The Myth of the Perfect Writing Environment
I read a lot of articles written for writers about how to be more productive in their work. I have a busy life, just like the next person, and these articles will not stop me, but I fear there may be other aspiring authors out there that will be stopped by these articles. They demand more than many of us have to give, and the truth is, being a productive writer is just not as hard as many of these articles make it sound. Here is a list of some of the widespread ideas of things writers need in order to write more, things I have never had, and you don’t need them either.
Pick a special place to write.
I have read this advice so many times, now I am likely to just quit reading an article that contains this advice. The idea is you need a certain room, or at least a desk, or perhaps a library or coffee shop, that is your sacred space and you are supposed to always go there to write. I If I am home, I am busy teaching my six kids or keeping chaos out of the house in some way (insert laundry, cooking, cleaning etc.). I write wherever I can and if I restricted myself to one space I don’t think I could have ever started. I write in my recliner, at a desk, in any room I happen to be when there are no other demands being placed upon me, I write at coffee shops, and libraries, and any number of places I have to drive my kids and then wait for them to be done with an activity. In fact, most of my writing is done while I am waiting to take kids home from somewhere. The truth is that any place can be special if you write there.
Carve out a special time to write.
I love routine, but there is no blank time in my life, which means I cannot add a writing routine. If I want to write, I have to fit it in the random spaces of free time I have, which will be flighty and inconsistent. But by writing in these random gaps of time, I have produced a lot of words in the past few years. I imagine many writers have schedules just as full as mine, don’t let a full schedule stop you. Any time can be special time by using it to write, and you don’t have to dedicate a specific time every day or every week. Some days and weeks you may have much more time than other days and weeks, and that is ok.
Get up early so you can write for two hours without interruption.
I’m sorry, but I think for most people this is just plain bad advice. If I did this it would be bad for my health, bad for my family who isn’t used to a grumpy mommy, bad for my brain, and quite frankly, bad for my writing because I would be in a constant fog of sleep deprivation. No, I can’t just go to bed earlier to make up for it, I already go to bed early. I need at least 9 hours of sleep a night, that is just an unnegotiable part of me, and my muse and I both have to live with that. I have never once gotten up early or stayed up late to write. You can produce just as much any time of day if you train yourself with practicing any time of day.
Sacrificially offering myself up to the muse?
There are a lot of ideas out there that fall into this category, such as needing to drink a certain flavor of tea and listen to a song before writing or not writing when you don’t feel inspired. Never use your muse as an excuse to not write, it is not fed off of tea or music, its food is in your fingers, and it will come to life more frequently and more strongly the more you just start typing, without even the thought that you may have nothing to say. Whether you think you do or not, your fingers always go somewhere if you let them. My muse will be my servant or it can go pester someone else. My muse comes on demand because I am strict with it. I do not have time to wait for inspiration or to drop the rest of my life when inspiration comes. Therefore inspiration sits patiently and waits for me, and whenever I have a moment, I write, and there it is, serving me. My muse is not allowed to interfere with my sleep, my family, or my health (I will not write if I am supposed to be eating, cooking, or exercising.) I will not use the idea of a muse as an excuse to act childishly or be selfish. I know it is a powerful force. I know how awesome it is when you don’t even know what you are writing, because it is coming out so fast, and you can’t wait to go back and read what you wrote. But I believe if we want to harness that power regularly and repeatedly we have to train it, to give it boundaries, and because it cannot take us over, it will serve us, because otherwise, it dies. It comes to me when I want it, when I need it, wherever I am, for however long I have to devote to it because I have trained it to by practicing writing anyplace and anytime that is convenient for me.
Real writers write every day.
Give me break, I have six kids, some days I will not have time to write. Give yourself a break, you likely have families and other careers, writing daily is not always an option and you can gain skill and practice and productivity even if you only get to write 5 days a week or 3 or 1, whatever you can do is ok, pick your own doable goal if you must have a goal. I have never had a goal of how often to write because I just don’t find it helpful. My goals relate to how many articles I want to write, how often I want to publish, the deadline for paid work (I have never missed a deadline) etc. You are a real writer no matter how often you write.
Before I could begin my writing career I had to stop believing all of the above advice.
Writing is just not that hard. You don’t have to do any of those things to find time to write and to write a lot of words over the course of a week, or month, or year.
At this point you may be wondering, so how much does this author who follows none of this advice write? Adding up the various projects I have done in the last few years, I have written about 100,000 (and yes, I have been published and received payment for several projects) words in about two years. All of that in a couple years of no scheduled time, no sleep deprivation, no special place, and no daily writing.
I am sure some writers have more time to write than I do, and therefore can create many more words and complete more projects in the span of two years than I did. But there is really no point in comparing, what I have done makes me happy, and being happy keeps me writing, and writing keeps me happy.
In short, write whenever you can, no matter where you are or how much time you can devote to it. Don’t feel you need to block out huge spaces or get your whole article or chapter out before being interrupted. Get out what you can when you can. The more you practice this the more your brain will get used to jumping into and out of writing mode at the drop of a hat, without any special equipment, rituals or cues. If you need some of those things to get started and have the time for them, feel free. But don’t let the lack of these things stop you. My main reason for writing this piece is for all the writers out there who haven’t started yet because they think they need certain conditions.
There are no outer conditions needed to write, only a mindset. That mindset is mostly about courage. Courage to put words on the page whether or not they are good and whether or not anyone else will appreciate them. Courage to hack and edit and share those words, even though they are not perfect. Courage to write wherever you are, even if that is not a perfect place. Courage to write whenever you can, even if it is not a perfect time. Courage to be in charge of your muse, by demanding ruthlessly, that it show up whenever and wherever you want it too because your time is too precious to waste waiting for inspiration.
Therefore have courage, pull out that keyboard, or pen, or pencil, even if you hate the computer because it stalls, you cannot find your favorite pen, or the pencil is half-past dull, put words on the blank page, you are an author, and nothing can stop you unless you let it.