Perfecting My Writing Workspace

Last night after finishing all of my readings for school I decided to put off writing my script (AGAIN!!) by meticulously cleaning and organizing my bedroom. I live in a very old and extremely strange Berkeley apartment that’s pretty much two bedrooms and a bathroom connected by a narrow hallway with an oven, sink, and refrigerator crammed into it. It is in no way the nicest place I’ve ever lived but as my roommate says, “It’s a one star apartment that we love.” But since we can’t really hang out in our hallway, I end up spending a lot of time in my room so it’s very important to me that it’s clean and comfortable enough for me to eat, sleep, study, and hang out with friends in. But with Script Frenzy upon us, I’m trying to take it a step further by converting my modest bedroom into a chamber of creativity. [[MORE]]

I have begun to make my room writing-friendly by eliminating distractions: these include the silly putty in my top drawer, fun clicky pens and highlighters, and the miscellaneous junk that covers my desk. After clearing the mounds of crumpled Post-its off my desk, I replaced all of my used-up candles with fresh ones and arranged them in a visually pleasing manner. Then I vacuumed all of the hair from my carpet, dusted my bookshelf, and attempted to rearrange my pile of shoes into a slightly neater pile of shoes (something I repeatedly attempt but still haven’t mastered).

Once my room was spotless, candles were lit, and the good energy was flowing, I began to work on amping up the inspiration. I tacked up a couple of pictures of literary bad-asses that inspire me and promoted my framed picture of manatees to the premier wall space above my desk. It may seem strange to hang a picture of two manatees holding fins next to a portrait of Susan Sontag but it just looks right to me. After the visual inspiration was covered, I crafted a playlist of my favorite instrumental music to listen to while I write. Unable to think of any other ways to improve my new workspace, I proceeded to fall asleep without working on my script at all.

Now that my bedroom is in tip-top scriptwriting shape, I hope that I have finally run out of excuses not to write. But we’ll see. Who knows, I might wake up tomorrow and decide that I can write an Oscar-worthy screenplay only if I throw a new coat of paint on my hallway kitchen. 

How much time do you waste rearranging your candles? What does your workspace look like?

-Jessie

Photo by flickr user mcbfly