Whether the writing space is small or a full-fledged office, every writer deserves a space that inspires his or her writing. What makes a writing space inspiring can be as simple as adding a little color, or the choice of artwork, music, and reading materials. Whatever stimulates the writer’s senses and makes the space warm and inviting to the writer’s creative spirit.
Color
Color can come from many sources. The main source of color comes in paint on the walls. Pain color should be visually stimulating but glaring or disturbing. If you find bright yellow or red over-stimulates your senses, don’t use them. If you find that blue or green calms you to the point that it puts you to sleep, don’t go that direction. Simply choose a color and a shade (Dark, medium, light, that is visually appealing. Other sources of color come from window treatments, furniture, pillows and blankets used a comfort, and artwork.
Books
Having at least a few shelves of books, I find to be extremely stimulating to my writer’s spirit and soul. Books should include those on writing style (Shrunk and Whites, APA, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA), books that help you write better (dictionary, thesaurus, books on the writing process, idea starters), reference books (anything that gives the necessary background information for both nonfiction and fiction writing stories), and books by your favorite authors. Many of these books are available online. In fact, Word for Windows includes a dictionary and thesaurus. But I find the Word versions of the dictionary and thesaurus don’t seem as complete as I would like them to be.
As for books by favorite authors, Year there are many ways to read e-books (Nook and Kindle), but I find that, since I do a lot of my writing on the computer, that it’s nice to turn off the computer and just read a regular book. All books, whether for writing assistance or reading pleasure, are quite stimulating for writers. So keep them in your writing space.
Artwork - Yours and Others'
Artwork acts as a place to rest your eyes. Why not make it visually appealing as well as something that tells it’s own story. Taste in artwork is individual to the writer but it can include photographs, paintings, drawings, wall quilts, even party decorations, if that’s what suits your spirit. Include a mix of your own artwork and the artwork of other artists for a little variety. The only rule is that the artwork should stimulate your writing juices. If you find your artwork is starting to bore you, don’t be afraid to change it out from time to time. The artwork you take down can be moved to another room or put away in a closet for the time being. Personally, I find that changing out the artwork also has the effect of jarring me out of my writing ruts and keeps my writing space inspiring.
Lighting
Lighting should serve a number of purposes. It should be decorative (an alabaster ceiling lamp cover, or a period lamp, or something bright and colorful), aesthetic (something that appeal to your design aesthetic), and functional (lights up specific areas of your workspace). It should also be adjustable so that you can make it softer or dimmer when you need to or make the workspace bright and well lit as need dictates. Having the right lighting can also feed your mood so that you can adjust the lighting – and consequently your mood – to inspire what you’re writing.
A Window
Windows not only let in natural light, they give you somewhere to rest your eyes. When you keep your eyes glued to the screen, or the page, for long periods, they get tired. Besides resting your eyes, you never know what you can secretly witness going on outside when you pry your eyes away from the writing and look at what’s going on outside the window. A writing space window is your window to the world. What you witness, when nobody thinks you’re watching, might even become inspiration for your next story. Windows let in the sunlight, let you watch the rain (I love a rainy day; I get more done when it rains), and you can open them to let in some fresh air on a beautiful spring day or luscious fall day. What does that cool breeze or the smells of spring and fall inspire in your writer’s soul.
Attractions Outside the Window
Besides the neighborhood activities, the lawn work going on, the garbage man, the package deliveries (isn’t it fun trying to guess what’s being delivered in those packages), there is also the birds in the birdbath, the flowers (changing with the season), ladybugs, butterflies, snails leaving their gummy trails across the window, hummingbirds, and spiders building a web. I once had a large spider (with a 4-inch leg-span), building a web outside my office window. I watched that spider for weeks. It was such a cool, first hand look at a natural phenomena that you can’t plan.
Window treatments
Besides adding color and visual appeal, window treatments can adjust the lighting and the mood of your writing space by opening or closing the drapes or blinds. Closing the window treatments can also close out the things going on outside the window when those things start becoming too much of a distraction – you know, when you spend all of your time looking out the window instead of writing. Let the window treatments inspire your writing by closing them and shutting out the world for a while.
Closing Off Your Space
Either a door with a special pattern or paint job (for those with an actual office) or a folding screen that’s visually appealing can shut out the world when you’re working. It can also close off your office when you need to take a break from writing. Either way – closing out the world or closing off your writing space – I find to be inspiring to my writing. My office has blue folding doors, which is inspiring in itself. But also, being able to put away the writing and walk away for a little while is inspiring as well. Walking away forces me to think about other things, like the laundry, the grocery list, what my granddaughter wants for dinner, the news and weather. The real world calls out to us writers to stay involved and not just stay closed up with our writing. The real world is the main inspiration for our writing.
Music
Set your writing space up with music that feeds your writing, whether its vocal or instrumental, slow or something with a beat, actual music or sounds of nature (forest, ocean, rivers, waterfalls). Use an MP3 player or a stereo with a CD player and radio and a tape player (for those of you who still have audio tapes). Use either speakers that fill the room with your sounds or use headphones. I find the headphones that block outside sounds works great when I’m having trouble concentrating. But sometimes they start feeling too tight against my ears and give me a headache. At those times, I like the stereo speakers. Music in any form inspires writing. So does silence so don’t be afraid to turn off the sound machine from time to time.
Visual, Auditory, Tactile, Taste Stimulation
Feeding all the senses provides comfort to writers, and keeps us thinking about all of our senses when writing. Those sensory details need to make it into our writing. These sensory inspirations can include: blankets (to keep warm in winter), fans (to keep cool in summer), marbles, blocks, shells, rocks, squishy balls, mobiles, wind chimes, chocolates, candles, aromatherapy infusers, toys to play with while thinking. They all play into the writer’s inspiration.
Musical Instruments
Instead of playing everyone else's music, make your own music. Keep an instrument and some music around to play while you’re trying to think. Even if it’s only a kazoo or an harmonica, maybe a set of bongos. Let it inspire you to give a character in your next story some musical talent or write some nonfiction stories about different instruments or music. What does the simple act of making music inspire you to write?
Camera
Taking pictures causes the eye to see things differently. You look at things from a different angle, to look at only things that are framed within the shot. The camera lens visually edits what we see, the same way a writer’s inner editor edits out the non-essentials from any piece of writing. Try using the camera to look for the unusual part of the scene. Take photos of the mundane things in life that you normally overlook. What inspires your writer’s eye? How can these photos inspire your writing?
If you’re writing nonfiction, use the camera to take your own stock photos to go along with your stories. I say stock photos because many of the photos I have taken have been used to illustrate multiple stories. Keep this in mind when taking your photos. They should inspire future stories. Upload your photos to your computer as soon as possible. Manipulate them, play with them, and crop them. Pull them out from time to time and see what they inspire you to write.
There are so many ways to add inspiring features to your writing space. Keep these things around you. Change them out periodically. Have fun with them. But above all, always use them to inspire your writing.
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