When I tell people that I am a creative writer, the first response I always receive is, “How do you have time?” At first, I made it seem like writing time randomly occurred, “Oh well…I just sit down for a little bit here and there” or “I have the weekends sometimes,” but the more I reflect on when I write, the more I realize that it is not a hobby that just pops up here and there.

I don’t HAVE time.

I MAKE time.

Wake Up Early

I am definitely not a morning person. I am slowly attempting to become one by getting up and practicing yoga, but I wouldn’t call myself an “early bird”. Waking up early gives you time. This time does not necessarily have to be used to write (God knows I can’t form sentences at 5 AM), but it can be time to do other things like cleaning, reading, working out, or accomplishing tasks on your To Do list that might take up writing time later in the day. The morning gives you QUIET (especially if you have children or a hectic, quick-paced job). Start by waking up 10-30 minutes earlier than you normally do and just enjoy that quiet with a cup of tea or a short walk. After realizing how much you need that time for yourself, you become more excited about the practice of waking up early.

Schedule Your Writing

Put it in your calendar. Use a timer. You have a date with your computer or journal or whatever it is you use to write. Make a commitment and stick to it! I also like to schedule periodic writing time or writing retreats with friends to keep me motivated and productive. There are earlier posts about my past writing retreats! If you schedule a cup of tea a day (however long it take you to finish drinking it) or an hour on a timer, I guarantee you will focus and write.

Remove Distractions

Speaking of focus, it is important to remove distractions. People are distracted by different things. If I am at home, I want to clean. I keep my study tidy and sweep the floor before I sit down to write. My bookshelves are behind me, so I do not have the sudden urge to organize them. I make a pot of tea, so I do not get up and go into the kitchen only to accidentally notice the dishwasher needs to be unloaded.

In my study, I play music, so I can’t hear what is going on in the rest of the house. I shut all of the doors (one is slightly cracked for Scout, my cat to come and go as she pleases). These are my habits because I learned over time there are certain things that derail me. For many people, having their phone is a problem. I keep mine on silent and only check it when I have to go to the bathroom.

I wrote an earlier post about creating a writing space that you love. My study has become my little retreat for yoga and writing. Not everyone has an entire room dedicated to writing, but if you can create a corner in your apartment, I promise having an inspiring space helps a great deal!

Take a Class

I am a firm believer in taking creative writing classes as your funds and schedule allows. My first class (outside of academia) was an on-line novel writing class because I felt I did not have time to drive into the city for a course. On Tuesdays, I attended a  weekly virtual meeting with four other writers and an instructor in a chat room. I was accountable for submitting a weekly amount of words, as well as reading the submissions of others throughout the week and writing comments, which was truly a lot of work. However, I found that I had much more time to write and read than I thought I did. Instead of aimlessly watching television, checking social media, or walking around Target (guilty pleasure), I sat down and read the other writing. Because I knew I needed to submit writing every week, it motivated me to schedule time to write or write during my lunch break at work (if I had one).

This year, I completed two in-person classes about thirty minutes away from my house, which means I spend an hour driving to and from class on the weekends. Because I don’t live in the city, I chose to take my most recent class from 11 – 1 PM on Saturdays. The structure of this class gave me time to write, as well as discuss my writing and the writing of others, which truly makes you a better writer and motivates you to continue writing consistently.

If you can’t afford to take classes or find a place nearby, NaNoWriMo.org is an excellent way to keep yourself accountable and build a network with other writers who could possible serve as readers for you and give you feedback.

Find Your Tribe 

I’m fortunate to have a small network of other writers that I have built over the years. Three of my closest friends write creatively, and we often share work with one another for feedback before sending it off for publication. It’s important to have a tribe of people that are your motivators; people who constantly ask you what you are working on or writing about and want to unpack your project with you. This can easily be someone who does not write, but that loves to read or just likes to talk to you. It’s also important to find readers, which you can discover a variety of ways. Again, the internet is your friend, so on-line writing groups or websites like NaNoWriMo are great for building your tribe. Social media is another fantastic way to find readers. Search Twitter and Instagram using hashtags. Facebook has tons of groups like The Binders,  Writers Helping Writers and Fiction Writers Global that are easy to join. Be sure to give what you get as well; if someone offers to read for you, you should be open to reading for them as well.

Finally, always try to Write Every Damn Day! 

If I had it my way, I’d be typing from a treehouse in Costa Rica while listening to birds chirping, trees rustling in the wind, and rain falling gently outside through breezy windows. Alas…my humble abode in Houston will have to do.

For years, I’ve struggled with finding the right words in my own home. In the past, I spent a ridiculous amount of time in coffee shops, libraries, parks, and places of “inspiration” telling myself that I would always need to relocate because my house was an area of distraction. I’d convinced myself I would never be productive at home because my thoughts would often turn from writing to, “I need to sweep the floors….do the dishes…clean the litterbox…watch the latest episode of whatever HBO or Netflix series I was currently addicted to…” and so it goes. Recently, however, I’ve realized that I can truly shut out all of my anxieties if I surround myself with inspiration and spaces throughout my home that allow my process to flourish.

I was wrong. (Yes, I know women don’t say that often…)

I’ve finally become incredibly productive in my own home, and I want to share the changes I’ve made to my space to ensure that creative writing can occur. I’m not offering a list on this particular post of changes you can make to your own space; instead, I’m describing mine, so you can all have a little insight into my writing habits to help you reflect on your own.

In my current home, I have an office that is both organized and just “messy” enough for me. I found an old desk on the side of the road and distressed it in yellow with some funky knobs. On my desk, you’ll find a few of my favorite characters–Rocket Raccoon and BB-8–as well as speakers that are always singing. I keep all of my necessary supplies at an arm’s length. Pens, pencils, scissors, highlighters, binder clips, glue sticks, white out, erasers, sticky notes, notepads, staplers, and journals are the usual suspects. I’ve found that having some lotion and a finger nail file nearby keeps me from getting up to search for one if a nail splits or my skin feels dry.

I’m someone that likes to write by candlelight, so there are lighters purposefully placed in drawers and nooks and crannies throughout my office. In case I want to move into the chair adjacent to the computer and work from my laptop, I keep a external hard drive in my desk drawer at all times. Sometimes it’s faster to save a document on my hard drive than to email to myself and open it on my laptop.

To the left of my desk is a cart with my printer, lots of colored paper, and my candle stash. Sometimes I like to print drafts on colored paper to help me differentiate between the edits. I always try to have an extra reserve of ink on hand in case I run out. The flowered case in front of my printer is where I store my previous drafts. It is an accordion style filing system. Within it, I keep printed copies of finalized stories, poems, and novel pages, as well as stamps and envelopes in case I see a call for submissions that requires a hard copy to be submitted. Expect a future post about how I track my submissions and utilize this filing system.

To the right of my desk, I have a small bookshelf that contains only the necessities. I know that if I put my TBR books on this shelf, I will never get any writing done because of the temptation to start reading instead. I have journals and books that serve as resources on the shelves, as well as a few pieces of art and props that I like to use when I feel inspired to take an Instagram photo or one for the blog. There is also a lamp on the top, which helps when the candlelight is not enough to keep me awake.

I am fortunate to have a closet in my office, which is incredibly helpful when I need to remove clutter. Most of the time, it’s organized, but if I need to pick up a stack and get it out of sight to focus, there’s always the closet to stick it in.You will notice a yoga mat hanging in a bag on the closet, as well as a basket in the corner with yoga materials. Often doing yoga or meditating before writing helps me focus. It can be a wonderful re-energizing practice as well when you feel like you are losing steam. I plan to write an entry about how yoga and mediation can fuel your writing in the future, but for now, know that having a mat, some candles, and/or mala beads nearby can be incredibly helpful!

Aside from the closet, I also have a storage stool that sometimes serves the purpose of “hiding junk” as well. I mostly use it to hold coloring books and coloring tools in case I need a mental break from writing. Coloring often helps me process where I want to go in a story. It’s also statistically proven to relieve stress – double Win!

Another source of inspiration is the art on my walls. I’ve filled the wall above my desk with Led Zeppelin portraits and the adjacent walls contain two autographed Ray Lamontagne posters. Both have inspired me as a poet, and I often write to their music and consider their lyrics when writing. I have a few of my favorite fictional characters on the wall too- a Wolverine cut out and a mint lithograph of Stitch reading The Ugly Duckling that my parents bought me at Disney World. When I was in graduate school, I made a black and white collage of the Beat poets, which also hangs in my office. All of the art on my walls motivates me to be a storyteller. I love each of these authors and characters for very specific reasons, and sometimes just looking up reminds me why I am a writer.

If I can’t find inspiration within my office, I can turn around and peer through the french doors into what I call my miniature library – someday it will look like Belle’s, complete with those awesome ladders you can roll around the shelves on. My study is primarily shelves of books. Joining the books, there are several Funko pops, collectible figurines, and LEGO sets of characters I love. I also have Led Zeppelin record box sets on top of my shelves for a little more classic rock! If I want to move into the space to write, there is a  small couch, coffee table, and rocking chair with lamps and candles nearby. The table next to my couch contains pens and lighters as well.

I’ve organized the drawer by my bedside to contain everything I might need in the middle of the night to write. A small flashlight, headphones, a book lamp, pens, highlighters, journals, post-its and the like line the interior of my nightstand. I also have a lamp on my bedside table, since whispering “Lumos” with a wand in my hand has failed to produce any light. I’m still waiting on an owl with my Hogwarts acceptance letter…

Complete with allergy meds and kleenex. Do all writers have allergies? I think so…

My beverage of choice when I am writing is tea. My kitchen is open to my living room, so it can be distracting to go in to the kitchen to make tea; I notice tasks like the dishes in the sink and begin cleaning instead of focusing on my writing. Instead, I’ve found the most amazing solution – an electric tea kettle! If I know I am going to be in another room writing, I can bring it, my tea box, and an extra container of water with me to make batches of tea. If you are a tea lover, I can’t recommend this little lifesaver enough!

Finally, no home or office is complete without a cozy chair and a cat! Find yourself a feline friend to help keep you company during your writing binges! Scout’s presence both relaxes me and encourages me to keep writing. She is named after one of my favorite protagonists, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, so her namesake alone serves as a reminder to keep putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keys).

In the future, I plan to post a list about the necessities for a productive writing space, but until then…I thought I’d share my personal space with you, dear readers, in hopes that it will keep you motivated and encourage you to Write. Every. Damn. Day.

As a child, I found that my most memorable adventures happened between the pages of books. Whether I was off to Never Never Land, wandering around Wonderland, or deep in the Hundred Acre Woods, I found solace in worlds other than my own. I’ve been a voracious reader my entire life. I truly believe the hundreds of tattered and shelved books prepared me to be the writer I am today. What we absorb as readers, we use as writers. We may not always do it consciously. We may hope that we can write as well as our favorite authors. Either way, reading prepares you to be a writer.

Throughout my writing journey, I’ve learned that much of my fiction is an amalgamation of what I’ve learned from other stories. For the novel I am currently writing, I rely heavily on classic children’s literature, contemporary fantasy, and Southern Gothic fiction. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is assisting me in molding my protagonist and the fictional town where she lives. However, the town is also loosely based on the one I grew up in, so in blending my own narrative and borrowing ideas from others, I am creating. I would also credit Neil Gaiman for helping me seamlessly blend magic and realism. In deciding how to pace the fantastical moments of my novel and balance them with realism, I’ve found myself revisiting texts I read for a Magical Realism course I took in graduate school. The most difficult part of writing this novel has been finding the right balance –creating a world that others can envision and relate to while incorporating one that does not exist. Like the words of an incantation, if you are able to recognize the right combination of believable and unbelievable elements, magic can occur.

Some Advice Related to Reading & Writing:

1. Read in your genre. Read outside of your genre. Think about the different voices and styles in the texts you are reading.
2. Write in the books you are reading. I know you think those pages are sacred, but highlight, underline, and write notes in the margins. If you have these notes and resources to refer back to when you are writing, it will help you tremendously.
3. For a writer, reading is not a hobby. Reading needs to be a habit. Read as much as you can and as often as you can. Create goals for reading. I keep a calendar and log the days that I am writing and reading and how much I have accomplished each day.
4. Carry a book with you everywhere you go. You never know when the opportunity to read might arise. On days that I have time to eat lunch outside of the office, I always take a book with me.
5. Experiment with your writing craft by using other authors to fuel it. Steal a beautiful sentence and riff off of it. Borrow a character to write a narrative or fanfiction. Examine sentence structure, diction, and tone and consider how you might borrow another author’s voice and strategies for your own writing. As much as we don’t want to be thieves, the narratives we read influence our writing.