Feb 24, 2016 / Beginner

Creating the (Physical and Mental) Space to Write

Where do you write? What devices or tools do you need at your desk? Here, four writers describe their ideal spaces to write.

Over at Discover, editor Mike Dang asked five bloggers to describe and take photographs of their writing spaces. Read their responses.

When you write, are you typing at your desktop computer in your home office? Drafting a blog post on your phone, right in the WordPress app? Or are you like Deborah, below, creating your desk for the day at your favorite coffee shop?

To write in, I like a cafe with wooden floors, high ceilings, and tables with ample space. Once committed, I make the place my own. I give myself over to a familiar wafting aroma. I order an Americano, no milk, no sugar please. I arrange my piping hot coffee and writing accoutrements on my “desk,” and then I take in the sounds around me. An espresso maker sputters and whirs to an undercurrent of percussion-driven electronic beats and the indiscernible vocalizations of a female singer. Voices murmur, mostly in French, some in English and a spattering of other languages, about travel plans, relationships in crisis, business.

Distractions, yes, but I am not compelled to do anything about them. They become a backdrop, an entryway into an ongoing narrative. I listen to the tap-tapping sounds around me of others engaged in their own interior monologues and I, finally, begin mine.

— “A Café of One’s Own,” Deborah Murray

Online tools to help set the mood:

Distraction-free environments:
OmmWriter
CreaWriter
Freedom

Notetaking tools:
Simplenote
Google Keep

Ambient sounds:
Coffitivity
Noisli

When we work on our blog posts, some of us prefer to type in silence and solitude, while others may need background noise or interactions with people. And then there are the necessities. A notebook and a pen to jot down ideas? Different-colored Post-its? A pot of coffee?

In one of our Blogging U. Writing 101 courses, we ask participants to describe their current writing space — or to imagine an ideal one. In the past, bloggers have written about their preferred physical environments, devices, tools, and even belongings. But one’s “space to write” goes beyond the tangible: we also need the mental space to tell our stories.

Here, four bloggers reflect on what they need to write.

In “Headspace,” Sandra at What Sandra Thinks describes her former writing space, complete with the perfect desk and chair:

I used to write sitting at a gorgeous 60-year-old mahogany desk, carefully and expertly handcrafted by my late grandfather-in-law. It was nestled in the corner of our spare room. I would type away into the night. A big cozy chair beside the desk gave me a place to write when I wanted to sit back and go old-school with pen and paper.

Then we had children.

The spare room was no longer spare. The old beautiful desk had to be relocated to the corner of the living room. The comfy chair is in my bedroom. I still went to that desk and that chair to write, but it was different. Not bad different or good different. Just different.

apple-iphone-smartphone-desk

At Retro Girl and the Chemo Kid, Kiri honors the memory of her daughter Zoe, who died at the age of six. In one post, she beautifully reflects on finding the space to write:

The physical space I write in is nothing special — usually I just take my laptop into bed or park myself on the sofa, sometimes following the sunny spots around the house like a cat. But the mental space to write in is something else. . . .

I still need plenty of alone time to process my thoughts and feelings, but it’s less through thinking than it is through purposely not thinking. When I can empty my mind by dancing, by gardening, by focusing on physically creating something like prayer flags or button angels.

It’s in those moments, when my mind is empty of conscious thought, that an insight from those connections might percolate to the surface, that my little angel muse will pop up unexpectedly, in a fleeting thought or sudden jolt of memory and I find myself in the space to write. About her, for her, for my own healing, for however my hard won life lessons (or hers) might touch someone else.

In D.B. Hall‘s response, he describes a framed page from a medieval prayer book, the Book of Hours, on his office wall, and how it reminds him that writing takes time and effort:

This single page on the wall serves as a reminder of how precious and intentional writing once was, and the extreme amount of labor and care required to produce just one book (which was likely years). While the tools we have available today allow us to crank out lots of text in a short time, I need a reminder that my writing should demonstrate a thoughtful investment of time, self-discipline, respect for the reader, and reverence for the craft.  This wall-hanging is material evidence of a deep abiding respect for what went on the page.

Image by D.B. Hall

Image by D.B. Hall

In “Building Castles in the Sky,” Elizabeth Zertuche says that writing by hand, carrying a notebook, and being surrounded by books and other writers all encourage her creative process:

I feel the most comfortable writing with just pen and paper. I find myself doing more self-editing when I write on my laptop because the medium makes the words look more like a finished product. Writing with pen and paper makes my writing feel like a work in progress and more like a draft. Writing by hand I am less concerned with formatting and word count.

How about you? Where do you go to write? What do you need?

For more inspiration, read about other bloggers’ writing spaces on Discover.
Discover-Vertical-Gray

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  1. I love bouncing in and out of the fictional world wherever I am, my writing space follows me. The setting, weather I am alone or surrounded becomes irrelevant as I am not longer within this setting but a whole new world in my head. Thanks for sharing, this was an insightful read!

    Liked by 3 people

  4. I must write in bed, in a cold room with a fan blowing on me, in total darkness. If I lived in Alaska, I’d be one happy writer. Loved this post, btw.

    Liked by 6 people

  5. I think the space doesn’t matter as much as the content. Even if I’m in my space (which is basically anywhere) and I have no ideas to write about, then I just sit in that spot, staring off into the abyss for a while. Usually, I just move around to keep the blood flowing.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. I seem to be able to get into a zone outside. I just begin to take in the sun rays and the words begin to fill my mind and flow on the paper. It may be structured wrong but later I will go back and see where I can go with the ideas I came up with.

    Liked by 4 people

  13. I loved this post. I am a new writer and find that I have to squeeze my writing moments into my son’s nap times. There is nothing more painful than when he wakes up before I am finished writing. I need to write alone in my house. My husband can’t be home and my son can’t be awake. I just can’t get my thoughts down if they are up and about.

    Liked by 4 people

  14. Right now the physical space are my “spare/studio/laundry/locker/whatever my wife wants to do in there room”, the dining room or occasionally a coffee shop, the process could be, typewritter first draft, pen and paper second draft, and finally laptop or pen and paper first draft, typewritter second draft and finally laptop, sometimes I skip one of the step and very rarely I just do laptop direct wordpress writing. I try to never publish on the same day I write, I save the draft and the next day I read it one last time and then publish, very rarely I publish the same day I write. Oh and the mind set I can’t control it right now, there are days when I jot some ideas on the notebook and other days when I just write 5000 words, been the last very rare.

    Liked by 3 people

  15. As long as I’m feeling it it doesn’t matter where I am writing, I often like to move around as well so I can rarely sit for hours without shuffling all the time, however if the feeling is right nothing really stands in my way.

    Liked by 3 people

  17. I like the choice of 3 photos. they illustrate perfectly various ways of going into writing mode – better than words haha! The old typewriter on top, with memories of classic films with reporters and writers pecking away, is an image of what I thought my writing desk would be like – but thank goodness for present-day tools 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  18. Am still discover what fits for me. Currently I write right here in front of the computer screen, but late at night. Why? i just hate when people/family member pass by and seeing what am writing or drawing. Then they start asking me 101 questions. Still trying out if going to starbucks to do my writing is better, but so far the current one I go to is to small. I need a little bit of space when writing.

    Liked by 4 people

  19. umm i was more of a reader but recently i’ve started to write and i greatly hope that i continue to do so. My place for inspiration is by the window, the serenity that engulfs me there, the soft gentle breeze on my face and that moon in sight, is what that inspires me to think. I pour out my thoughts onto the e-journal in my phone, sitting on the bed until it lulls me to sleep.

    Liked by 3 people

  20. First of all, beautiful site! Second of all, I loved reading your piece as it got me thinking about what inspires me. Instead of a place or thing, it is actually my mood; specifically the extremes. When I am elated, words gush out of me and when I’m fuming and sporting a horned tail, I also find that the words flow easy!

    Liked by 6 people

  22. Thanks for this post giving some helpfull tips for writing. In my case, i just have my desk with my laptop. Juste the sound of my fishtank water. Somehow, it’s kinda relaxing and entertaining at the same time.
    Then i just need a coffee and “Pyroom” to avoid the entertainement from the internet. Then, everthing disappears and what remains just make my blog finally.
    (Sorry for my english though, i’m not a native speaker of english.)

    Liked by 3 people

  24. As someone who travels 45 weeks per year, I create writing space wherever I am. My tools include, a small laptop, a chair, and Bose noise canceling headphones. I have learned to write productively in airports and on planes. I am able to block out the noise. Now I find, when I’m home with everything I need in my office, I have trouble writing in the peace and quiet.

    Liked by 5 people

  25. I love this post because I’ve never really thought about the space I write in! I feel the most creative when I’m in a comfy, tidy space that reflects something about my personality. For example, in my room covered in artwork and photographs with a cup of tea and sweatpants. I also carry a notebook around in my purse with a pen to jot down ideas and thoughts.

    Liked by 6 people

  27. am a Mass Communication student….and i choose print to broadcast,why because i love to write.i want to be a professional in writing.always carry my jotter around to jot things down, both in the classroom and in my environment. As i open my laptop, i type and type, read and jot down important things.

    Liked by 2 people

  29. Love seeing what peoples’ rituals are in immersing themselves in their writing. But I can’t help but love the spontaneity of writing inspiration randomly on a train or sitting on a bench, etc. Both ways work! 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  30. I enjoyed the articles. Im a newborn baby blogger. Only an hour old. I think i will carry a notebook in addition to my cell notes.

    Liked by 2 people