How to Set Up Your Space for a Successful Day of Writing
Writing is hard. It just is. No matter how much you’ve written, there are going to be bad days. No matter how many good days there are, there will be bad ones. There are going to be times when you can’t focus, don’t feel inspired, or hate your own writing so much that you want to give up.
Wow, I’m making it sound like the worst thing ever.
Today, I’m going to provide you with a couple of tips for setting up your space to ensure that you are going to have a successful writing period. These are all things that help me stay focused during a time that I’ve set aside for writing. My hope is that some of them will help you, too!
Music
Music without words is crucial to ensuring that I am in a good writing mode. Heck, I’m listening to some lo-fi tunes while I write this post. I have a few writing playlists, one of which is generic, and several others that are for specific scenes. If I’m writing, say, a combat scene, then I’ll pull up some pretty intense background music that fits the mood. Sad scenes get the same treatment. Before I even open my writing software, I pick out a long writing playlist that I won’t have to interact with after I start playing it and just let it shuffle.
Remove Distractions
If there is anything that commonly distracts you, remove it from your space. Your phone? Put it on a charger in another room. Your watch? Take it off. Do you interrupt your writing sprint to make food or get some water? Prep the food in advance and put a ton of water on your desk before you even sit down. If there are any distractions you can predict, take care of them before you first sit down to start writing.
Part of this also includes cleaning your space. Remove anything not related to your writing, put it out of your vision, and then dust or wash the cleared portions of your space. Make sure everything is tidy and with as little chaos as you can manage.
Of course… that’s just me. There are some crazy people out there who actually thrive in chaos.
Weirdos.
Take Care of Outstanding Tasks
Right when I sit down, my mind is flooded with all of the other things I feel I should be doing. As much as we may want to write, when we sit down to do it, our mind has a tendency to wander to things we should be doing. There’s an outstanding bill that we need to pay. There’s a room that needs cleaning. Our mirror has toothpaste on it that needs to be cleaned off. All of these things can creep into our minds and stop us from writing. Even though we don’t want to do them ordinarily, something about sitting down to write makes those other tasks feel more important and even… appealing, weirdly enough.
If you know you’re going to have an impulse to sweep your floor, wash your mirror, scrub your toilet, count the bristles of your toothbrush, or perform other common tasks that everyone does and that are perfectly normal, do them before you sit down. Knock them all out. Get them out of the way before you begin writing.
Get Comfy
And my last bit of advice for getting your space set up for a good writing day is to make it comfortable! Have a chair that you’re comfortable in, make sure the area is the right temperature, get your neck pillow and headrest, have your cat nearby, get a pot of tea prepped… whatever you need to be comfortable, get it set up. You need your butt in your chair to have a solid writing period, and that means your butt needs to be comfortable… and also the rest of you that’s most likely attached to your butt in some way. Make your writing space an area that you won’t want to leave once you start writing!
Conclusion
Now you should be equipped to sit down in your writing space and start writing your book, blog post, script, memoir, or ransom note! Those are my tips for getting your space configured for a successful day of writing. At least, that’s what I do. If you’re some nutjob who thrives in a land of complete clutter and absolute chaos, then I guess just do the exact opposite of what I advised in this post! Put on some music that’s just people saying words, dump your trash can out on your desk, and pour some tacks on your chair. I don't know. What do crazy chaos people like? Food that touches on their plate?
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Thanks again for checking out this post; until next time, bye!