Retreat To Your Lair – Your Writing Sanctuary
Writing takes focus. While I can write anywhere, I find that I’m most comfortable and most productive in my own space. It’s a part of the house that most visitors never see. But this is the space where I feel most at home, most truly myself.
I’ve written everywhere and for most of my life that’s meant out of an office with all the distractions of business continually taking me away from the work. But even then I found ways to seal myself away when I absolutely had to produce. But that means writing as a fugitive, hidden, on the run, terrified of discovery. It’s so much better to be free to write in one’s own space.
Do you have a space where you can write? It can be a corner where you can secrete yourself away. It can be a cubbyhole in your basement. Or you can take over a whole room, as I have, for the pursuit of your writing. Any space will do. But make it your own and warn others on threat of torture to stay away during your designated writing times.
Here are my suggestions for your ultimate writing space:
Give yourself room to work. I have what’s called a “paymaster’s” desk. I asked for the big raised storage section that was designed to run across the back to not be included on mine. It’s more of a table, really. But I can spread out the materials I need to use when working on a specific piece or project. When you’re not working on that project, collect up all the materials and store them, within reach if you need to, but get them off your desk. I use a caddy under mine for immediate access storage, including my day, week, month, and next actions files. And make sure you have space for your inbox, too.- Give yourself space to read and not write. Part of your job as a writer is to read and think. While it doesn’t have to be in the same space, I like being reminded that writers work for readers. I also like to have my reference works near by.
- Let the interior decoration speak to you. This is YOUR space. No one else has to see it. Let the room comfort and inspire you.
- Give some thought to ergonomics and comfort. I’m in here at least six hours a day, sometimes many more. Think seriously about the type of keyboard you use. I use a Microsoft keyboard and mouse that I find very comfortable. Also check your monitor height. If you use a laptop, consider getting a stand or riser. Think about your chair – mine isn’t the best, but I get by with a seat cushion and a lumbar back pad. But I do have my Swedish recliner I can retreat to, if necessary. I highly recommend the Ekornes Stressless. It’s also perfect for those writer’s naps.
Protect your space by helping others have their own spaces. I recommend that you have an open discussion with your family or whoever you share your living space with. Let them know about your writing and its importance to you. Then help them establish either a communal space or individual spaces where they can pursue their own activities. But make clear that YOUR space is just that – yours. If your space is part of a communal space, for instance, the corner of an existing room, consider establishing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) or border to separate it. Watch for incursions and deal with them swiftly and decisively.
Writing is hard work. Part of your tool kit is your space. When you have your own space, just entering it will help you get to work. And leaving it will help you to reenter life and leave the work behind.
Find your space, declare sovereignty, and protect your borders! And good luck with the work of writing.
Off-Topic Friday: Sriracha Hot Sauce
I love hot sauces. I’m not a total nut about finding the most mouth-burning sensation, but I do love those peppery concoctions that help food’s flavors explode.
I keep both Tabasco and Frank’s in the fridge – and I use them frequently. But I have a new favorite. Sriracha.
You can find the distinctive 17 ounce bottle in most supermarkets and many Asian restaurants. Many people just call it “Rooster” sauce because of the image on the bottle. But whatever you call it, it is wonderful stuff.
Sriracha is thicker, sweeter and more complex in taste that a simple Tabasco-like hot sauce. And that complexity, along with the heat, makes it close to the perfect addition to almost anything. Most soups can benefit from it, keeping it at the level where it adds flavor and additional “notes”, but doesn’t increase the burn. I often put it on my morning omelet. And just a bit mixed into marinara is heavenly.
This is a “Made In America” product, a version of a common Thai condiment, and it has the added benefit of being downright cheap. I paid under $4 for a big 17 ounce bottle at my local Kroger and you can buy it online here for $2.99!.
If you love food, if you love to cook, grab yourself a bottle of this heavenly stuff!
See also : Sriracha: 4 Recipes for a $5 Ingredient
Use Your Creative Impulse To Feed Your Business Projects
It’s hard get up every morning, go to an office, and do your best work every single day. I don’t care what job you have or who you work for, it’s difficult performing at your peak 40 hours or more a week.
The writer and marketing staff have an even more difficult task. They are hired to be creative and enthusiastic about a product or service on behalf of the company they work for. Most can work themselves up to significant levels of excitement, but to do it every single day is a practical impossibility. And the longer you’re inside an organization and the more you see of the “sausage making” for any product or service, the more difficult it becomes.
But there are ways that you can stay fresh and engaged in such tasks. It’s counterintuitive, but it is very effective. You must have a creative life that is separate from your work.
Trust me, I understand. I’ve been a young parent with a demanding job. I know it’s difficult just to have a life at all outside of work. But it’s having a creative life that will help you to see possibilities, to keep your mind limber and active, and help you to have a positive outlook about what you do for money.
Some might call it having a hobby, but it’s far more than that. I believe that we all need some creative outlet that allows us to step back and take pride in our creation, to say, “I made that.” For me, I write, but I also cook. You might make birdhouses, knit sweaters, play an instrument, or paint landscapes. It doesn’t matter what your creative outlet is; it’s just vital that you have one and you engage in that activity as frequently as possible. Doing it every day is best.
Why? Because creative work helps one practice the very important skills that give you greater insight. True creativity is both original AND appropriate – meaning that your creative ideas work. You can start the creative process by taking flights of fancy, but you end up with ideas that result in making things or taking actions that are functional, evoke thoughts and emotions, or bring a new perspective to the viewer.
And just like physical exercise, which increases energy and feelings of wellbeing long after the activity, creative work energizes your mental capabilities to new heights and that effect lasts for some time as well.
Creativity is fundamental to problem solving. And that is a critical business skill.
I urge you to find some time, every day, to do creative work for yourself, not for someone else. Do it for yourself. And the benefits will accrue not only for you, but your employer as well.
Welcome New Visitors And Readers
There’s been a LOT of traffic the last couple of days. Thanks for stopping by.
For your convenience, here’s a list of some of the more popular posts. Please leave comments, tweet about what you read here, start up a discussion. I invite you to follow me on Twitter – cptnrandy, that’s me.
When Courage Takes Flight – A Guest Post
Today I’m featuring a guest article written by Jonathan Elliot. Jonathan is a sociologist and blogs at Spritzophrenia where he “mangles the interface between spirituality, personal development and humor.”
“I admire anyone who has the guts to write anything at all”, said admired writer and novelist E.B White.
Randy’s This Year You Write Your Novel reminded me to pull Ralph Keyes’ The Courage To Write off my bookshelf. I’m not a huge fan of books on writing. It’s easier to think
ABOUT writing than to actually sit down and write. Nevertheless, this book is exactly what I need when I want to be distracted. It inspires me.
Keyes contends that writing is an act of courage. Check out what these other not-so-obscure authors have to say:
“All my life, I’ve been frightened at the moment I sit down to write” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“I suffer as always from the fear of putting down the first line. It is amazing the terrors, the magics, the prayers, the straightening shyness that assails one” – John Steinbeck
“Blank pages inspire me with terror” – Margaret Atwood
Keyes says,
We like to imagine White on his New England farm dashing off lighthearted essays and charming books for children when he wasn’t slopping hogs or chopping wood. In fact, White worried over every word. He rewrote pieces twenty times or more and sometimes pleaded with the post-master to return a just-mailed manuscript so he could punch up its ending or rewrite the lead.
In addition to being a consummate rewriter, White was a gifted procrastinator.
Procrastination is the sap that drips from the gnarled branch of anxiety. I think the tree is rooted in fear. Recently I linked anxiety to my periodic depressions. This is a good thing as my therapist and I are going to have a field day, and it may yield results in my writing. If I can gain insight and lick this, I hope the days when I want to complete that assignment but decide to “just give the kitchen sink one last polish” will be fewer. We are not alone. Procrastination, anxiety and fear are much more common to writers than I realized.
So when the blank page is staring at you, what to do? William Moon once advised a group of aspiring writers, “Anything you can do to trick yourself out of panicking, do it”
When you’re afraid to write try some of these:
- Give yourself permission to just do one small part. Tell yourself you’ll just write one sentence and then give up. You might be surprised to find yourself achieving just a little more.
- Give yourself guilt-free time out. At university my friend Nathan “knew” when he just wasn’t going to sit down and study. Rather than mope about the house in a miasma of guilt, he gave himself permission to go to the cinema – and not to feel guilty. He reasoned it was a better use of his time to enjoy a movie than to feel guilty all afternoon and achieve nothing.
- Develop the space where you write so it works for you. Do you like to sit in your kitchen and write in pencil? Do you like to write with a glass of wine? Do you like to write naked? Whatever works for you will help lower anxiety.
- Do something different. This is a foil to the previous point. If you sit to write, try standing for a change. Or lying in bed. Or writing on the back of envelopes, if you normally type at a keyboard.
- Use fear as an ally. Anxiety can give a heightened perception that can yield great insight and great writing. Bad days are sometimes easier to write about than good days.
- Try prayer or meditation. If you’re spiritual, starting with a period of unburdening and relaxation may help. Many studies have shown this can calm practitioners.
- Acquire Ralph Keyes’ book. He suggests solutions as well as detailing the foibles of the great and the lowly. If you’re going to read a book about how to write, it might as well be a good one. (I’ll take that kickback now, Ralph.)
Above all, take heart: “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted”, according to Martin Luther King Jr. If salvation is in the hands of such as these, surely we can handle a mere pencil and paper? The comment box is waiting: Go, write now.
Jonathan Elliot is a sociologist and blogs at Spritzophrenia where he mangles the interface between spirituality, personal development and humor.
iPad Hate = Future Shock
Spot on:
Think of the millions of hours of human effort spent on preventing and recovering from the problems caused by completely open computer systems. Think of the lengths that people have gone to in order to acquire skills that are orthogonal to their core interests and their job, just so they can get their job done.
Fraser Speirs – Future Shock
Why a Computer is Not Like A Toaster – And Why It Should Be
Recently my wife and I were having breakfast at a local diner and one of the two ladies who own the place and take turns waitressing noticed me checking email on my iPhone. With obvious pride she pulled out her own and showed it to me. She loved it. It was wonderful. But, she asked me, how do you get all of those apps on there that they show on TV? And how do you get music on here, too?
We chatted for a few moments and I tried to help her, but I realized that it wasn’t just that she didn’t know about the App Store, but she didn’t know that, to get the apps and music, she’d need to use iTunes; she’d need to know how to download iTunes onto her home computer, understand how to import apps and music to it using iTunes, that she then needed to hook her iPhone up to her computer to load apps and music onto it, or that she’d need to know, have, and use a USB port and a USB cable.
This is a bright and capable businesswoman, who owns and operates her own business and has her own computer. What was missing was the specialized device knowledge that made the process easy, obvious, and simple for me.
For those of you who think yourselves special because you can set up your own computers (and I am one of them – I could build one from parts if I needed to), get over yourselves. You’re not so smart. It has nothing to do with intelligence. It’s simply training and experience, even if you’re self-taught. You have nothing to hold over those who don’t know how to do such things and don’t want to.
Personal computing has been stuck far too long in the hobbyist stages. They are complex, error prone, frustratingly buggy devices. Even the best, my beloved Mac, requires a surprising amount of expertise to set up and appear to be easy to use.
Computers are not appliances. But they should be.
There is a very small segment of the public that likes to tinker. For them, let them keep their user accessible boxes where they can fool with the components. Let them fiddle with the software configurations, muck about in permissions and drivers and scribble little pieces of code to accomplish arcane tasks. Knock yourself out.
But for the rest of us, give us something that does what we want without requiring prior certification, training, or instruction of any kind. I don’t want to have to figure out an interface metaphor. I don’t want to reconfigure, recompile, reroute, or reconnect.
I want what the iPad promises. A single, elegant device that does one thing at a time. It can be an infinite variety of devices, but each one with a simplicity and directness that anyone could pick it up and perform any common task. For uncommon tasks, things that require great expertise and practice, like composing music, drawing, filmmaking engineering, those tasks require powerful, complex tools. Those are the things that “workstations” are ideal for. But for everyday tasks, like reading, looking up information, organizing one’s day and tasks, for those things I want simplicity and elegance.
If I just want a piece of toast, I shouldn’t have to know how to build a toaster to get one.
It Ain’t Just Hype – How the iPad Changes Personal Computing
It’s been a few days since Apple announced its newest product, the iPad, but the hype and overblown rhetoric is only building.
So let me add to it.
The iPad is the biggest shift in personal computing since Apple introduced the Macintosh. Bigger. This is the move that will eventually put personal computing and access to the digital world into the hands of everyone.
The 2000 census tells us that just over half of the households in the US had computers and up to 71% by 2007. We’ll have to see the changes for the 2010 census, but even having a computer in the house and USING it are two different things. I know a significant number of people who don’t use them, and never have. They don’t have email, they don’t tweet or surf. And many people who do own a computer, or live in a household with a computer, don’t benefit from it. Using it doesn’t have any purpose or value for them, from their perspective.
And that’s only talking about the US and most of the developed world. In other countries the lack of infrastructure makes owning a computer difficult, along with the other problems of distribution, censorship, and cultural values.
But let’s just focus on the issues of complexity for the moment. The personal computer as it exists today requires a lot of technical expertise, too much to be useful to many people. I include the Mac in this group. If you’re reading this, you’ve already mastered the tools enough to access the Internet and find this blog. But how many people do you know to whom these are completely foreign concepts?
There are incredible benefits, though, to all of us who do use them. And we’ve only begun scratch the surface of potential benefits. That you’re reading this on the world’s great free printing press is one of them. But computers as they are today are inaccessible by virtue of their complexity to a large section of the US public and the vast majority of humans.
The iPad marks a shift into a new epoch of accessible and widespread digital appliances. A lot of the heat we’re seeing generated in the press and on the web is over the problem of where this product fits. Does it fit between laptops and smart phones? Is it a Kindle competitor? Is it just a big iPhone/iPod Touch? And here is where an already technically accomplished user may completely miss the point: most people don’t want or need a computer at all. Not a laptop or a desktop.
There is a sweet spot that the iPad now occupies that has the possibility of making this the one appliance that will make the digital world accessible to virtually anyone. This is a 1.5 pound device with NO moving parts and nothing for the user to replace, modify, customize, or configure. It is available for under $500 (with options for additional costs and I believe the prices will rapidly come down and the models narrow from eight to two or four at the most). The interface is beautiful and simple. Just use your fingers. And its features and easy access to new apps make the iPad’s uses virtually unlimited. By the third generation of this device we’re likely to see a completely different relationship between the general public and computer technology.
Many have talked about these things, but this will be the first commercially available device that actually delivers both simplicity and power. The simplicity of the intuitively usable interface, which is significantly different from that of the iPhone and iPod Touch, will hasten the transition from printed newspapers and magazines, even books, to the digital domain. It will also provide easy access to the wealth of human knowledge that is rushing to occupy this digital world as well.
You might say that anyone can have all that on a PC, or a cheap netbook — but many cannot, because the vast majority has neither the technical aptitude nor interest. And here’s the kicker: they shouldn’t have to.
You might not remember this, but there was a day not too long ago when calculators were expensive and very complex. I remember spending $130, I think it was in 1976, for an HP 25 calculator. It was programmable and used RPN (1 ENTER 1 +, not 1+1). It was a big deal and I had to read the manual and practice to learn master it. A friend who wanted to borrow it would hand it back, frustrated. Now you can buy calculators far more powerful in bubble packs hanging at the grocery store next to the chewing gum and candy bars for a couple of bucks. Or I can download an app to my iPhone for free and turn it into a full graphing calculator.
In just a few weeks, at the end of March, ignore the hype and go and touch this thing. Hold it in your hands. See for yourself. It really is different. And I believe that within a very short period of time it will be the dominant model for human-computer interaction.
The iPad changes everything.
