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Monday, November 23, 2015

Is Your Writing Space Helpful? Share Your Ideas!

Some folks write at local coffee shops, some curl up on the couch, and I suppose there are as many writing space styles as there are writers. I think best in the kitchen and I'm a foodie as well as a stress baker. When I was feeling a bit blocked with my writing, I hauled my laptop into the kitchen in hopes it might inspire something fabulous. I gained 10 pounds and my husband is sick of pastries. Still no NYTimes best seller...Apparently my ideas flow in the kitchen but it's not a helpful writing space for me.

I decided I needed to lose the 10 pounds. The day I made that decision was also the day I was scheduled for a bread making class. We chuckled as I enjoyed the yummy warm bread and joked that I was going to have one heck of a time going carb free (or even low carb if I'm honest with myself). It was a good thing I went to class though. The friend teaching it gave me several ideas on improving my writing space. My office now has dim lighting, a salt lamp, and an essential oil diffuser. I even found an essential oil blend that claims to have creative qualities (appropriately named 'Creative Juices'). It's a wee bit early to tell for sure, but I'm feeling like I may be onto something here.

My writing career started in the corporate world under fluorescent lights. The call center I worked at was anything but quiet. It didn't seem to bother me,  I'm starting to think that creating the right work space is important. What works for you? Does your writing space matter? Has it always mattered or is it something that changes? As an active journaler, I jot down ideas before my feet hit the floor each morning...but that's not really my 'writing space' if you will. Similarly, my kitchen doesn't seem to be the right writing space. I feel like I have brainstorming places but they shouldn't be confused with the actual space where I write. Not even sure that made sense, but I hope you get the drift of where I'm going here.


Toss out some thoughts about what works for you and maybe it will help inspire me or someone else. Thank you in advance for your help and I maybe let us know how you're doing with Novel writing November? How many words do you have done already?



Crystal is a church musician, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Publicist with Dream of Things Publishing, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin with her husband, four young children (Carmen 8, Andre 7, Breccan 2, and Delphine 8 months), two dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, and over 230 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal blogging and reviewing books, baby carriers, cloth diapers, and all sorts of other stuff at:http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/
and here: http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

2 comments:

  1. Although I have a wonderful office at home, with art that is meaningful to me, and all my books, my true writing space travels with me. It will change depending on my emotional, psychological, or intellectual needs - and how those three areas resonate with what aspect of writing I'm working on (first draft, revision, entering revisions into the computer, etc.) and how that particular aspect of the particular thing I'm writing (article, poetry, work-in-progress) resonates with those areas of my functioning. Picky and persnicketty? Maybe so - but finding a perfect "space", both physically and emotionally/psychologically/intellectually, means fine-tuning into "where I'm at" right in that moment in time. A particular coffee shop at a particular time of day might work for a particular purpose, then not work at all for something else. I planned a cave-search for a recent revision, then found I was best working at home in my lovely office. Finding my best writing space requires constant attunement to myself. So I guess my best writing "space" is...me.

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  2. Carol,

    That's incredibly insightful; you're a genius!!!!! I'm so glad I posed the question. Thank you!

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