The Zen of Writing Spaces

Stephen King once said, "Write with the door closed, edit with the door open."

Hemingway-Key West

Closing that door is probably the best advice we'll every get. Closing out distractions is definitely the way to get more words on the page. So how do we create that perfect writing space?

First it has to have a door. Something to close and lock out the world. If we're going to go into our other worlds, we need that cone of silence, that way to make the room a place of escape.

Next up: a desk. Something large enough to share the laptop and notes. But not so big or grand as we sit around thinking about it. The desk should be comfortable and fit your style.

A chair that is cozy enough to sustain long periods of sitting and writing. We don't want to be thinking about our ass as we sit for hours plowing through that awesome chapter of the next best seller.

Stephen King's Writing Space

A bookcase is always helpful. Most writers have stacks of books for reference. And we need somewhere to cram all those versions of our WIP.

So, those are the necessities. In my dream room I'm gonna need:

•  Dog beds, because Gracie & Cupcake are always with me. 
• A bulletin board. I like to pin notes/timelines up so I can keep track and refresh my memory when writing. 
• A window. I need the feeling of space around me. Windows help if the room is smallish. 
• I need to place my back to the wall. Weird, I know, but I work best that way. 

 This was my writing room but a shift in family dynamics took it away. I made that funky desk myself and wrote very well (I hope) when I sat at it.  I'm now working on finding a new space.

What's in your Writer's Space? 

Writing Ten Pages

I read Stephen King stays at his desk until he writes at least ten pages.
Sounds easy, right?

Sometimes, I guess it is. Today, not so much. I've never had such a hard time squeezing out ten pages. I kept starting to stand up and then dropping back into the chair, remembering I promised myself ten pages today.

I'm drawn to this vampire story for some reason. Its a little outside my usual writing, but its like exploring a new land. I want to see where its going to go. The ten pages today were torture. I finished about 3 o'clock. Not too bad overall but the writing was hard. I counted every minute, every word, every page.

Then I finished editing the first 100 pages of another book. Tonight I'll print out another 100 pages and edit that between other working on other stuff.

I decided to start setting goals from reading Zoe Winters' site. She does word count each day and she's fairly prolific.

Do you set writing goals? What are they? Do they
help?

That's Hemingway's cat cemetery. -->
He really did love his kitties.

Writer, Writer, get in your chair

Writing...I'm supposed to be writing...
Yet here I am blogging, but I have a good excuse. Something landed in my email box today that I wanted to share.

Galley Cat has a page with free ways to promote your book.

BookBaby lets you put your book on their FB page. I put mine up and it disappeared. I don't know what's up with that. Did I do it wrong? Anyway, go check it out on this page

I think I found BookBaby on J.A.Konrath's page but don't quote me here. He lists a couple he's used on his blog. I also want to say to those new to my blog, Konrath's site has lots of good marketing ideas.

Ok, I'm in my chair...now I just have to get off the internet!

Picture is of Hemingway over his fireplace in Key West. I think the artist missed something in the calf muscle or Hemingway had a problem.

Later gators....I got a book to finish.

How to Write Degree

Writing is a learning process. As the world advances writing changes. With the Internet writing has changed a lot. How we write has changed, how we publish has changed, and how we publicize has change.

My college is now offering a degree in Creative Writing. Sounds like a dream. Could I really do something with that degree? Would all those ads for content writers and editors want that kind of writing degree or would they pass it over for an English or Journalism degree.

When I was young and they asked me what I wanted to be I said, "I want to be an artist." My mother, a depression baby, said, "No, artist make no money. You need a trade that makes money." Then I thought I'd go to college. My mom said, since I didn't know what I wanted to be I should figure that out first. (but I wanted to be an artist!) Friends were taking a dental assistant course. Since I couldn't become an artist, college was discouraged, I became a dental assistant. I hated it. I got married too young, had kids and life zipped by at the speed of light. Through the years I've been a dental assistant, waitress, bartender, retail manager, office manager, office clerk, admin assistant and the list goes on. I've sold my art and my writing on and off through the years between raising kids and random jobs. Now the kids are out of the house and I don't want to do another mind numbing job. So now I'm back in school taking English, Journalism, Creative Writing and not sure where I'm going with this stuff. Would a Creative Writing degree generate a good job?

This afternoon there's a seminar on what a Creative Writing degree can do for you. I'll let you know what they say. Should be interesting.

The picture is Hemingway's bathroom down in Key West. I don't know why I took that picture, but I took photos of everything in his house. Even his kitty graveyard.