is best in the morning, but I’ve made a habit of journaling daily for the past 10 years. For that, I do it at night.

I have a new patio table I purchased recently. Perfect for writing, especially in the cool night air of summer. Although I have a nice grassy back yard, the table is on the front porch to catch refreshing breezes from the west and provide a place to sit out of the hot sun.

So…what to do for light? The porch ceiling light is too harsh and indirect. Without an electric outlet, I had to come up with something creative.

I tried a hand-crank lantern, but had to stop writing every 10 minutes to crank it up. (According to the box, one minute of cranking gives you 15 minutes of light. Baloney).

I tried a flashlight, but it’s hard to hold it in one hand, write with the other, and I still need a third hand to hold the journal open.

Candles didn’t work – the table top remained in darkness.

Can you tell, the writing environment is so special to me, it has to be perfect? Haha.

I found the perfect light.

An oil lamp.

Now, there happen to be several in the house, belonging to my grand parents, and some of my mother’s. When Hurricane Irene was making her way up the east coast last August, I had prepared them, so they were still clean and full of lamp oil and new wicks.

Choosing one with a shade, I lit it and got down to my writing.

Perfect!

So for a truly nice way to spend a summer night – 9:30-10 pm is my favorite writing time – light up an oil lamp and head outdoors for a beautiful writing experience.

I’d love to hear from you!

PS – The type of oil lamp I recommend looks like a table lamp – not the lantern in the photo.