Today’s topic is going to be something I’ve actually been thinking of in terms of my cosplay, and realised it was way more applicable to my writing after listening to a recent live-stream (Thank you Mango Sirene, you always pump me up, Nina!). Now, for reference, my cosplay stuff lives in the lounge room. Three out of the four people living here are into costuming, and it’s great! Our machines are kept in a drawer, and we have shelves with supplies and fabric and stuff. Easy.

This space is kept separate from the rest of my life, and I can up and leave it without feeling awful or like I’m not getting space (well, the guilt of leaving a mess bothers me). However, writing is work for me, and that work isn’t as easy to separate. I do all of my writing on my PC right now, because my laptop needs some TLC. As an avid gamer/netflixer, this is already a big, bad, blurry mess. We then have the fact that oh wait, I live with housemates and my writing stuff lives in my bedroom. Which means my relax space feels like work space because, well, it is work space.

Here are a few things I’ve done to mitigate these problems.

This is where I usually set up shop with my laptop. It’s also where my boyfriend or Adara works when stuck here. I keep one desk completely empty so I can strew notes over it or whatever else. The desk next to it I only keep stuff on it that pertains to my writing. I recently did a VERY big clean out and I need to reorganise stuff/add stuff, but it’s a solid little area. My pens, main notepads, and chocolate are kept over there. It also looks out onto my yard/the main road so it’s a fairly interesting view.

Next is my computer desk area, which isn’t as big and plain. I actually threw out a lot of stuff and removed nearly all of the toys I had in here (I’m sorry Star Wars pops!). Although, I have a Disney theme going on the top shelf for inspiration, as my desk has wheels and likes to move. A lot. Which means folders kept smacking me on the head.

As you can see, there isn’t a lot of space on here for writing, even with the minimal amount of junk. there just isn’t room for it and my PC. Mostly, I do my hand notes at my OTHER desk and use my PC to crank some music while I work, and sob at every steam notification I get in the mean time.

Currently, as you can see, my main writing folders are crammed under this desk. I have a space by the door that I’m looking to fill with the right size bookshelf so I can empty that out soon, hopefully, and fill my alpaca in there.

All of this organisation and keeping my space clean/functional is more important than keeping me from being distracted. It means that it’ll (hopefully after some more tidying and organising) as a professional space. Freelancers or any other kind of individual that works from home has a dedicated, neat space they can conduct business in. Given that Adara comes over here and illustrates for me already means it’s being used in a professional context. I want that space to be comfortable enough for me to be able to sit down with an editor or an agent. Yeah, this may never get used for that purpose, but keeping it clean and set up that way keeps me in that mentality.

Whether your writing space is a whole office to yourself or the tiny shelf and end table rammed in the corner, keep it a space that makes you feel proud of yourself and your work. We don’t need the most grandiose things to be good writers, but we do need to feel about ourselves, and I believe this is one of the ways that a happy space makes a good mentality.

Happy writing,

Emma-Kate xoxo