If you want to write prolifically and productively, you need to start thinking of writing as your life, and adjust your lifestyle accordingly. By adjust your lifestyle, I mean taking into account what you eat, how you exercise, your sleeping patterns - and equally critically, where you put writing in your daily schedule. Here, I want to look at creating the right environment to maximise your effectiveness as a writer.
Where is your writing space? Is it in the middle of the kids' play area, or facing the kitchen, which is always begging you to clean it? Do you even have a writing space? To be honest, I'm not going to tell you that you have to have a dedicated writing space that you don't do anything else in, though there are people who argue this. For the first month or so of my challenge, I wrote in my four-poster bed. Every night I would get home from the gym, have a shower, dinner, and then jump straight into bed and turn on the lanterns that I had hung from each post. I would then write for a few hours before going to sleep. Of course, this breaks my rules about how to get a good night sleep, but I have absolutely no problem with sleeping - it's the staying awake that is the difficulty. This was a great time in my writing life.
After my tax return arrived, I bought a present for myself and my writing life: my Writing Chair (it in itself is not special; it's IKEA and probably half the world has the same chair, but it's given significance by my treatment of it). I aim to do nothing in that chair except write. Is my writing any better for it? Hard to tell, but my back is happier. Having the chair also puts me in the mindframe of writing each time I sit in it, because that's its purpose in my house.
Surroundings: I live in a one bedroom apartment, so my chair is in my main living area facing the kitchen. I find that sitting facing an unclean kitchen can be highly stressful, and constantly tempts me to leave my writing in order to clean. While I know it's possible to train yourself to block out the niggling thoughts about cleaning, I simply hired a cleaner. For the price of staying an hour and a half longer at work (or not going out to a movie and dinner), I come home every second week to a completely clean apartment. Definitely worth it.
However, I have made considerable efforts to make my living environment nice. I have rearranged furniture so I have bookshelves with inspirational books within arm's reach. I have put up inspirational words and favourite quotes, and I have plants nearby. I don't know exactly why, but a healthy, flourishing maidenhair fern brings peace to my soul. (The wilting Japanese peace lily a friend has left with me, on the other hand, is not so great.) I also have large prints of places I've travelled to and adventures I've had, which excites my imagination.
Lighting is very important to me, and not just having good light. Sometimes I need low, mood lighting, while at other times I need sunlight streaming in. I've fiddled around with my lighting options, and have a lamp that has a warm light bulb in it, along with my down lights, and moved my chair to be situated right near the windows. How does lighting affect you? Are your lights too harsh? Do you need to invest in a lamp? You might be surprised the difference it makes.
I also have different scented candles that I light depending on the book I'm working on. This way, I associate smells not only with my writing, but a particular style and atmosphere of writing.
I once heard about writer who had tried unsuccessfully to write while raising young children. She eventually tried locking them in a play pen so she could sit down and write, but the complaints and noise made that impossible. So her solution? She set the kids free and locked herself in the playpen! And it actually worked for her, so don't be afraid to think outside the box (or in this case, inside it!).
So, now I want you to visualise your ideal writing situation. If you could write anywhere, with no budget restrictions, what is around you? At least, what are the key elements?
There are two images for me that recur in my mind:
A clear, light conservatory, with a comfortable chair and greenery around me. A water feature and cool breeze, with a side table that has shelves for books and can hold my pot of exotic tea that I breathe in deeply while thinking.
The other is of a warm, carpeted study. Large French style windows look out into tree branches, dark wood bookshelves surround a large mahogany desk facing into the room. In that warm room are comfortable chairs for curling up and reading fireside. The room smells of fresh coffee.
The amount of light and contrasts are of salient importance to me. The nearness of the books inspire me, and the use of natural elements such as wood soothes me. The images probably mean I don't need much memory input, such as the photographs I have up around me, as the books do that for me. I try to recreate the essence of these two images as much as I can in my current environment.
Describe your imaginary writing space in as much detail as you can, even down to the scent in the air. Spend five minutes trying to go deeper: where is the light coming from? What is closest to you? What colours dominate the scene? Are you sitting, standing, reclined? How are you supported: feet up with a neck rest, sitting on a desk chair, no back rest? What is your method of writing - desktop, laptop, typewriter? Once you have gotten as much detail out as you can, go through and make a list of elements that are most important to you. Then from these, implement any you can into your current space.
Where is your writing space? Is it in the middle of the kids' play area, or facing the kitchen, which is always begging you to clean it? Do you even have a writing space? To be honest, I'm not going to tell you that you have to have a dedicated writing space that you don't do anything else in, though there are people who argue this. For the first month or so of my challenge, I wrote in my four-poster bed. Every night I would get home from the gym, have a shower, dinner, and then jump straight into bed and turn on the lanterns that I had hung from each post. I would then write for a few hours before going to sleep. Of course, this breaks my rules about how to get a good night sleep, but I have absolutely no problem with sleeping - it's the staying awake that is the difficulty. This was a great time in my writing life.
After my tax return arrived, I bought a present for myself and my writing life: my Writing Chair (it in itself is not special; it's IKEA and probably half the world has the same chair, but it's given significance by my treatment of it). I aim to do nothing in that chair except write. Is my writing any better for it? Hard to tell, but my back is happier. Having the chair also puts me in the mindframe of writing each time I sit in it, because that's its purpose in my house.
Surroundings: I live in a one bedroom apartment, so my chair is in my main living area facing the kitchen. I find that sitting facing an unclean kitchen can be highly stressful, and constantly tempts me to leave my writing in order to clean. While I know it's possible to train yourself to block out the niggling thoughts about cleaning, I simply hired a cleaner. For the price of staying an hour and a half longer at work (or not going out to a movie and dinner), I come home every second week to a completely clean apartment. Definitely worth it.
However, I have made considerable efforts to make my living environment nice. I have rearranged furniture so I have bookshelves with inspirational books within arm's reach. I have put up inspirational words and favourite quotes, and I have plants nearby. I don't know exactly why, but a healthy, flourishing maidenhair fern brings peace to my soul. (The wilting Japanese peace lily a friend has left with me, on the other hand, is not so great.) I also have large prints of places I've travelled to and adventures I've had, which excites my imagination.
Lighting is very important to me, and not just having good light. Sometimes I need low, mood lighting, while at other times I need sunlight streaming in. I've fiddled around with my lighting options, and have a lamp that has a warm light bulb in it, along with my down lights, and moved my chair to be situated right near the windows. How does lighting affect you? Are your lights too harsh? Do you need to invest in a lamp? You might be surprised the difference it makes.
I also have different scented candles that I light depending on the book I'm working on. This way, I associate smells not only with my writing, but a particular style and atmosphere of writing.
I once heard about writer who had tried unsuccessfully to write while raising young children. She eventually tried locking them in a play pen so she could sit down and write, but the complaints and noise made that impossible. So her solution? She set the kids free and locked herself in the playpen! And it actually worked for her, so don't be afraid to think outside the box (or in this case, inside it!).
So, now I want you to visualise your ideal writing situation. If you could write anywhere, with no budget restrictions, what is around you? At least, what are the key elements?
There are two images for me that recur in my mind:
A clear, light conservatory, with a comfortable chair and greenery around me. A water feature and cool breeze, with a side table that has shelves for books and can hold my pot of exotic tea that I breathe in deeply while thinking.
The other is of a warm, carpeted study. Large French style windows look out into tree branches, dark wood bookshelves surround a large mahogany desk facing into the room. In that warm room are comfortable chairs for curling up and reading fireside. The room smells of fresh coffee.
The amount of light and contrasts are of salient importance to me. The nearness of the books inspire me, and the use of natural elements such as wood soothes me. The images probably mean I don't need much memory input, such as the photographs I have up around me, as the books do that for me. I try to recreate the essence of these two images as much as I can in my current environment.
Describe your imaginary writing space in as much detail as you can, even down to the scent in the air. Spend five minutes trying to go deeper: where is the light coming from? What is closest to you? What colours dominate the scene? Are you sitting, standing, reclined? How are you supported: feet up with a neck rest, sitting on a desk chair, no back rest? What is your method of writing - desktop, laptop, typewriter? Once you have gotten as much detail out as you can, go through and make a list of elements that are most important to you. Then from these, implement any you can into your current space.
About the Author:
This is an excerpt from Buffy Greentree's book 'The Five Day Writer's Retreat', available now on Amazon. Five_day_Writer_Retreat
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