Where Do You Write Right?

Where do you do your writing? This is my space--at the top of the stairs in the hallway. Yes, this is a roll top desk, but I would have to swoop all that junk off in order to close it.

 I'm always curious as to where everyone does their writing. I have to ask for forgiveness for my envy (especially when I see Deb Raney's studio. It's so beautiful.) My environment is really important to me and it can mean the difference from getting a lot done to a complete standstill. 

Over the years I've had my "perfect office" to where I am now--a crowded desk at the top of the stairs next to my bedroom (where, because my husband worked all night, he's snoring and I have to be quiet. My laptop sound is muted.)

This latest office area is what I call Organized Central Chaotic Control. My chair is crippling me, but I tried the exercise ball to sit on, and while it's great for my back, let's just say--not too smart for a klutz like me--at the top of the stairs. (Yikes.) I have to have a small, skinny chair so we can pass by. I'm looking into getting a different chair. 

Our house is open concept so with four grown sons at home at the moment, plus, two dogs, I can hear all noise from every single room, including the garage. I'm the kind of person who works best in an organized, quiet area and right now this isn't cutting it. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

Here's the top of my desk. I love my owl painting print, but I really don't look at it when I have my nose in my computer.

This is my view behind my chair. Yes, that's the front door. Ding-dong and the dog alarms go off, too. 

This is one dog alarm. Her name is Lizzie and she is a West Highland Terror...er, Terrier. This is the view from my desk over the railing.

This is Bear, my other Dog Alarm, but he's pretty sweet (he's a Scotty.)

 
What is important to you when you're writing? What are your absolute "must haves?" I have found over the years that my list is simple, but not simple to achieve. 


1. I must have quiet. People talking to me, noise from a TV or radio, music, dogs barking--these all interrupt my thoughts and distract me from being in my writing world. 
2. A good, working laptop. I really do not like working on a desk top computer. I like reading on my computer and have edited many manuscripts on the computer.
3. A comfortable chair. 
4. Breaks to get up and go outside.
5. My materials/research close by my laptop. 
6. Something to sip, like water or coffee or iced tea.

 Whatever your list, it is important to find what works. You could be working in your chair in your living room, like Colleen Coble does. You could be at your kitchen table, like Debbie Macomber started off doing. Or you could have a lovely office like Deb Raney, who started off at her kitchen table with four kids. But finding the time is most important. 


I complain about this set up right now, but eventually I'll find what works better. And it might be right here, because I just need a good chair, some headphones and to clean up my desk, don't you think?

Writing isn't really just a place--it is an action. You can find what works best for you, but it's really about making the time. And that, my writing friends, is the important takeaway from this blog. Plus, I just really want to know:

Where do you write? 

And if you're curious as to where some published authors write, here's a link to Author Donita K. Paul's pages showing a big list of authors' writing spaces. Enjoy! And dream on, just keep writing!
http://www.donitakpaul.com/gallery/offices/

Crystal Laine Miller  

 

Trust and Open Doors

An actor friend of mine talked recently about how God was opening doors for her, how things were moving fast in her career as she stepped out in faith. What an uplifting testimony.

However, she's not the only one. God is actively opening doors for you, too.Are you stepping through them in faith, trusting that what God has said, He will bring to pass? Perhaps you are standing on the threshold trying to discern what the future will hold before you take a step.

Do you have a chance at a writing opportunity or the thought that you should participate in a blog or go to ACFW conference when you don't see how it will happen? Perhaps you have a storyline to develop or keep thinking you should contact a particular agent about a particular project.

Not every opportunity will be God's choice, therefore there is a need for prayer and discernment, but if you've been praying for God's leading and a door opens, chances are God opened it. Pray, of course, and listen for confirmation, but don't let fear or logic talk you out of taking that step.

God said he would be a light to our path. Do you see it as a road extending into the unknown with streetlamps like a double strand of glittering beads brightly lighting the way? Even when God reveals the end result, the path to that final place is most often revealed more like a flashlight lighting step by single step.

It takes trust and courage to walk that hidden path, to step through the open door. For each of you authors and authors-to-be in this position today, I pray that you will have the courage to boldly go where the God of Open Doors wants to lead.

Trust in the LORD with your entire heart despite fear and don't depend on your understanding or prejudices that God will do something in a particular way; trust him completely despite the circumstances and he will take care of the obstacles. Proverbs 3:5-6 MAPS (Mary's Amplified and Paraphrased Scriptures)

Mary Allen lives in the Midwest with her husband and a German Short Hair Pointer. She loves God's Word which never changes and also enjoys playing with words which can be endlessly changed. She writes women's fiction and was La Porte County Poet Laureate from 2010-2011.

Four Things Every Writer Should/Must Do

Source: Wikimedia Commons

So it's not a perfect world, and you're probably not always going to get to all these things every single day. But in a perfect world,(and keeping in mind that I certainly haven't arrived at writing perfection myself) a Christian writer would be wise to do the following:

1. Pray. Profusely. 

You should pray as much as you write. Adore Him. Let Him know you’re glad He’s Who He is. Praise Him for the struggles because that makes you a better person, a better writer. Praise Him for the grace to handle rejection, for the peace to trust Him with your career. Confess your weaknesses and sins. Thank Him for His mercy that endures forever. Then ask Him to enlarge your territory, to give you words that will reach those He longs to reach. Just pray.

2. Read. Profusely.
You should read as much as you write. Read what’s popular. Read the classics. Read awful stuff. (You can learn from awful stuff.) Set time aside each day to read even if it’s for 15 minutes. Don’t have time to read a lot of books? Then read a smattering from a lot of  them. Just read.

3. Live life. Fully.
You should live life more than you write. I have a Boston Terrier with an extra dose of crazy. This dog has no clue that there’s a life outside of his ball. He even sucks on the ball as he falls asleep. He is one with the ball. We can get that way about our work if we’re not careful. Yes, writing must be a priority, but it shouldn’t be everything. Life will pass us by and we will miss out on some really good stuff if we ignore the simple everyday pleasures and are too task oriented. It’s the daily stuff with loved ones that matter. Your books will not attend your funeral. People will. Live life. Fully.

4. Write. Profusely.
Okay, I know of a Newberry Award-winning author who limits herself to two pages a day. I suppose if you’re an author who has sold millions of copies and has had two movies made of your books, you don’t need to write more than two pages a day. But if you’re just starting out, you must write every single day and you must write a lot because you’re going to write a lot of lousy stuff before you arrive at something worthy to sell.

Trust me. I know.

Just. Write.

 Karla Akins is a pastor's wife, mother of five, grandma to five beautiful little girls and author of O Canada! Her Story. She lives in North Manchester with her husband, twin teenage boys with autism, and three rambunctious dogs. Her favorite color is purple, favorite hobby is book-hoarding, and favorite food group is cupcakes.

Don't Let Facts Get in the Way

Being a history buff, I am naturally drawn to historical fiction. It gives me a perfect excuse to spend hours loitering in museums, interviewing local historians, and snapping photos of deserted old buildings. (I love to do those things anyway, but now I can tell my exasperated family that I'm researching for my next novel!)

But when I started writing my first novel, one of those carefully authenticated facts soon dropped a roadblock across my way. I'd set my story in a real place, at a time that many locals still remember. Some pivotal scenes occurred at the town's train depot, which has now been moved to the county seat. But at the time of my story (1929), it stood on its original site -- about a mile west of where I needed it to be.

What to do?

I could relocate the entire story to another town with a train depot that stood next to its mercantile, as required by my plot, but what other obstacles might I find there? I could move the story to an imaginary town, but then I would lose potential marketing tie-ins to the real place. I could redesign the plot. (In fact, I actually tried that. But plot problems multiplied, due to the extra time required for characters to run back and forth between the store and the depot.)

Then it dawned on me: This is fiction. My readers know it's a story based on fact, not a journalistic record of the facts. If the county historical society could move that depot to another town, why couldn't I put it exactly where I wanted it?

As a history buff, I want to know exactly where the factual lines are. But as a storyteller, readers give me permission to color outside the lines.

Character Sheets: Fun or Intimidating?

I have a love/hate relationship with character sheets. I love getting to know my characters, and I know the predetermined details come in extremely handy during the writing process. But, they are so, so ... well, the phrase 'Just the Facts, Ma'am,' keeps coming to mind. Once I sit down – and force myself to fill in every minute detail about my character, from their date of birth to their favorite food - I love my character sheets! I keep them in a handy spot, and refer to them often - making sure I'm staying true to my character's nature. (So much so, that I've considered laminating them to make them last longer!)

However, I find that I still dread filling them out - only slightly less than those dreaded forms the dentist makes you fill out before you can proceed with a simple cleaning. Yeah, it's that bad.

So that's now got me thinking ... what could I do to make the process seem less like filling out something boring like a medical form? Well, here's another factoid - I also hate filing paperwork. You are so shocked, I'm sure . . .

The solution I found to cure my issues with filing, was to use the money I get back from my favorite office supply store's ink cartridge recycling program to buy folders, binder clips, binders and other colorfully designed supplies that appealed to me. Now I actually enjoy filing! And, by using my recycling money, I don't have any guilt for spending extra money on something attractive, instead of the standard blah supplies. (And yes, they make folder designs that appeal to a guy's personal style too - in case this is sounding all too girlie.)

Yeah, a few of you are now thinking I'm a little wacko. But because I know many writers are also visually stimulated, like the crazy graphic designer/writer that I am, I'm betting a lot of you also 'get it'. So I am considering spending some design time on creating visually appealing blank character sheets that I could share with my writer friends on my web site.

My idea so far, is to create a pair of sheets for each writing genre; either a male and a female sheet, or a protagonist and an antagonist sheet. Each pair would be designed to match a particular writing genre. So a mystery sheet might have fingerprints, evidence bags ... shoe prints or something of that nature surrounding the information area. Fonts would also be grungy and colored to match.

I also want to include a space for an example photo if someone has found one for inspiration, and I'm also hoping to make it so that it can either be printed and filled out by hand, or it can be opened and filled out on screen if people prefer to keep everything on their computer. We'll see on that one - I know it can be done in Acrobat Pro, but I have to figure out if it can be opened and altered in the free Acrobat Reader or another free Mac/PC application, so that more people could use it.

I'm hoping to make them interesting enough that if I wanted to keep them posted on my wall while I write they would be somewhat decorative. Which is why I'm thinking other writer's might find them inspiring too? I'll likely post them on my site for free or for a small amount like 25 cents each. Would anyone even be interested except me? Or am I really more of an oddball than I think I am?

Feel free to tell me if I am. I can take it.

(I'm trying to determine if it's worth spending the time on more than the genre I am personally working on - for my own use. Any input would be extremely helpful!)