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I can write anywhere that's quiet. I have a study in my apartment, but I often work in the kitchen of a house that we rent in the country.

Try to arrange things so that you can have a reasonable bit of quiet every day.

I have a study now - I used not to. I also love working in cafes; ignoring noise is good for concentration.

I study people all the time. For some reason, we're not very good at seeing what's there or hearing what we're hearing.

When I'm concentrating, I can be fixed in place for hours. In fact, there was a joke in my office that everybody would come and chat outside my door because they knew - no matter how loud they talked - if I was concentrating, it would not disturb me at all.

When I write I find a quiet place.

I'm mostly retired. Now I'm a mother with a really noisy, difficult house to maintain!

I write in an old-school paneled study in the middle of a large farmhouse in rural Iowa. I have pine floors, a big cherry desk, and a small window. The room is cluttered with papers and books and gifts from friends.