Making Space
Dear Maggie,
I am writing my first book, and I have a hard time getting myself into a creative space after working my day job. Any advice?
Sincerely,
A Teacher in Tacoma
Dear Teacher,
I understand the challenge. I wrote my first book when I was working full time, all four of my kids still lived at home, and my husband traveled a lot for work. It was tempting to come home after a full day and just crack open a bottle of wine and chill after cooking dinner and helping with homework. But, it sounds like your question isn’t so much about making time for your writing as it is about switching gears from the mindset you needed during your day job to the one you need for writing. I’ve developed my own process over the years, and I’ve collected some tricks of the trade from fellow writers that I’m happy to share. Hopefully, something will resonate!
Consider waking up an hour earlier in the morning, and spend that time writing. You may find that the quiet house is conducive to creativity, or the fact that the day’s challenges haven’t taken over yet, and you can use that to your advantage.
A speaker at a writer’s conference I attended said when she sat down for writing time, she lit a candle. The candle created a mini sacred space for her. While that flame flickered, she stayed focused on her writing project.
A friend of mine writes during his train commute to and from work. He pops his earbuds in, tunes out the world, and puts words on paper. The routine and discipline of this habit keeps him on task.
Another friend spends five minutes using a meditation app to help get him into a creative space after work and before writing. Maybe you can create some sort of ritual which helps transition your mind into a creative space. Something as simple as taking the dog for a walk could be your moment to decompress and start thinking about your story.
Perhaps you can make a space in your home reserved especially for writing. When I got home from work back in the day, I’d definitely crack open that bottle of wine, but I’d take it and my laptop out onto the porch to write. My brain definitely associated that space on the porch with writing.
Writing sprints work wonders for me now. I plan several thirty-minute writing sprints into my day. When it’s time, I turn off the internet, find a place with minimal distractions, and go. There’s something about the time ticking down on the clock that keeps me focused on the task at hand.
It’s definitely a challenge for me to quiet my mind enough to get into the creative zone, so to speak, but part of doing so is simply discipline. Writing is important. Whether I’m in the right mindset or not, I carve out the time for it. Even so, it helps to have a toolbox of helpful tricks of the trade. I hope you’ve found something useful in the above list of suggestions, and if anyone out there has a suggestions, feel free to share.
Thanks for the fun question! Want to ask me something? Send your inquiry to maggie@msmaggieclare.com, and I’ll answer it here on the blog.
