A Space to Create
Or, in the words of Virginia Woolf, a room of one’s own.
What sort of space do you need to be creative, to take a breath without judgment or observation or guilt?
Some people have elaborate spaces.
We’ve all seen the extravagant rooms on Pinterest.
Cozy coffee houses have been popping up on social media, too.
There’s generally a table near a window that overlooks a cobblestone street, an open book on the table, a white coffee cup on a saucer, and rain sliding down the windowpane.
If I were to set myself up there to write or read, I’m not sure I’d get anything done.
I’ve tried working at the kitchen table.
I’ve tried working on my lap.
But those places didn’t work for me either.
Maybe they work for you.
We all need to find a space where we can give our dreams a fighting chance.
So now I have a small room with a desk facing a window.
A squirrel makes frequent runs along the top of the fence separating my house from my neighbor’s.
Lately, there’s also a small bird that hops along the fence.
My friend tells me it’s a junco.
He has a black head.
I used to call that sort of bird an executioner bird because it reminded me of the black hoods that executioners wore in medieval times before they lopped off someone’s head.
But I digress.
I’m not easily distracted by social media or the siren call of the internet, although I’m often inspired by it. (You say tomato, I say to-mah-to.)
But that squirrel and junco, frolicking outside the window of the room of my own, stop me in my tracks.
Every time.
My sister would have said I have Something Shiny Syndrome.
It’s real.
So it seems as if the way to finding a room of your own, where actual work gets done, is to close your mind to distractions or, easier, lean in to the work at hand.
You think I mean discipline?
Yeah, that’s what I mean.
Completely do-able.
Take a deep breath, a swig from your coffee cup, and start typing or whatever the task is.
Just start.
Open the lid of your laptop, go directly to your word files or Google Docs, and type something.
Type gibberish.
Type: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Type whatever sentence seems like it should come next.
Keep doing that until you’ve found your way again.
You can apply this technique to any creative project.
Lean into the project.
Put yourself in the metaphorical room of your own.
Let the squirrels or tiny birds scamper in the background, while you just do the things that want doing.
Virginia Woolf was wise beyond her time, shining her light on all of us who live a creative life, and giving us the permission to go into a room of our own, metaphorically or physically.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
~ Gail
Countdown: 32 more weeks of 2024
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Stephen King says to put your writing desk in a corner facing a wall and keep the shades drawn. Haha. No distractions that way, I guess.
In hindsight…that’s probably what I should have done. But now I have way too much stuff on my desk to even think about moving it! (Plus, I do really like my squirrel and birds.)