Do You Have a Sacred Writing Space?
Sacred space…what is this church?
No, this isn’t church, but if you humor me, it could turn out to be a religious experience. ;)
This week, I want to start a series of blogs all about starting the writing process as you’re meant to continue. So bear with me a sec, mmmkay?
Where ever you are right now, I want you to stop. Stop whatever you’re doing. Now, go to the place you normally write. If you’re already there, great!
Look around you.
What do you see? Take a quick inventory.
Is the space neat? Messy? Does it feel inspiring? Or depressing? Is it cluttered with papers? What colors are around you?
Take a moment to ask yourself why you write where you are. Consider your location. Where are you? In a work cubicle? Outside? In your livingroom?
Whatever the place may be, I want you to take a good long look at the physical world you surround yourself in. If this is a place you work from often, cool; you’re right where I need you to be. If where you’re at is crazy random happenstance for the week and you can’t get to your normal spot, I want you to think about the place you normally hang out to bring light to your words. Don’t worry if you don’t yet have a normal space yet, we can work with that, too.
Questions to ask…
After you’ve given everything a good once-over, ask yourself how the space makes you feel.
- Do you feel inspired?
- Happy? Alive?
- Peaceful?
- Stressed?
- Anxious?
- Hate the space, but just don’t know why?
Then, get busy…
Get out a journal or notebook (or open Word, MacJournal, Evernote, etc) and take a few minutes to write your answers down. Writing them gives them form (as we well know!), and by giving your feelings and thoughts form — we can mold them to what we really want them to be.
Most of us go through life, not really living, but going through the motions. (Oh boy, that brings up a Buffy the Vampire Slayer song in my head, but I digress.)
This shows in the way we live our lives — right down to the space we work in. This includes our writing life. It’s hard to be inspired, or creative, or overjoyed when we surround ourselves with scattered energy. Scattered energy comes in the form of a cluttered, paper-covered desk (sometimes guilty!), unpainted, uninspired walls (guilty again!), and even by not having a designated space — like working from your kitchen, your dining room table, or even your bed (I’ve been guilty of all of that at times! DRAT!).
Time to imagine…
Once you have your notes, I want you to look at what you want your space to be like. Write some notes on what you think might help. On Thursday, I’ll dig a little deeper with you. We’ll pick out a sacred writing space together — yes, me included — for the duration of NaNoWriMo (and hopefully onward!).
See you Thursday!
Carissa Andrews is a Multipassionate MN Entrepreneur, Sci-fi Author, freelance writer, graphic designer and artist, unapologetic progressive, Lightworker, truthsayer, and occasional badass.
Her YA science fiction novel Pendomus, is available now through Amazon. Polarities, Book 2 of the Pendomus Chronicles is near completion and Revolutions, Book 3 of the Pendomus Chronicles is her 2016 NaNoWriMo project. Stay tuned for more details on their release!
