How To Create A Better Writing Space (And Other Thoughts on Writing)

I think writing is one of the stranger hobbies in the world. It's easily one of the most valuable ways that I spend my time, and I love doing it, but rare is the time that I actually want to do it. The moment I sit down to write, I go into a kind of temporary insanity wherein I can think of nothing more important than organizing closets and checking my Facebook.

Sometimes my cat, Frasier, will sit down on my lap while I'm writing and I'll think, well, maybe I'll just pet this little guy for a bit...and then three hours will pass, and I will not have written a thing.

Frasier with Wheat Thins

The comfort I have is that a lot of writers deal with this, probably all. If you are a writer and you have not adapted this strange set of problems, but you would like to, here is a short list of things to do instead of writing:

1. Blankly stare at nothing
2. Shop online
3. Nap with your mouth open
4. Dance in front of a full-length mirror
5. Make a really detailed sandwich
6. Find the most echoey spot in your apartment and sing Beyonce's Irreplaceable (my neighbor's favorite option)
7. Watch hair videos on YouTube 
8. Read Harry Potter
9. Make faces in the mirror
10. Get lost in a Wikipedia trance starting with Pearl Harbor and ending with Bladder (about 50 degrees of separation, by the way.)

You get the point. It is easy to do anything other than write. But now that I am taking writing more seriously as a career path for myself, I have decided that this crap has got to stop.

It probably won't ever stop, but I have slowly been creating systems in my life to help make me a more focused writer. One of the most effective things I have done so far is set up a proper writing space in my home. Here is the proof:

I've since made a few more changes that I will be sharing with you today, but basically, welcome to my zone. It seems simple because it really is, but there are elements to it that have made it perfect for me and my apartment.

On top of that, I'd like to give you some tips that will hopefully help you create your new writing space, and I might even throw in a few of my favorite general writing tips as well. If you're here just for the writing tips, skip down to #7.

Step 1: Pick an area that you actually want to be in your home.

In my life, I make a distinction between a workspace and a creative space. When working, you want to eliminate all distractions so you can focus on your Quickbooks or whatever. We have a desk that we use as a workspace, but I hardly ever write there.

It's nice enough. It's a really solid desk and it's got some things about it that are really great, so why don't I use it?

Answer: It's haunted.

That's a lie. Sorry. Actually, the answer is that it's just not a place I like to hang out in our apartment. It's right by the kitchen so if Daniel is in there, I am acutely aware of every clink of every dish. It's also by Frasier's litter box, so sometimes I'll be moving right along in my writing when suddenly a stench of death will overtake the entire area. Most importantly, there is no natural lighting in that area. You can't really tell from the picture, but it's a very dark place...practically haunted...

...which leads me to step 2...

Step 2: If you can, write by a window. 

My writing space is indeed by a window, but the bummer comes when I have to look out of it.

Are you depressed yet?

Wah wah. I love almost everything about Brooklyn, except for this one specific view. The reason I like to sit by windows usually is because of all of the creativity that flows from watching people doing their people things and plants doing their plant things and animals doing their animal things. That's one of the big differences between a workspace and a creative space. While you don't want distractions, you do want inspiration. A quick break to look up at a couple sitting on their porch together or a tree swaying in the breeze could be the turning point in your writing.

Unfortunately, that's just not a realistic option for me right now, but this window gets the job done in so much as a good deal of natural light makes its way through it. Natural light reminds us that there is an outside which reminds us that there is nature which reminds us that we have a God who loves us enough to give us nature. I thoroughly believe that taking in sunlight is a surefire way to boost your creativity, and there is science that backs me up in that.

Step 3: Use a great surface/buy the same table I have.

Let me tell you about this table, guys. This is no ordinary table.

We got this bad boy at IKEA, knowing full well that it would change our lives, and sweet goodness, it has not disappointed. At first glance, it's just a run-of-the-mill table, small even. But the truth is, this table is basically Optimus Prime. 

Meet NORDEN. Here are his three forms:

When it's not being a table, it's just a shelf!

Also drawers!

Today I've opted to fill my drawer with tortilla chips, but feel free to fill yours with something sane like pens. 

I cannot say enough about this table. I basically wrote this entire post so that I could brag about it. We bought it as a kitchen table because, like most New York City apartments, our space can get kind of cramped. Having a table that can basically collapse into a small shelf is a step away from magic in this town. While a lot of people would steer you away from using a utilitarian space for writing, I actually like that my writing space doubles as a kitchen table. It forces me to always keep it clean. 

Regardless, make sure you have a designated space wide enough for your pointy elbows, but not wide enough for you to even think about resting your head on it. This seems obvious, but think about that tiny desk you had in your dorm room and how many pencil cups you threw across the room in frustration with it. Think about that.

Step 4: Remove all unnecessary distractions (just keep it clean).

I think that there is a temptation to leave your work in a cluttered mess because Einstein said it made you a genius or whatever. It doesn't. It actually just makes you sad (again, science).

This chick knows what I'm talking about.

Keep your stuff clean, simple as that. This goes for the entire home because, again, the greatest urge you will fight as a writer is to do the dishes instead. You never wanted to do a dish in your life, but now the desire is so overwhelmingly strong that you can hardly contain yourself. If the dishes are done, this temptation will be drastically decreased. 

If you are just not a clean person, just get out of there. Stop reading this and go to a coffee shop (I opt to do this as seldom as possible because going to coffee shops usually means spending money...which is not something I have a lot of).

Step 5: Keep your favorite materials handy.

Keep your area stocked with only the essentials (your laptop, a legal pad, notecards, sticky notes, pens, and a water bottle). If you're someone who uses pencils, I guess have pencils. Each of these essentials should be your favorite version. For instance, inches from my fingertips, I have the best pens in all of human history. They are called Le Pen by Marvy. They are made in Japan, and when I use one, I simply feel like an artist. 

Buy them. You will feel like an artist too. 

I think it's important to have favorite tools as a writer because it leads to a greater sense of ownership. Don't be afraid to be a little snobby about it. Maybe you're writing is sucking it up that day, but look how pretty the ink is when it comes out of this glorious pen! 

Put your Le Pens in your favorite mug, set them aside, and feel very affirmed in all of your creative choices. 

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Emily, for the gift of this PERFECT mug!

Do you have a favorite pen/writing tool? Tell me more! Unless it's those Pilot pens that smear everywhere (my husband's favorite).

Step 6: Make it cozy...but not too cozy.

Let's examine my chair for a moment. 

This thing was $9 at IKEA and was bought out of absolute apathy. It turns out nice chairs are expensive, and I'd rather spend my money on better things like Cat Print button-downs and Hulu Plus. 

It's not the comfiest chair I've ever sat in, but it gets the job done. And it turns out that I am even grateful for the pain in the ass that creeps up in the second hour of sitting in it. It reminds me to keep going, and it keeps me focused. I'm not saying go buy yourself an uncomfortable chair on purpose, but don't deck your creative space out like you are going to live in it for the rest of your life. If you do, distractions are bound to creep up, and you will probably end up taking a totally underserved nap. 

Just keep it simple.

Put some flowers in a vase and let things exist in your space without turning it into a collage of your life's trials and tribulations. 

Which seamlessly leads me to my final and most fun point...

Step 7: Make it inspirational. 

I love that my space is seated right beneath a book shelf because it just reminds me of all of the people in this world who just decided to do it. He could have just taken lengthy naps instead, but no, Michael Crichton wrote. Emily Bronte wrote. Betty Friedan wrote. David Sedaris wrote. C.S. Lewis wrote.

Whether you use actual works of literature, Scripture, quotes, a picture of your son/daughter, make your writing space a place that inspires you to write. 

I recently made some printouts with pretty fonts and colors in order to remind me of some of the truths I've learned about the writing process.

Also, make your space smell good with a delicious candle!

If you can't read these, they say Write It Down, Shitty First Drafts, and Short Assignments. These might mean nothing to you right now, but I'll explain, and maybe you'll want to print them too!

This is something my good friend Patrick says to me whenever I say something funny in a conversation. It always makes me feel like a million bucks. Basically, what I've learned from this statement is that a lot of the things worth writing down are things that live outside of the traditional writing process. They come in conversations or in your sleep or when someone smiles at you at just the right time in your day. You never know when inspiration will strike, and that is why, if you're a writer, you should never leave any hint of your brilliance unwritten. I make notes all day because of Patrick's encouraging words. 90% are nonsense. 7% are bad ideas in hindsight. But that last 3% are like the sperm that makes it ahead of all of his loser sperm friends. Gross. Forget I said that. 

This one, I learned from a book by Anne Lamott titled Bird by Bird. By the way, I would recommend this book to any writer at any stage. It's filled with incredibly practical advice and colored with the sardonic wit of a woman who, like all writers, soars and sinks between her own glory and despair. It. Is. Wonderful.

Apart from using one of my favorite swear words, these words really resonate with me. Shitty First Drafts is one of the chapter titles in her book, and its a principle she teaches her students in her writing class. Here's Anne:

The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page. If one of the characters wants to say, "Well, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?," you just let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to get into really sentimental, weepy, emotional, territory, you let him. Just get it all down on paper, because there may be something great in those six crazy pages that you would never have gotten to by more rational grown-up means. 

I write a lot of shitty first drafts. I pretty much only write shitty first drafts, and having this little print on my desk reminds me that it's okay. I mean, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?!

Short Assignments also comes from Bird by Bird. It's a chapter of the same title. 

Often when you sit down to write, what you have in mind is an autobiographical novel about your childhood or a play about the immigrant experience, or a history of --oh, say -- say women. But this is like trying to scale a glacier. It's hard to get your footing, and your fingertips get all red and frozen and torn up. Then your mental illnesses arrive at the desk like your sickest, most secretive relatives. And they pull up chairs in a semicircle around the computer, and they try to be quiet but you know they are there with their weird coppery breath, leering at you behind your back.

This anxiety that Lamott describes is a lot of why I think to do my most odious chores whenever I sit down to write. The self-doubt, the gravity of it all -- it is consuming.

But what she suggests in this chapter is that we don't have to have it all figured out when we sit down at our NORDEN table.

E.L. Doctorow once said that "writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard.

God, I hope that's true because there is so much about my future that is beyond the glimpse of my headlights.


Anyway, guys, I know this whole thing has been about creating an optimal writing environment, but you could write on the hood of your car, and you'd still be a writer. You could write while skydiving or in the mouth of a volcano, and I say go for it (also, I say, try not to die).

As long you are writing somewhere, you are doing something really special. 

I'll end with one more quote from Bird by Bird and then you will have to promise me that you'll go out and buy it:

What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.

Sit down at your awesome space by a window with minimal distractions and lots of inspiration, and write a world. 

I hope this was helpful to some of you! I would love to hear some of your suggestions on writing spaces and writing in general. Also, as always, if the spirit moves you, feel free to Pin this so that others can learn about the joys of a good place to write!

And P.S. If you want to start feeling like Hemingway today, below are some of the tools we talked about that you can buy right NOW:

    

P.P.S. Did you like this post? Want to read more of my ramblings on the writing process? Well...here's the thing: I actually don't blog on this website anymore. Bummer, I know. HOWEVER, you can instead find me over on my new site, christyoshoney.com (that's my name dot com). I'm there on the reg talking about creativity & confidence (and writing, of course). 

I also share a ton of writing tips & bits of life wisdom via my email list. If you want in on that goodness, you can sign up below and you'll also receive a FREE copy of my ebook "Your Dreams Aren't Dumb."

>>Sign up here to grab your FREE e-book<<

IKEA and Other Letdowns

You know this scene from 500 Days of Summer?



How fun does this look? Don't you wish you were as quirky and carefree as these two?

Well, the other day when Daniel and I were planning a trip to IKEA, this is pretty much exactly how I imagined everything going. We would run around the store without any consideration for other customers (in fact, in our minds we would pity their lack of freedom), we would pretend that all of the model rooms were our home, and Daniel would say something clever like, "Darling, I don't know how to tell you this, but there is a Chinese family in our bathroom," and we would laugh and laugh. It all seemed so doable.

Believe it or not, that is not how our trip went. How could it? I'm not Zooey Deschanel, and we were not there for a date. We were there to make serious decisions about serious pieces of furniture for our very serious apartment. Now, I've had different experiences at IKEA, and I'll admit that it can be fun as long as you are just browsing. However, when you're there to get business done, it is like walking through each circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno. Each section is a new decision which brings along a new level of stress, and at certain points, you begin to wonder if there is even a way out.

A Map of Dante's Hell

Map of IKEA. It's a different layout, but you can't deny the similarities. 

What broke me was when we were deciding on curtains. We've just moved into a new apartment, and the view from our windows is of barbed wire and about fifty other apartments. I want to get our windows covered, like, yesterday. When we got to the window section, we had already made about 1,000 different trivial decisions and there were crying babies and messy beds everywhere and all I could think about was that $1 cinnamon roll at the end of the store that seemed so far away. By the time Daniel told me that he hadn't measured the windows (to be fair, neither had I. I would never have thought of that), I had completely forgotten how to think. All of the bright patterns and umlauts had finally broken my brain, and I let out a strange grunting noise and let my body collapse onto a FÖRHÖJA.

What made this trip even more difficult was that I had this romanticized idea of what a visit to IKEA  should look like. Obviously, I didn't think it would be exactly like 500 Days of Summer, but I at least had a strong misconception that it would be some romantic experience. While the whole notion that life is not like the movies is absolutely a cliche at this point, I am the type of person who constantly forgets that. I do this a lot, more often than you would think, and I am always disappointed.

Here is a short list of experiences from movies that set me up for disappointment:

1. Painting our apartment (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Expectation: We're going to paint love notes on the walls and splatter paint onto each other's faces without making a mess and we will laugh and laugh and laugh!
Reality: We paint in a room with no air-conditioning and I sweat like a faucet.

2. Riding the subway (Rent)

Expectation: I am going to love this! There are going to be tons of interesting people, and there are those rails that you can hold onto, and we're all going to dance and sing and laugh and laugh and laugh!
Reality: There are rats everywhere and it can take you an hour to travel seven miles and sometimes it is so crowded that you have to basically lay your entire body on total strangers.

3. Watching Fireworks (The Sandlot)

Expectation: The entire sky above me will be lit up and I will have a hotdog in one hand and a vintage Coca Cola in the other and, in our amazement, we will all laugh and laugh and laugh!
Reality: There are some dim lights in the distance that are vaguely colorful and I have to pee.

4. New York Weather (You've Got Mail)*

Expectation: It will be crisp and cool year round and I will look adorable in my coat-and-snuggly-scarf combo and I will own a charming children's bookstore and all of my co-workers and I will laugh and laugh and LAUGH!!!!
Reality: Sometimes it is so hot and muggy that my face feels like soup. Also, I don't own a bookstore.

*To be fair, this movie is mostly set in the fall and winter. For some reason, I just assumed that New York weather was always perfect.



People are pretty negative towards having too many expectations, and I think they are generally right. Someone wise has probably said this to you at one point in your life:

Expectations are premeditated resentments (or disappointments).

If no one has said that to you, just pretend I made it up. But here is another quote that I think I really did make up:

Disappointments are like baby carrots; They will almost never kill you.

I made this image so you could pin it on Pinterest. The sunset and butterfly indicate its high level of inspiration.

Yep. That's my quote. You can tell because it basically makes no sense, but let's pretend for a second that it does.

I would argue that if expectations lead to disappointments, maybe that isn't the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Just like baby carrots, disappointments are gross. You feel kind of cheated out of something great, and you've got a terrible taste in your mouth. Baby carrots, however, will almost never kill you (unless you have an allergy which I assume is rare, or God forbid, you choke on one) and the same is true of our disappointments. At the end of the day, baby carrots aren't the end of the world, and some people will actually tell you that they are good for you.

I look back on our IKEA experience and I kind of love it. It is true, I probably should not have expected it to be a romantic comedy, but that's part of why it's so great. I remember that day and I think about how distraught I felt and how awesome Daniel was at taking care of me. At the time, we didn't laugh and laugh and laugh, but when we think about IKEA now, we pretty much can't stop laughing.

The same is true of all of my other "disappointments". No, the weather in New York isn't the perfect chill I had always dreamed of, and yes, sometimes someone sits next to you on the subway and decides to clip their fingernails, but it's almost better this way. From the ashes of expectations comes a sense of humor about things. Sometimes I need my idealistic world to be rocked to find a realistic sense of appreciation.

Some people can skip these steps altogether and just enjoy things immediately. These people are better than me, but I kind of like my system.

Also, sometimes your expectations actually come to fruition, and that can be pretty great too.

Despite the sweat, we actually did end up painting love notes on our apartments walls