I don't know about you, but I am not a Zulu warrior...

I have to say that I did not particularly enjoy Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life". Throughout the entire piece, she repeatedly would contradict herself, saying that space did not matter to her, when the entire work was full of references on her location. According to Dillard, writing is a painful process, full of numerous rough drafts and re-workings, and the end result is hardly ever satisfying to the writer's soul. She talks about chopping wood (a metaphor for writing), of shedding her inhibitions, and swinging the axe towards the chopping block, not the wood. And yet she never did get warm.
In my own experience, it does not depend on location, or a deadline to get me to write. I find myself much more sympathetic towards Sanders who, in "Writing from the center", seems to gather inspiration from everything around him, no matter where he is. Personally, I do no think that location really matters for a writer in the sense that inspiration can be found in any location if the writer will simply look for it. In this sense, no writer can honestly say that they do not care where they work, or that they do not notice where they are working, for the environment around the author affects the written work as much as the author's idea itself.
Dillard often says in "The writing life" that the entire writing process is a struggle. splitting wood, a lion tamer wrestling with a lion, a dying friend. These metaphors suggest that writing is a chore or a struggle, a fight to wrestle the last drop of worthwhile inspiration from our subconscious in a harried dash to get it down on paper before the inspiration is lost. Writing seems more like turning a faucet on. If the tap is turned off, writing, or at least good writing, will not occur. It is only when the faucet is turned on and water is flowing freely that one can write, and then it is as easy as holding a bowl or a glass to catch the water.
I believe that it is better to gather inspiration from everything around you than to say that you do not notice your surroundings and then struggle for an idea. Writing should not be a painful process that taxes the mind and vexes the writer. Although anything worthwhile requires work, that does not mean that the level of effort and sacrifice required to write anything of length should rival the Spanish Inquisition. It is the job of any artist to take in the world around them through their own particular filter, and give back to the world a translation of what they saw through writing. When it is understood that writing is not a struggle but simply a different point of view, all the struggle is removed from the process. In the end, with the completion of a meaningful work, the artist feels satisfaction in knowing that their process has yielded a different view of the world, society or even of themselves. If you want to write, then simply write. The story itself will take care of the rest.