Monday, June 27, 2011

Finding My Space

I write in a little cubby that holds my computer and the printer. To my right, the hall opens up into the living room and kitchen. To my left, the bathroom and kids’ bedrooms punctuate the long space.

Most late afternoons, you can find me sitting cross legged on a folding chair, tapping at the keyboard while in the company of Lego mini figures and balancing a baby doll across my lap. The TV blares, the dog nudges my chair every time she passes and the kids race up and down the hall throwing Nerf darts.

My writing is interrupted after almost every sentence. More water, I’m hungry, I need to go potty, what’s for dinner, she hit me. I meet every demand. I referee the arguments. I soothe the hurts. And then I keep writing.

In my dream world, I’d have a writing space filled with light. There would be a large window looking out over an even larger garden to encourage daydreaming and plot planning. My desk would be white with splashes of color for inspiration. I would sit in a cozy chair that leaned back as I stared at a chain of paper cranes tumbling from the ceiling. The worlds in my head would spin out of my fingers. The stories would weave across the page in an uninterrupted line.

There would be a lock on the door.

But that dream isn’t my reality. The reality is I write. I need to write. I must write. To do so, I have to find a writing space inside - an internal room that mimics my dream and allows me to escape into my stories at a moment’s notice.

Sometimes I get frustrated with hallway desk. But, lately, I’ve decided to give it a positive spin. If I can write while my daughter climbs up my lap and my son “tattoos” my legs with permanent markers, I can write anywhere.

Where do you write? How do you find the space you need to expand and grow as a writer?

Today's Guest Host is Mandy from Mandyland. She also tweets.

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