Your Ideal Writing Environment

One of my ideal environments!Back at the Storymakers conference in May, keynote speaker Kevin J. Anderson offered his eleven tips to become a more productive writer. Now if I could be even a quarter as productive as he is, that would be fantastic! The one suggestion he made that resonated most with me was to create your ideal writing environment. That was something I knew I needed to work on.

That was the first week of May. This summer packed a pretty nasty emotional punch and it isn't until now that I've actually been able to think about my ideal writing environment.

As you might gather from the title of this blog, I have a nice little writing space, a comfy chair, a fantastic view. But the funny thing is that I don't actually do a lot of writing up there. I share the office with my husband and when our son came home from college (the same day as the writing conference), it became his storage room too. It's cluttered and I don't always feel comfortable there. I do intend to get my office cleaned up and organized, but really, I write anywhere and everywhere. On the couch, at the table, in bed, at the park, in the car... I decided it was more important to create my ideal emotional writing environment rather than focus on the physical space.

You see, I have a difficult time getting anything done when I am depressed, anxious, angry, tired, etc. In order to create a more ideal emotional environment, I am concentrating on the following:

Going to bed on time
Getting up on time
Exercising
Avoiding overeating (That nasty emotional sucker punch really threw me for a loop in this department.)  Staying in tune with God
You see, if I can take care of myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I am much more likely to write well and achieve my goals. I figure if writing is a part of God's plan for me, then He will help me get my act together!

I started last week, and I wrote 14 pages! That's amazing for me. I feel a lot happier too.

So, what does your ideal writing environment look like?