Your Writing Space

I love asking people what their writing space looks like. I once thought if my office was set-up just perfectly I could be more creative...but the more successful people I talk to, the more I've come to realize it's not the space that makes them creative or successful. Some offices are tidy. Some offices are a small corner table at the local coffee shop. Some offices double as a kitchen table once the family returns from work or school, and still others include a simple notebook and a stream running through a woods.

I've come to the realization that my writing space was yet another stumbling block for my creativity. It's no different than the housework that so often distracts me. My space was luring me away from writing instead of helping me concentrate and be creative. It doesn't matter if I have the perfect chair, the fastest computer, the nicest journal, ambient lighting, commercial free music, etc... I simply need to put myself to the task at hand and write.

It would be lovely to have an office free of distractions, with photographs of everything that inspires me, but the truth is I can still write with the sound of the clothes dryer tumbling the laundry. I can move the notes from teachers, the partial bottles of water, and the bills to pay - and I can write.

I've asked this before, but what stops you from getting your writing done? Is your writing space a stumbling block? Or...maybe unlike myself your writing space IS an inspiration to you. Do share please?

Write on Friends!
Hugs,
~Crystal

Crystal is a secretary, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Princess and Paige, and over 250 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!

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4 comments creative, creative writing, office space, stumbling block, writing distractions, Writing Space

Friday Speak Out!: At-Home Business or At-Home Disaster?

by Karina Bartow

Working from home has gained popularity in recent years, to the relief of many parents and others with caregiving responsibilities. I have Cerebral Palsy, so my limitations would constrain me from working anywhere else. And some just love the idea of staying in their pajamas. While writing this, in fact, I ran a search on ‘at home businesses’ and found 134 million results.

Thus, I don’t aim to go through the various pros and cons of working from home like many have done before. Rather, I’m here to discuss the challenges I’ve come against and how I try—daily—to overcome them, as a writer in particular.

Anyone can guess that distraction poses a major risk to home workers. I’m spared a lot of the common ones, given I don't have a family or the duties that come with one, but I have my share of unexpected hurtles thrown at me. Though I manage my time well and rarely get sucked into the vortex of binge-watching Netflix, my inclinations to get out of the house are sometimes too powerful to subdue. I’ve never been a homebody, and I enjoy getting my iced mocha and browsing a store or two on a regular basis, even if just for an hour. In other words, I easily contract cabin fever! As I’ve progressed in my career, however, I’ve had to learn self-restraint and treat it with iced mocha from a jug and a brief look at Amazon.

A bigger difficulty when it comes to distractions is those thrust on me by others. My skills in technology and creativity have netted me plenty of odd jobs, which I’ve, in all honesty, enjoyed. Even so, the hours I spend on them take away from my writing time. When on a deadline or behind schedule, I have to postpone side projects.

Telling others to wait is a challenge because I consider myself less occupied than most people. Aside from my handicap and lack of normal responsibilities, I’m just a writer. Unless I’m finishing a novel that’s set to be released soon, every scene or blog I didn’t write today can be completed tomorrow, and how big of an impact can it have?

I didn’t discover I had this mentality until recently, when I was an overwhelmed mess. I realized the one I had to change was me. Because of inexperience, it’s easy for outsiders to see a writer as someone who has lots of free time. But we, authors, know there’s much more involved than turning on classical music, drinking a fancy beverage, and writing a bestseller.

To sum it up, I give you writers a call to action. Remember the worth of your work and the value of your time, and don’t view yourself as just a writer. Distractions in their numerous forms will always abound. Yes, writing can often yield to them, but guess what? They can yield to writing, too!

* * *

Karina Bartow is the author Husband in Hiding, available now, and Forgetting My Way Back to You, which will be released October 15, 2018 by Vinspire Publishing. To learn more, visit http://www.karinabartow.com.
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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5 comments Friday Speak Out, Karina Bartow, work at home, working from home, worth as a writer, writer inspiration, writing distractions

Friday Speak Out!: Writing and Distractions

by Penny Wilson

I never thought about how many distractions I let get in the way when I am having a “writing day,” until I actually paid attention. This is what my day was like a few weeks ago when I decided I was going to “buckle down and get some writing done.”

I slept until 7am. I'm anxious to get up and start my day. I'm going spend my day at the keyboard and be productive. This is what I've promised myself.

I get up and make a cup of coffee and linger while I watch a bit of the morning news.

I look at my phone and check my emails.

I had better take Rocket for a walk. If I wait much longer, it will be too hot to walk him.

The morning news distracts me and I stand, frozen, staring at the TV. I snap out of it and turn the TV off.

Rocket and I are hot and sweaty by the time we get back to the house. By now it's after 9am. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten yet so I go to the kitchen. I have some toast and finish another cup of coffee.
I need to start a load of laundry. I go to the bedroom to get the laundry basket.

Finally, I sit down at the keyboard. Coffee? No too late and too warm for coffee. I need something cold to drink. I'm back up and head for the kitchen.

Iced tea in hand, I look at the clock above my desk. It's 10:30am! Where has the morning gone?

I sit down at the desk and fire up my laptop.

So for the next, God-knows-how-long, I check my email, look at my Twitter feed, look at WordPress.

"Oops, I need to get that load of laundry into the dryer. Hmmmm, I should probably strip the bed today and change the sheets. ...sigh. Yes, I really should."

I finally open up Scrivener. I look up at the clock and it's 11:30am!

"Maybe I should think about lunch before I really get down to work here."

Where did the morning go?! I haven't typed a word yet and the entire morning is gone!

I sit down at my desk, with a bowl of soup next to me. Finally, I start to pluck away at the keyboard. Its past noon.

After a couple of hours or so of work, I look down at my meager word count and frown.

“I need to fold that load of laundry and I still need to put fresh sheets on the bed. I haven't posted anything in a couple of days; maybe I should work on a post for my blog."

On Monday, my friends will ask what I did over the weekend. "Oh, I spent my weekend at the keyboard."

Maybe I need to rethink the investment of the Time Share on that deserted island. I would have fewer distractions!

* * *

I'm a  freelance writer that writes in several genres. I've had a successful blog with a growing and loyal following for more than 5 years. I've written articles for Counseling Directory .org and Introvert, Dear .com. I'm currently working on my first novel. You can find more of my writings on my blog at: https://pennywilsonwrites.com/ and follow me on Twitter @pennywilson123.
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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4 comments Friday Speak Out, Penny Wilson, writing distractions

The Reality of Working From Home

We all know the benefits of working from home. But today, I wanted to shake things up a bit and talk about the not-so-glamorous side of working where you also sleep, bathe, eat and raise your kids and fur babies.

1. Working from home gets lonely. I consider myself an introvert, but I still miss the “good old days” of friendly water cooler chats and catching up with coworkers over the coffeepot. I also don’t get to meet people for lunch as often, either. I mean, there’s only so much I can talk to my dog about when all he really wants to do is drag me around the block on his leash or nap under my desk while the kids are at school. If you ever see me pop up on Twitter or Facebook in the middle of the day with a random comment like “Not enough coffee in the world today!” you’ll recognize it as my desperate attempt to make human contact in any way possible.

2. You sometimes forget to shower . . . for days. Not long ago I shared a story on Facebook (again, because I have no water cooler) about how my husband came home one day, told me I looked nice and asked if I had done anything differently. I replied, “Well, I showered and blow dried my hair.” He was baffled. One morning, after several days of working on a tight deadline, I swear I could not remember when the last time I washed my hair was. Thankfully my other friends and colleagues who work from home joke with me that they’ve all done the exact same thing at one point or another.

3. Cable Television and Netflix. You see where I’m going with this one. Some people who work from home get distracted by doing the dishes, folding laundry or cleaning bathrooms. Me? I spend my lunch hour munching on a sandwich and watching reruns of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on the USA Network or “Disappeared” or “Deadly Devotion” on Discovery ID. Every now and then I get a story idea during this time period that I actually end up using so for now, let’s just call my little love affair with television “research” and all will be forgiven, right?

So to recap, the pros of working from home are that you can work at your own pace, wear what you want, write with animals in your lap and play the music obnoxiously loud. The cons are loneliness, poor hygiene habits, non-writing related distractions and trying to concentrate when your home is undergoing a renovation project and your office is so full of furniture from other rooms in the house that you can’t shut the doors to keep the hammering at bay. That’s this week anyway. What about you?

 Renee Roberson is an award-winning freelance writer and editor who blogs at Renee’s Pages.

This is what my home office looked like about five years ago. Let's just say this clean and organized room is a distant memory!

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7 comments home offices, Renee Roberson, working from home, writing distractions, writing humor