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Dec 20, 2011

Finding the Write Space

Finding the time and space to write can be a challenge for any creative endeavor. But space can have an impact on our energy, which in turn, impacts writing. The Chinese understood this, even 3,000 years ago with the development of feng shui. They applied it to their sacred spaces. So, how do I create positive energy for my sacred space? My writing space?


As a budding young writer, my first space for writing was my bedroom. I would lock my door, find my diary key and pull it out. Unlocking the diary and opening those pages created the atmosphere I needed to write. It was my safe space away from my siblings, parents, and friends. The time was sacred to me, like a prayer. I would hold the kind of conversation in my diary that I was not free to have at any other time, in any other space. Even when I had my own place and no longer needed to shut out the rest of my family, the habit continued. Everywhere I moved I kept a night stand with my journal and a few pens available for writing time. That time of day when the work is done and my mind is quiet. 


But my bedroom does not seem sufficient for the more professional kind of writing that extends beyond my journals. I want my own sacred space for writing poetry, children's books, and homework. My desk is cluttered with bills and papers. So more often than not, my dining room table must suffice. Yet, I feel that it is time to make a bigger committment.


Over the summer, I began working out in the morning. The sunrise and exercise seemed to clear my mind and I would write poems during my slow walk past the trees back to my home. I would repeat them over to myself and write them down as soon as I got home. And while cleaning recently, I realized I was writing in my head. Thinking while completing mundane tasks, fills my need to get things done. There is a freedom in it. The body is occupied and the mind is free to ramble as it pleases. I would stop in the middle of my tasks and jot a few quick notes for myself that I would expand on later. 


I still do not have an answer for my sacred writing space. However, the awareness I have earned over the last few months has given me clues. I need to have a notebook and some writing utensils. Otherwise what I need is a clear mind and the freedom to move. And ultimately, I can get those any time I choose. 



1 comment:

  1. Nice post. I would have such a hard time remembering exactly what I had composed in my head. I'd probably resort to a recording device or maybe even a transcriber (Siri?). It also struck me that some people use a coffee shop for this - when they enter they shut out the rest of the world and use it as a public sanctuary - if that's not an oxymoron.

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