Three Steps?

As if in answer to yesterday's wish, Lisa Sonora Beam posted an article on uncluttering your creative space.  At the bottom of this one, there's a link to an article on making space for creating.  I feel like she's writing to me!

I really am a slob.  And I live with a bigger slob.  Add to that the busy-ness of our lives, and our house looks nearly ready to be condemned.  Can this method help me?  Maybe.  I'm pretty sure it can't hurt.  Anyone else want to try this out with me?  We can write about our results and keep each other going on the road to clutter free peace!

Reading About Writing

Work on my studio continues. I can feel it becoming more inviting, more of a writing and crafting and art space all the time. Of course, over the past few days I’ve only moved a couple of bits of furniture (and I’m still not happy with my printer placement, darn it!) and picked out a rug (which is currently in stock in Seattle but not Portland, so there may be a road trip in my near future). And perused bookcase designs to show my beloved so he can decide what to build for me! But I can still feel it growing into my space, my very own place for writing and creating and being. I love that room! The one that already exists and the one that is building itself in my mind…

I wasn’t actually going to write about the studio today, but I’m rather giddy over it. After living in that house for four years, it is exciting to finally be able to start getting things the way we want them.

I was actually going to write a bit about writing books today. I am currently browsing through several and actually reading Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel. And yesterday my new issue of Writers’ Digest arrived, and it’s now sitting on the coffee table waiting for me to delve into it.

Do I need to read more writing books, learn more craft, get more knowledge? Well, we can always learn more, there’s always something new, a different take on things, so reading more books certainly won’t hurt me. I usually find that I pick up at least one or two good ideas for new ways to do things when I read craft books and articles and blogs, so it’s definitely not a waste of time on that front. But I don’t actually need them particularly—I’m pretty sure I have enough knowledge and imagination in me to do the job sufficiently well.

What I get out of reading these books is more of a connection to my craft. When I read writing books, my focus stays on writing. My attention stays on crafting stories, plotting, outlining, creating characters. And when I read writing books, I feel a sort of connection to other writers. I can read a paragraph and say, “Yeah, me too! That’s what I do!” I feel like I’m one of the gang, like there are people out there rooting for me. And possibly the best part—when I read books on writing, my motivation rises. Story ideas well up, insisting on being acknowledged and recorded. I find myself excited and immersed in story and ready to pick up my pen. It’s really not a bad payoff for a few minutes of my time and a few pages of text.

A Room of My Own!

Back from my week off. The Great Purge was a huge success! My studio actually has a floor. And places to sit! And a fabulous, newly painted bright cherry red bookcase (photo coming soon, really) that is quite thrilling. I had planned to go with a slightly darker red, but they didn’t have enough of that color at the store. I really wanted to get the bookcase painted that day, and I didn’t have time or energy to try another store, so I decided that glossy Cherry Red was okay. I figured if it was really too bright, I could put a coat of something more subdued over it to tone it down. I was pretty sure I was going to have to do that, actually. And then it turned out that glossy Cherry Red was just the perfect color! I love it. It perks everything up and makes me happy when I look at it.

I also got a very nice wooden craft cart (photo of this also coming soon). It has a hanging file drawer at the bottom and six shallow drawers. Three of them have dividers creating little cubby squares in the drawers so they will easily hold and organize small things like rubber stamps and little items that tend to roll around and get lost easily. The cart also has a nice top with a rim, so it’s the perfect place for the paper cutter and hole punch. I can use them right on top of it without worrying about them slipping over the side.

There are several things still to be done in there. M is going to build me some bookcases to go in there, and he’s going to put a knickknack shelf near the ceiling to hold my cute little cottages and other decorative bits. I am also planning to get this great laptop stand to act as a portable writing table for when I’m not at the computer. And I am going to get a rug of some sort, but I haven’t picked one out yet, and good speakers for the computer so I can have music. Oh! And possibly my favorite bit of writerly stuff—M is going to make a framed board that will have wire strung across it so I can clip maps and pictures and story related visuals to it (think photographer hanging prints in a darkroom to get an idea of what we have in mind); I can have a whole wall of images that are specific to whatever story I’m working on at any given moment. It’s going to be so very cool!

So yeah, still plenty to do in there. But even without all of these finishing touches, the energy in there is fantastic. It’s a delightful, appealing place now and just wants me to go in there to sit and read and write and daydream. It is going to be a fabulous place to work and to play and to create.