How to Set Up Your Writing Space for Success

Your writing space is important. It’s where you practice your craft and bring your message and story to life. You should feel comfortable and motivated to get your writing done when you’re there. In this episode, Chris and Gena discuss how to create a comfortable writing space that keeps you motivated to write.

Here's something fun

Download this FREE PDF poster and hang it on your wall to remind yourself each day: YOU'VE GOT THIS!

Links:

• Writing Moments – Write with us and give your writing momentum!

Episode 27 Transcription:

[00:00:14].390] - Chris
Welcome to the Writing Momentum podcast. I'm Christopher Maselli, and I'm here with Gena. How are you doing, Gena?

[00:00:19].570] - Gena
I'm doing really well.

[00:00:20].860] - Chris
All right, today we are going to talk about something kind of fun, which is how to set up your writing space for success.

[00:00:28].030] - Gena
Yeah, it's really important. Okay. So I think for writers that we need a space that really works for us. And at different times in my life, Chris, I have written in different places. I have written outside sitting in lawn chairs outside Starbucks. Starbucks is one of my favorites. Or some other coffee shop and even writing in my bed. But I think that the longer that I write, the more I am learning how valuable it is to have a space that when I come to it, my brain is kind of already wired and ready to go.

[00:01:08].400] - Chris
Yeah. Although this is not an excuse to not write if you don't have a space. We know people who have. We have one friend that she set a laundry basket on the floor in her kitchen, sat on the laundry basket to type on a little space on the kitchen table to make sure that she could write. We have another friend who sits in her car and she records on audio her entire book because that's her writing space. Right. So just because you don't have a writing room or something like that, that doesn't mean you just can't write. Right. You got to be able to find your own writing space. But if you do have a space, whether it be a desk or a view or something like that, you want to be sure to set it up for the maximum productivity. And that's what we're talking about today.

[00:01:56].930] - Gena
Definitely. And we're talking about I think it is also important to find what inspires you. And for some people that may be what inspires you is maybe just a blank wall in front of you. You've got a little table right in front of a blank wall. Maybe you've got a view, maybe you don't have a view. But I mean, you have to find what works for you. And that's really what we're saying. There's not a one stop shop for all of this that we all write the exact same. I think it's about finding what works for you. But we have definitely found and when we start finding your writing space, I think it's more about creating an environment that encourages writing.

[00:02:39].890] - Chris
It's an atmosphere, your writing space. We like to talk about what your writing space looks like when we talk about our desks in our room and the view and all that. But really it's more about creating that atmosphere that makes it conducive for you to write the best you can. So, for instance, what's something that you do, Gena, that's conducive to write the best you can?

[00:03:02].550] - Gena
For me, it's all about the music. I really like using music. I use my AirPods and I put on no music with words. I don't want to hear any other words than what's going on in my head. But I use really epic kind of score type music, instrumental type music. So that's what and as soon as I put those on, my brain knows I'm going for business.

[00:03:37].120] - Chris
That's completely different for me. I also like music. We know some people who don't like any sound at all, right? Make it as quiet as possible. I also like music, but the kind of music I like is like, I like songs that I heard when I was a teenager, like 80s tunes and stuff like that. So to me, those things fuel my creativity. But to Gena, it's very distracting. And to me, to listen to classical music or something like that while I write, it's almost stressful because of the way it builds and that sort of thing. So I need to have something that just has more of a pop to it. So, yeah, if that's different for each person, you got to find out what works for you. But music is definitely good because it can keep your mind off of the distractions around you. So even when we go and write in a place like Starbucks or something, I still put in my ear pods and listen to the music that I bring because that helps me tune out everything going around me.

[00:04:32].770] - Gena
Exactly. I'll use scents as well, and I have found some combinations that I really like for essential oils. I really do like essential oils, and there are some that I have recognized, and this is funny, but it's funny if you're thinking that essential oils are kind of witches brew and you're like, this is not anything real, I have really found there are some scents that I know when I put them on, there's some that are real calming. There are some that are very kind of energizing. There's other ones, and it's funny because I'll do like a mixture of the two. So I get the energized one with the kind of calm one. So it kind of helps me block out the noise, but it helps me, gives me the energy to get busy and get writing. And especially if I'm on a deadline. If I'm on a deadline and it's coming close, like, I do everything. Like, I've got the ear, the music going, I've got the scents, the essential oils going.

[00:05:41].090] - Chris
I like to have a good scent also, but I actually prefer to light a candle. And to me, the candle, I like the ones that crackle a little bit that somehow puts me like, in a writing mood. But I also like the ones that smell like cookies. You've seen those candles, right? They smell like cookies and stuff. Yeah, I don't want sometimes I like citrus, but usually I like something that I guess it's all related to food.

[00:06:01].890] - Gena
You know what it is? It's not only related to food, but between the music and the cookies. And Chris's mom is like, for many years, was the cookie maven. She was always my favorite Christmas present. Each year was getting multiple tins of cookies from her. So I think what you're tapping into is your childhood.

[00:06:24].770] - Chris
Probably see everything here is relate to.

[00:06:26].760] - Gena
My child back to his childhood.

[00:06:28].430] - Chris
I'll tell you what doesn't, though, are some of the other things that I do to make sure that I'm not interrupted. And that is, for instance, I will make sure the door is shut. That may seem like a simple thing, but making sure the door is shut, let the other members of our family or even our dog know that, hey, I can't be disturbed right now. I'm trying to focus, and that can go a long way.

[00:06:50].770] - Gena
And one of the things that I love to do and I have become really dedicated to this, is I focus my computer so that I don't get any notifications during that I have a MacBook, and so it has a little focus feature on there that I can say focus for an hour or focus until tonight. And I don't get emails, I don't get text messages. I don't get any of that. Yeah, I love that thing. I'm really just with that a lot.

[00:07:22].860] - Chris
Of people don't know that exists on a MacBook. If you click on there's a little over in your dock, in your upper right hand corner, there's a button you can push and you can turn on Focus, and it'll focus both your computer and your phone at the same time to make sure you don't get things like notifications for as little or as long as you want. So you can say just over the next half an hour, next hour, or for the next until tonight, don't let me have any distractions if you're not on a Mac. Windows has similar programs, and both have programs that allow you to block certain websites. We've talked about that for a blocking out distraction. So be sure you put that computer on focus so that you're not distracted.

[00:08:01].680] - Gena
I think the thing that I noticed, Chris, is that when I come into my writing time very purposefully, and when I say purposefully, I am kind of controlling the environment that I'm writing in. I'm controlling the distractions that I'm going to get. It is amazing how much I can get done. It is really amazing how productive I can become. And sometimes just the act of going and getting these things prepared, getting the essential oils going, getting my music going, just going through the action of that. It's kind of like getting ready for bed at night. You get ready for bed, you brush your teeth, you go through your routine. For us women, we're taking off our makeup, that kind of thing. You go through your routine, and as you do that, your body kind of clues into the fact, your brain clues in that, oh, I'm getting ready to go to sleep at night. And I think the same is for me when it comes time to write, I am preparing my space so my brain already knows when I'm sitting down, when that music clicks on. I actually have a playlist that I have created of my favorite writing, instrumental songs.

[00:09:14].530] - Gena
So when I do that, when I set, that the essential oils going. When I close the door, when I put on my focus, my brain is already in the place where I'm ready to get busy.

[00:09:25].680] - Chris
Yeah. The other couple of things that you can do that I recommend that everyone do is one, schedule your writing. So when you want to set up your atmosphere, the best thing you can do is make a point of it on your calendar. Right. Put it on your calendar that, hey, this is my writing time for this hour during the day or however long you want to write, so that it's an unbreakable appointment that you can make sure that no one interrupts. And the other thing is, when you sit down to write, be intentional about it. Say, what's my goal for this session? How many words do I want to get through? 750 words is about three pages. That's a pretty good goal for 1 hour, if you want to do that. Or you might say, well, I just want to finish writing this blog, or, I want to edit through chapter one, or whatever you want to do.

[00:10:09].900] - Gena
Sure. Write down some memory for my memoir.

[00:10:17].580] - Chris
Just whatever it is, put it down in front of you, and we actually recommend writing it down. Put it on a Post it note and stick it on your monitor. Or just put it in a document so that when you finish, you can look back at that note and see that I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. And that can be a great feeling to realize, because you almost always will if it's a realistic goal. And that's a great feeling to realize that you accomplish what you wanted to do well.

[00:10:41].680] - Gena
And I even love if I'm working on a larger project to keep track of those as I go, so that I know for each writing session, I wrote this many words today, or I did this much today, or I did that much. So that over time, I can see it kind of is like a kudos to yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Look at everything I did each time that I sat down to write.

[00:11:01].520] - Chris
Yeah, exactly. I'll tell you what, one of the things that we've also found that works really well is to have a writing partner when we write. We like to write together. And we like to write with other people. That's why we created what we call Writing Moments. Writing Moments are set time when we get together with a bunch of other writers on Zoom, and we sit and write intentionally on our individual projects together. And we do this multiple times each week. We've found a way to make it super affordable and we're all able to get together. We have 15 minutes of training, just like what you get on this podcast, as well as a 45 minutes writing session. And so if you would like to join us, we would love to have you. We'd love to have as many people as we can just all get together and get those creative juices flowing. So if you're interested in that, check writingmoments.com. That's writingmoments.com. And you can read all about that. We've got all the details in there. See if our times work for you. And if they don't, be sure to let us know, because we're adding new times all the time as more people come on.

[00:12:04].190] - Chris
And we're more than willing to add a time that works for you in there too.

[00:12:09].260] - Gena
Absolutely. So, coming back to what we're talking about today, we're talking about preparing your space, how to set your writing space for success. We talked about recognizing that not everybody is going to have the exact same space. It's not about creating this perfect space that everyone will love. It's about finding that place that works for you, a place where you can be intentional, a place where you can be productive. So we also recommend you schedule your writing out. We often will schedule ours on Sunday, but then each day we'll look at, okay, when am I going to write today? We shut the door and lock out distractions. Even using online apps like either the Focus App or Focus Capability that's on our MacBooks, or there are a lot of apps that will allow you to do that too, just so that you're not constantly distracted by notifications. And then we like to prepare our space with either candles for Chris or essential oils for me. We like to put on our favorite.

[00:13:13].860] - Chris
Music, lots of music.

[00:13:15].200] - Gena
Lots of music. And really have a goal and keep track of those goals so that you can feel good about what you're doing. So we hope you enjoy this podcast. If there's a way that you set up your writing space, make sure to comment on this. We want to hear about that. We want to learn from you as well.

[00:13:35].820] - Chris
We've actually had quite a few writers who heard us talking about writing spaces before, and they'll send us pictures of the writing spaces. We love those, but we thought we need to compile those in a blog. So if we do that, we'll let.

[00:13:45].580] - Gena
You know well, and please, if you haven't yet gone writingmomentum.com, sign up there so you can get our newsletter. But also it will give you our email so that you can send us pictures of those writing spaces.

[00:13:59].430] - Chris
That's right. Until next time, please share this with someone else. Rate it, review, subscribe to it so you don't ever miss an episode. And we hope that your writing has momentum.