A Room With a View – Writing Spaces – Emma Finlayson-Palmer
I’m writing this whilst on a family holiday to Scotland. My room with a view for the week looks out across the Beauly Firth at Inverness. Stunning views, inspiring scenery, I’d like to pack it in my bag and take it home with me. So how do I create the next best thing, and make my own mini retreats and inspiration without having to leave home?
To start, you need to find a place at home or in the garden that that you find comfortable and can write. You might find different areas make you more productive.
Once you’ve found a place you’re happy with make it your own. It could be classed as your office, your creative space, whatever you want. Mine is a corner of my bedroom that faces the front garden, so it’s definitely a room with a view! I love to have a view while I write (or stare vacantly at clouds and passing birds!) I found a great old writing desk in a charity shop for my writing corner, well worth checking second hand shops for bargains.
I’ve personalised the space with all sorts of bits and pieces that inspire me: a Wonder Woman figure, various Professor Snapes, a dandelion paperweight, fairy lights (I find these lift my mood and make it look magical), keys (I’ve got a bit of a thing about keys!), not to mention the multiple pots with a myriad of stationery items. Have things around you that make you feel happy or inspire you.
My favourite things in my writing space are postcards. I’ve got ones people have sent me and ones I’ve got for myself blu-tacked to the wall beside my table. I find them both therapeutic and inspirational as they help me visit places or imagine locations and settings without ever leaving the comfort of my writing nook.
To really transform your writing space into a mini writing retreat at home follow these simple steps…
1, Prepare plenty of snacks and quick meals to keep you going with minimal distraction from your writing.
2, Have all your notebooks, stationery, laptop, writerly stuff all there and ready to use so you don’t spend time searching for things during the writing time.
3, Invest in a kitchen timer. It’s a great way of pushing yourself to just write and not think too much about what you’re doing.
4, Probably the hardest step: turn off the Wi-Fi! Or only let yourself have 5-10 mins on social media for every 500/1000 words you write/edit.
5, Set aside designated writing time. It could be an hour, a day or more. Put it on your calendar, in your diary, tell your family, ignore the phone/door, this is your time!
6, Treat it seriously. Treat it like your own writing retreat. You’ve set aside this time specifically for your writing so don’t start checking your Facebook newsreels or watching videos about world’s most scary places on YouTube… just write! And enjoy time doing something you love. ??
Great advice and we have so many similar items and trinkets. I am a huge nightmare before Christmas fan and love gorguss items. So many of them including notebooks. I need to take your advice on carving out more time.