Finding Your (Writing) Zone
What’s your ideal writing space?
Well, folks, Andrés Cruciani of Toho Publishing here, and today we have our intern Parker Hilley joining us, talking about writing environment and calling on writers to join her writing workshop in Decatur, Georgia. Here’s Parker!
Almost as important to the writer as the story-writing itself is the environment in which the writer works. Perhaps you’re one of those enigmatic writers, a solitary creature, slaving away at your typewriter in your attic apartment, a mystery to the tenants in the rooms below who know nothing of you except your nocturnal mutterings and footsteps on the floorboards. Maybe you fancy yourself as one of those coffee shop writers who commandeers an entire four-top for yourself, your laptop, and the single cup of coffee you ordered four hours ago. Or maybe you’re a professional, and you find that your best works can only be written at the posh mahogany desk in your study with a glass of scotch in your hand and Bach playing quietly in the background.
There are also writers like myself who prefer to write at home, in bed with my dog(s), after midnight, occasionally listening to music from a curated playlist simply titled “for writing”. Whatever the type of creative space you’ve made for yourself, that’s where you go to feel most comfortable and productive …
But maybe you’ve been feeling a little too comfortable and slightly (okay, a lot) less productive than you’ve been in the past. Then it’s time to shake things up. I’d been feeling not so creative before I started this internship with Toho, but just in the last month, I feel like I’ve accomplished so much. I’ve submitted my work to almost thirty journals (and received my first rejection!) and made moves to start a generative writing workshop—along with Emily Owens, my friend and fellow writer who runs Palm-Sized Press and a blog for writers.
Drafts on Draft is currently calling for writers and people who want to write to meet us at Thinking Man Tavern in Decatur, Georgia (which coincidentally is also where I work! Come say hi if you’re ever in town!) starting March 9th and running on Saturdays for six weeks. Our goal is simple: to create and inspire others to create … and to drink like the greats while doing it! It’s time we venture out of our attics and studies, let someone else have the table by the window at Starbucks for a change, and embrace a change of scenery.
Parker Hilley is a restaurant general manager by day and a tortured writer by night. This Atlanta native enjoys pens that write really well, traveling, and napping with her three dogs. She hopes to follow through on her New Year’s resolution this year and complete her first novel by the end of 2019.
Toho Publishing aims to be the best micro press in Philadelphia, and we’ve published our first novel.
