I’m in the middle of renovating a new-to-me condo and adding the small touches that will make it my new home. I think most normal people would first set up their bed and then maybe their TV or game station. Oh, no. Not me. My primary concern and focus is setting up my sacred writing space, AKA organizing my desk.
Stephen
King, in his book, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” suggests: “Put your desk
in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why
it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s
the other way around.”
Profound
as Mr. King’s statement is, the reason I like to follow his advice is because strategically
setting my desk in a corner (or against a blank wall) removes any opportunity
for distraction.
When I
lived in downtown Pittsburgh, my desk was tucked in next to a big window. I got
a ton of natural northern facing light (my moth orchids loved it) but the
window itself looked out onto the blank brick façade of the opposite warehouse
building. It was perfect. I wrote “No Rest for the Wicked” at that location
using words that flew from my fingertips to the page like I was channeling a
Vin Diesel fast-action movie. I believe the reason I was so successful with
that space was because while the space felt open and bright, I couldn’t see any
passing foot traffic which eliminated my favorite distraction game called
“Let’s Invent Back Stories for the People I See.”
While
this is a super fun game to play at busy airports while you’re waiting for your
flight, it will absolutely torpedo your daily word count.
Since
I’m waiting for my desk to get out of storage (with the rest of my furniture)
I’ve been working at my kitchen counter. There should be no difficulty with me
doing this. My laptop works perfectly well plugged into a wall socket at my
kitchen counter. It’s probably even healthier for me to write standing up. That
said, my word count has dropped sharply. It’s like the petulant child that is
my creative self has folded its arms and gone on strike until I get my desk
back.
Can I
say this makes no sense? I have everything I need to be creative. I have my
messy stacks of noted index cards, and my erratic plot outlines mapped out on
posterboard. But there’s something about having that defined and sacred writing
space that I need to lift my inspiration airborne. It’s perverse, and I can’t
explain why it is this way. I only know that when I go to writer’s conferences,
and I hear other writers talk about using advanced writing and plotting
software, I smile, and nod sagely, knowing that my secrets are safe in the
cheap notebooks I’ve got stashed in my desk drawer back home.
What
are your tricks for organizing your sacred writing space? Anything you’d like
to share?
If I have a choice of being productive or letting nature into my workspace, nature wins every single time. Fortunately, I can be reasonably productive and still have great (and distracting) views.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, Jim. What is your creative space like? Are you near a window or on a screened in porch?
ReplyDeleteI can relate. We’ve moved often in the past few years and each time, the most important room I set up is my office. I need to have my driftwood face hanging on the wall, crystals in a dish, four pen holders, space for my calendars – wall and desk – and only then can the words flow!
ReplyDeleteMy organizational tools include Ziploc baggies to hold my pens and certain index cards plus a big piece of poster board where I can map out plot structure. I also have four different colors of highlighters and of course each color means something different: yellow for "needs attention"; orange for "needs attention TODAY"; blue for "work in process"; and green (my favorite) for "Go." Yes, there is method to my madness. LOL
ReplyDeleteMy "office" is a recliner with a hospital tray table on wheels that holds my computer.
ReplyDeleteI'm supposed to keep my feet elevated "as much as possible;" since a fair hunk of my time is spent on the computer, I needed to come up with a way to make that work.
My daughter got the tray table to make caring for my husband easier. After he passed away and I was evaluating the equipment we had, I realized this would be the perfect thing for my computer. The table is on wheels & I can just push it out of the way or pull it over so I can use the computer.
I do have it next to a bay window that looks out on a patio, where I have flowers right now. Every once in a while I find that distracting, but mostly it's a comfortable place to rest my eyes.
Everyone seems to have come up with things that work for them.
I think you're right - and yet it's funny because I'll still get asked about my secret to writing like there's a special trick to it. My advice is that it's not the location, it's putting in the time to get the words down every day!
ReplyDeleteI do my best writing at the kitchen table, or on the screened porch.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, do you write at the same time every day?
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that I normally sit in a well-lit room in a big comfy chair to write, but I've found that for each of my novels, I've written them in a different place in the house - in a different chair - with different music playing. When I first started writing, I used a desktop computer and was only happy writing on a desk between two windows - with a writer's inspiration picture on the wall above me. When I went to a laptop, mobility took over despite always having a dedicated office. Enjoy your new home and writing space.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra. I've used music to help me get in the mood to write, and used different music for each story. One required an old jazz tune "Face the Music, and Dance," another took me back to hard driving rock and roll. Hum. I need to go research the anthem for my new opus.
ReplyDelete