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Write Now: Is There A Right Space For Your Write Space?

Although it can be part of one’s routine, a write space is seldom mentioned when talking about writing.

Some writers have ornate spaces reserved for their writing. Other writers do not. Their write space is part of their writing.

When I begin my writing, I try to do it in the same place.

It’s not by design. It’s just that I don’t think about my space that way when I am writing.

Currently, I will use my laptop to type in my ideas for both my newspaper work and any other writing. It sits on my dining room table. The joy of owning a laptop is that a writer can take it anywhere.

But my laptop doesn’t stray far from the dining room. I’m comfortable writing there. I would like to have a dedicated write space, but don’t think I have ever needed a write space to be a right space for writing.

I have always thought of trying to find a write space. Because years of being a journalist, I can easily adapt to my surroundings to write. Imagine being in a busy newsroom with the distractions of phones ringing, conversations flowing, and sounds of computer keys being struck. There is virtually no solitude, so I learned years ago how to make the space I was in be my write space. At first it wasn’t easy blocking out the distractions, but soon I became accustomed to the office clack.

I have also tried writing in remote areas such as libraries, picnic tables at parks, as well as in a vehicle.

One place I did have moderate success remotely writing was in a retail bookstore’s coffee bar. On several occasions I grabbed a table, a frozen coffee drink, pulled out my iPad, and wrote essays for my graduate English classes, and wrote many pages for my book “The Followers: Mind Freeze,” and also two other novels and one movie script in the works. The weird thing about that experience is that I saw so many other people using that space also as their write space. At first I thought people would stare, but then I realized that they were trying to do work. At times, there were four people to a table holding a study session for some subject that was important to them. In that sense it was like a library because in one part of the building there were some people looking through books to read for pleasure, and in the other part, there were some people looking though books to glean information needed to either pass an exam or support their theses written for their essays.

For whatever the reason, it appeared that write space was productive for any writer that chose to enter it. When in that space, I could feel the intensity in the air, and I used that energy to my advantage. Each time I visited that coffee bar, I only stayed there for about two hours because the chairs became a bit uncomfortable, and because I met my writing goal I had set for the day.

What those places taught me was that I can write in almost any setting because I don’t concentrate on the background noise or wait for something or someone to distract me. I concentrate on getting words onto a page and making sure I am getting across my thoughts and ideas into coherent sentences that readers will understand. Of course I will revise, but using those spaces to get my rough drafts written helped me hone my craft and proved to me that any space may be the write space.

I certainly would like an ample-sized room dedicated for writing and other creative endeavors. I would have a computer, large desk, large screen or maybe two screens. I don’t know why, but I would probably lean toward having my room look more like a control room in a recording studio. If I had a space set up like that complete with a small mixing console, I think that would be the ultimate space. Then I could write and when not writing, I could practice my music.

Email me to let me know what your write space is.

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