As I look around my living/dining room area, I’m dismayed but chuckling. It looks as if it has been hit by a tornado. No, I don’t have small children. I’m writing 3 papers due in January for 2010 presentations.
What is it about writing that makes me turn my immediate surroundings into a complete mess. Living alone, I try to leave my home in such a state that if unexpected company arrives, I will not be embarrassed to invite them in. I have no excuses for the mess as I did when married or when I had children in the house. 
However, this year I went back to school to finish my doctorate degree. I willingly gave up the dining room table to stacks of papers, reference books, studies, notes etc. Yes, I have a desk. It was covered too. One of the great joys was putting all that away and reclaiming my living space once the Dean signed that dissertation.
Now, I’ve been asked to write 3 papers to present the findings of that study at various symposiums. And once again, my work area is piled high with everything. Do I need all these items out in front of me? No. However, for some reason, I could not get settled into writing without all the chaos about me.
Rather than fight it, I’ve decided the chaos around me is like Linus’ security blanket. It brings me comfort in a strange way that makes no sense. So, I look at my mess and smile, knowing that I’m creating something from it and it’s okay. Once these presentations are completed, my living space will be mine again.
Do you change your environment when you write? Must you have things a certain way or certain things around you to allow the creative juices to flow?
i use a combo of shea butter and aloe vera moisturizer. Works great. I use shea butter on my lips, around my eyes and nose (dry areas), My father swears by vasoline.
p.s. I dropped your name on Gina's post, Barb. ;)
oh this sounds very familiar to me. sit at the dining room table and pile high until things fall off.
so move some stuff onto the chairs, prop stuff up on the chair.
when they are full, turn to the sideboard……move all your candles away, this leaves more space to line things up in a nice row. the window sill is good too, stack the books just right so I can see whats whats.
omg…….I totally forgot to mention my desk
moving between desk/laptop area to table works great.
oh the stack of books papers beside my bed on the floor almost forgot that.
oh ya all too familiar to me.
Writing space you say…it mostly depends on the strength of whatever just crossed my mind, and whether the clutter (some might call it…but I call it my tools) is nearby, behind me, or across the room, my thoughts have to find a voice in print. I do keep a tome, my favorite Webster’s dictionary of 2028 pages, a spelling pocket dictionary within hand’s reach, a Roget’s thesarus (with ragged edges, and grey duct tape holding it together) at arm’s length, and then if editing, there’s no room to place even an extra pen…. And too, there’s the nights my mind simply will not turn off and I sneak as quietly as possible down the stairs to the computer room; it seems those times are the most inspiring; maybe it’s because the day isn’t looking over my shoulder and my words have such a lovely feel of freedom: I liken it to the whispers spoken in the night, the dark giving courage to say what’s on a mind. See, you opened the gate, and I gave no thought to anything but what traveled from my brain to my fingers…and now in print! Elizabeth
Love it….thank you! You are write (pun intended)…the tools of the trade must be close….within arms reach….and you are also correct….sometimes (often) we must get up and get those words down despite the time.
In fact, I’ve been asked to write a chapter in an upcoming book. I’ve been struggling with how to make the study I completed on communication fit into a book on ethics…About 2am this morning while tossing and turning it came to me. A perfect fit I would have never considered in the bright light of day.
Wish me luck! And thank you for responding.
Thank you for responding. You are write (pun intended) I forgot to mention the floor, the chairs, etc.
My writing environment is absolutely anywhere I can take my laptop! I recently succeeded in completing the NaNoWriMo competition – which is to write 50 thousand words of an original prose between the 1st & 30th November. As I work, have two teenagers -Mum’s taxi – and a home to run I found any moment of ‘down time’ to write franticly waiting beside the soccer field or in the gymnasium. I even used my lunch hours to write at work the deadline hung before me and focused my efforts in a way I had not experienced before. Once I had finished my story I felt at a sudden loss, no more frantic typing and the world I had created not only a written record of my imagination but a remembered friend.
I have been an organized person since I was four, needing order before I could create. (can you say, Virgo?) When I am ready to sit down to write, blog, or work at my computer, I need everything else in my office/life to have a certain amount of completion. Dishes done, floors clean, things put away. This gives me the calm, and freedom, if you will, to let my mind go, to create.
I have often lambasted myself for being a little too OCD, or “spending too much of my life cleaning and not enough creating” but recently I have come to the conclulsion that this is who I am, and I don’t want to change. It allows me to be free, and I am comfortable with who I am, finally at age 56!.
This makes me chukle because after a couple years of struggling to get her to keep a tidy room, I finally realized she was extremely creative and needed to be surrounded by all her “stuff” to stay that way. If I cleaned things up, she would lose her edge. We settled on closing the door and allowing her “nesting” area to be private. I thought of her as “gerbiling” in her habitat. She is one of the most creative persons I have ever known.
No, but I like to close my eyes when I think fully – in order to eliminate the visual component – so I am blind to any visual chaos. I think any natural environment that is too ordered is just itching for nature to make her beautiful mark of griddefycation. (<— that’s a new word that I’m trying out for TxtngGloss.com) In this dimension, any horizontal space that is in my living/dining room area that doesn’t look as if it has been hit by a tornado, is big enough to sleep in, and OOTPOT (AndOutOfThePathOfTravel ) (<— another new word that I’m trying out for TxtngGloss.com) is the sign of potential insanity growth. Just close your eyes when you’re on a good thought if you can “type without looking at the keyboard” (which I, regrettably, am unable to do) and write!LovinIt,Stemmers
Windows, I love to have windows so I can gaze outside while pondering. Even wrote a poem about it some ears ago. Quiet, also. Dead quiet, so quiet you can hear ants footsteps in the dust.
But, there is still stuff everywhere; books and papers and files and just-might-need-that-later-and-never-do stacks of lines and pieces and scraps of paper. Thank goodness for the guys at “Masterwriter”. I have been able to organize ideas, research and lines and can even take it with on my laptop. Ever find that some of your writing clutter creeps along with you on the road?
Now, if I can just get my sewing room to not look like my desk…..
I love this. I thought some one wrote about my behaviour. It is strange I do not know I thought as I am single and living alone is this the reason my whole dining table is full of books and papers, My living room coffee table is full of news papers. I love to live organised way. When some one coming I clear out the table and put everything in the extra room. then again visitors gone everything come back to the table. I analized my own behaviour. I love reading. I am very curious and knowledge seeker. I love reading specially books related to psychology which analize human behaviour or explain how our mind acts or spiritual learning.So when I go to library I bring all the books that i want to read. some times over 30 with all the dvd etc. I cannot finish so I renew. Then I can see at least the books again on the table. I felt I am living in a fantasy world with the contents of the books. It is not totally true either. I use that knowledge when I am writing with my friends, or when I have to give a speech on different occasions. friends love my inspirational thoughts that i gathered by this reading. I love the cluttered by all papers files around me than plain clean table. As I was a teacher before this cluttered environment give me a some kind of satisfaction that I am still with that past thought process. when I see the cluttered table I feel I am alive and active eventhough I like nice organised table. I like others ideas about this. manel