The Blank Spaces

Have you ever wondered where all the great writers pour out their genius? Ever wish you were a fly on the wall so you could sneak in to visit writers in their private spaces? That is precisely what you can do when you visit www.whereiwrite.org. These writers prove that space is more than the place where you put your butt in that seat to do all that monkey typing. It’s the place where you entertain the muses, entertain other genius writers, entertain ideas that will never see the light of day, or just plain sip your coffee while you wait for the words to flow.

Space can be inspiring.
Perhaps there’s something here to be learned from SIMs – yes, the game in which you create a world, characters, personalities AND environments. In the game, if you create a cheap environment, giving your SIM (simulated character) a sub-standard environment in which to work, live and play, your SIM suffers. You can watch as your SIM’s little accomplishment bars descend into the red, making your character too depressed even to continue the business of “living”. Luckily, there are “cheats” that allow the gamer unlimited access to “simoleans” in order to build a more productive environment. SIMS that suffer too much can fall prey to mental illness, waddling about on the screen, quacking like a duck.

Hopefully, a poor work environment won’t drive the average writer to those extremes, but you can bet it sure helps. According to most purveyors of Feng Shui, organization within an office is essential.

Do you fly? Rather, have you been introduced to www.flylady.net? The Fly Lady’s web-site is dedicated to inspiring others to turn their chaos into organization. In the words of the Fly-Queen herself, CHAOS stands for “can’t have anyone over syndrome” because your house is too messy. What about applying those techniques to your writing space?

Space can be defining.
What if you don’t have a work space? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Think you don’t deserve an entire space dedicated to your avocation? Don’t have room in your house for an entire office? Maybe that’s true, but do you have a closet that could be emptied? An unfinished attic or basement? An unused dresser? A corner? Yes, those can become your new office. How is it, as children we can create entire cities with forts and outposts out of sticks and rocks, but as adults we can’t claim a corner of the kitchen for our workspace? Afix an adjustable curtain road, throw out that ratty, never used CandyLand game and reclaim that games closet. Declare yourself “open for business” – the business of writing. Here are some great design ideas from Better Homes and Gardens.

Get inspired and share ideas with others. You can send pictures of your workspace to sofie@couchjareb.com and I will post them to our chat loop. As always, happy writing! – Annette, er, Sofie.

Sofie Couch writes romantic YA from the cave fondly referred to as her basement. “I think something died down here. Oh yeah! It was one of the characters!”