Writing Space

I can write anywhere. Taking pen and paper in hand, I can settle into a cozy chair, a park bench, on the beach, a corner table in Borders, or anywhere my imagination takes me. I love scratching out ideas for characters, plot lines, and settings.

However, the real down and dirty, nitty gritty work of writing happens at my desk on my computer. When I'm hunkered over, pounding at the keys, checking my scraps of paper, flipping through my "ideas" notebook, this is when the writing is happening.

Writing is just plain hard work. Whether you write short stories, poetry, screenplays, novellas, or a long, complex novel, the process of writing and getting the work done has to happen.

Each writer has to discover what process works for them. What time of day do you write? Morning, afternoon, late into the night? For most of us, we have busy, complicated lives where finding the time and place to write is a monumental hurtle to overcome. We squeeze in a few minutes here and there, an hour or two in between working, commuting, socializing, and the day to day business of living. Often we are slaves to whatever our hectic schedules dictate.

Over the past year, I have pushed myself to write everyday, no matter what. Even if it's only five minutes before I go to bed, or ten minutes before I head off to the day job, I force myself to write. Doing this I have developed a process of writing that works for me. With writing everyday, I keep my work-in-progress fresh in my mind and the desire to forge ahead keeps me focused.

Okay, my desk rarely looks like the photo above.





Admittedly, this is the usual organized chaos that is my work space. Perhaps someday I'll have a laptop computer to haul around everywhere. For now I'm satisfied with my spiral notebook and my personal computer sitting on my desk.