Creative Writing: Your Writing Work Space (In My Case, Where My Cats Hang Out)

Writing Work Space is important. Think of it as the place where you meet your Muse. This is where your creative juices percolate or where you allow the right side of your brain (the creative side) to flow.

Different people have different work spaces. J.K. Rowling wrote in coffee shops; E.B. White worked in his living room. While in Havana, Ernest Hemingway preferred standing up in the bedroom of his house.



I know a writer who can't work at home because of interruptions from family members; she goes to a coffee shop with her laptop. She has a table to herself, orders coffee and food, and spends hours working in this environment. She doesn't mind the people and noise around her.

Another writer I know works supine, wearing loose kaftans. She writes her first draft using pen and paper, not a computer. 

I have my office and I prefer quiet, although I can function if there's noise around me. Just don't talk to me when I'm writing because my mind is somewhere far away.

My two cats keep me company, and I like that. I also like my antique lamp next to my desk. I have grown to love my double-screened computer, set up by a techie son. (What this means is that I have my manuscript on one screen, and I check my emails or Facebook on the other -- very cool.)

At night, I manually write in my Notebook. My Notebook is a catch-all for ideas that pop out of my unconscious, so I jot down random thoughts, ideas, questions to myself. Usually my Notebook will provide me with material to write into my manuscript.

However, I must confess, that my office is untidy, with books and papers all around. Some times I feel I'm drowning in paper.

 I want to point out that other writers and artists are also quite messy, check out the site, 40 Inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative -- look at the work spaces of Alexander Calder, Martin Amis, Susan Sontag, John Updike, and Nigella Lawson.

So consider what environment makes you creative. Do you prefer music, quiet, nature, coffee shops, libraries, den, kitchen, bright colors, muted colors? It's entirely up to you. There's no right nor wrong here, just what works for you.

The picture below shows my beloved Kiki, who's now in Pet Heaven; the two cats I now have do the same thing. Whenever I'm working there's always a cat parading between me and the computer screen.

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Read
Ernest Hemingway, The Art of Fiction No. 21
40 Inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative
Kiki, A Story about Our Cat

Explosion and Drawing as Writing Exercises
The Importance of Keeping a Journal and My Pink Lock and Key Diary
The Importance of Sensual Writing 
Vintage pictures that help me write my novel - Paris, Barcelona, Ubec
How to Write a Novel #1
How to Write a Novel #2
For fiction, read:

Talking About the Woman in Cholon
Old Man, by Brian Ascalon Roley

 Song from the Mountain, by Erlinda Kravetz
The Turkish Seamstress in Ubec 

 Winning Hearts and Minds- another chapter from Brainard's novel Magdalena

The Black Man in the Forest

The Old Mansion near the plaza

Manila without Verna

Flip Gothic

1943: Tiya Octavia 
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This is all for now,
Cecilia