My Places to Write by Alan Anderson

 

Physical Places

I write most often at home in the front bedroom and always with the curtains open. Morning is my preferred time of day to write, and I never write in the evening. Home is where I am most comfortable writing, and perhaps the familiarity of home adds to a sense of belonging as the words flow.

I also enjoy writing in a local coffee shop in the company of other people. I don’t, however, interact with them, but I can write as if alone. There is something about the atmosphere of the coffee shops I am attracted to that allows me to concentrate and write with focus.

A Different Perspective

As I developed this blog post, thoughts kept going through my mind about a different perspective of “place.” I kept thinking of the perspective of one of my all-time favourite writers, John O’Donohue. With our Celtic backgrounds, I am drawn to his words as a life-giving drink of water. I resonate with his term, “inner landscape.”

The Place of My Inner Landscape

My favourite place to write is a place inside me where my mind and heart meet. In time, my soul engages, and my writing receives my embrace. This is my inner landscape, a term I first read about in books by the poet John O’Donohue. O’Donohue explores the inner landscape in books like Anam Cara and The Inner Landscape. Lord willing, I will write more about the inner landscape in a future post.

This inner landscape is the place where I absorb life within me and around me. This place, where the joys, sorrows, experiences, and memories of my life proclaim who I am. Within this place, my poems and stories are born.

I have heard writers say they like to write for several hours per day. Energy and concentration are my fuel for writing. My approach is based on the energy available to me from my inner landscape. For instance, my energy level one day might be higher than the day before. In such a case, I might write for three hours, where the day before might have been for one hour. This approach works for me and helps me accomplish writing projects.

Highway traffic, shopping malls crowded with people and impersonal stores, all remind me I cannot write amid noise. These crowded spaces drain my energy and frustrate my creativity. For me, such noise drowns out the words within me.

My wife, family, my church, strangers, the world around me, help form and bring to life the words that make their way onto a page. This inner landscape, this sacred space from which I write, is where I hear God’s still small voice. This still small voice requires I listen. If I listen, I will focus on what I am to write.

The acknowledgement of the reality of my inner landscape sets my writing free. My imagination can bounce all over the place, but my reflective nature allows imagination to be brought into focus. I don’t just write and hope for the best. The words that come to life express what I want to say to my readers.

My inner landscape is with me whether I write at home or in some more public physical location. This inner landscape, this place where I write from, has formed my writer’s voice and writes the story of who I am.

 

Alan lives in a small village called Deroche, British Columbia, with his wife, Terry, and their poodle, Charlie. He enjoys walking on the dike near his home, with trees all around and where he finds inspiration to write. He has occasionally written articles for FellowScript Magazine and is a regular contributor to the InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship blog. Alan’s website and blog is https://scarredjoy.ca. He also writes on Substack.

The Search for the Ideal Writing Spot by Steph Beth Nickel

 

a coffeeshop 

i wish

but the espresso machine

the buzz of conversation

the bell that sounds

every. single. time

the door opens

nope

not a coffeeshop

<sigh>

the park

i should be walking

i should be taking photos

i should have worn

bug spray

sunscreen

a hat

nope

not the park

<double sigh>

my desk

nonexistent

happens in the midst of renos

 in its place

couch that needs replacing

multipurpose couch

reading nook

dining area

location for napping

for now

the couch is it

my makeshift writing spot

ideal

far from it

but workable

temporary

a spot

to be grateful for

but maybe

just maybe

i'll give the coffeeshop

or even the park

another try

how about you

Steph Beth Nickel is the former Editor of FellowScript and the current InScribe Contest Coordinator. Steph is an editor and author and plans to relocate to Saskatchewan from Ontario to be close to family in this year or next. (Headshot Photo Credit: Jaime Mellor Photography)

A Variety of Writing Spaces by Sandi Somers

 

I once read an article about all the gymnastics the author Vivian Gornick did to set herself up to write her book. She needed the perfect desk, the perfect light, the perfect life. While she busied herself with all these preparations, the time for writing never came.

“Relatable, right?” the article went on to say. “The truth is, you can write anywhere, anyhow, on scraps of paper, while you are bored, miserable, or half dead. So sit down and write your book.” (Thanks also to Lorrie for her delightful poem on how she can write anywhere).

My writing spaces (among others)

I begin in the early mornings at my kitchen table for my quiet time with the Lord. In the coziness of a small space, it feels intimate. My mind is clear and not yet filled with the day’s responsibilities. Often I encounter a new gold nugget from deep in the Lord’s treasure house, and an idea sparks for a devotional or article. I write an outline-of-sorts and then dictate the pre-draft or draft into my cellphone to be later transferred and developed into a Word document.

Then I move to my dining room table where I revise or edit. Why the table? My current home has a small office with a north-facing window. When I first moved here, I wrote in that office. One spring morning, I emerged from my writing to sit in the sunshine on my east-facing porch. “I can’t continue to write in there—it’s too closed in!” I told myself. After experimenting with different rooms, I chose the table in my large living room with a window to the east. Occasionally I look up from my work, and my spirit expands to the world around me—snow, sunshine, and at this season, tree leaves budding out.

From spring to autumn, I walk to a nearby park or pond (that’s the photo above). Walking helps me process prayers, life issues, and gives me writing ideas or solutions.

At night ideas can flow in that in-between sleeping and waking state. I turn on the light and scribble a few notes, or even an outline, in a notepad I keep beside my bed. Very often these ideas are significant, and writing solidifies what might dissipate by morning.

I also write notes during church services and while waiting for my doctor’s or dentist’s appointment.

Why do authors choose their writing spaces?

I love reading about how famous writers designate a specific time and place to give focused attention to their work. Check out Nicole Bianche’s article here.

● To ensure they won’t get distracted.

Maya Angelou needed a sterile space away from home. She rented a hotel room, stripped any artwork from the walls, and wrote.

I couldn’t be like Annie Dillard who wrote in a dark room. She even said the children playing a game outside would distract her, so she pulled down the blinds and drew a picture of the children. My question was: Does she have ADHD? Is she easily distracted? (I shiver to even think of writing in this darkness!)

● To establish routines to heighten motivation

Ernest Hemingway said he sharpened 12 pencils first thing in the morning. As a writer before the computer age, he needed to be prepared for his day’s work.

The prolific Isaac Asimov kept five or six typewriters in his writing room, each for a separate book he was working on. When he began for the day, he would choose a topic, go to that specific typewriter, slide in a blank paper, and type his many words. (We can equal that. With our computers, we can click from one project to another in seconds.).

● To focus, despite spatial limitations.

Jane Austen of Pride and Prejudice wrote from the table in their house, a house with parents, five daughters, and servants. When guests arrived, she’d tuck her draft pages under a book and be sociable.

Authors with small children adapt. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a major influence on freeing slaves in the US, often with a child on her lap. Our Canadians Karen Stiller and Patricia Paddy initially had to clear away someone’s artwork or homework before they could begin. When making a business call, they hoped the little ones would be quiet long enough before yelling, “Mom!”

Conclusion

No matter where we write, we write for the Lord. I’m often reminded of Psalm 45:1: “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” And as Dallas Willard said, “you must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God.[i]


[i] Dallas Willard, in Patricia Paddy & Karen Stiller, (Craft, Cost & Call, Victoria, BC: Friesen Press, 2019), 97

Spaces - Tangible and Internal - Take Two by Valerie Ronald

Back in 2024, when our blog prompt was a letter of the alphabet for each month, I wrote this post for the letter S. This is a repeat of that post because my favourite space to write is still my old rolltop desk. It is the birthplace of my first book, soon to be published, so I’ve spent many hours here lately.

When my mother left me a gift of money in her will, the first purchase I made with it was an oak rolltop desk, something I knew she would want me to own. From the time I showed an interest as a child until her passing, she encouraged and supported my desire to write. Whenever I roll up the cover on my desk, I feel her loving presence. 

The handsome old desk stands in an alcove, its worn wood interior smoky with thousands of words forged in the fires of my imagination, meditations and experiences. To me it is not just a desk, it is a sacred space where, as I practice my craft, I feel the Holy Spirit flow through me. I keep a scented candle burning nearby when I write, to remind me it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit I am given the words He may possibly use to draw others to Himself. 

There are other spaces where I sometimes write, however, this desk is where creativity happens most often. It contains tools like my laptop, dictionaries, writing books, pens and sticky notes. Its cubbyholes and drawers are messy and cluttered with the debris of a busy mind. I like it that way. Then there are treasures which motivate me, like a stuffed frog with its acronym attached on a label˗˗˗Fully Rely On God, or a trinket box embellished with a porcelain fountain pen. Above my desk hangs a painting by my daughter, of a woman’s hands holding an open book. 

Every writer has a favourite space to write, whether at the kitchen table, in a private study, at a cafe or outside in a garden. Our space where we write is important to us. I find it interesting to see photos of the writing spaces of well-known authors. When in Paris, I visited an English bookstore where Ernest Hemingway used to write. His desk, typewriter, and some of his books were still there, tucked away in a quiet corner of the shop. It was inspiring to be where some of his great works were created. 

Physical space for writing is important, but not as key as mental space. Nowadays the time and energy required to function in our culture is often not conducive to a writer’s need for mental space. Creating mental space for writing to thrive is about giving the mind the chance to clear and reset, while also letting the subconscious get to work in the background. When I am asked to describe my writing process, I say that most of the work goes on in my mind before I actually get down to writing. 

The best of ideas and problem-solving occur when I am doing some simple activity not requiring deep focus, like cooking, going for a walk, or gardening. When it feels as though I am thinking about nothing, I am giving myself mental space, so my subconscious has free rein. The key is to find something that takes my mind off of my work in progress, so it has a chance to grow organically. Daydreaming is an absolute necessity in my life as a writer, providing a mental space where ideas can percolate in my subconscious while I focus on a simpler activity. 

We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, whose creativity is beyond understanding. He created us to be writers, so He knows what we need to write˗˗˗both tangible and internal spaces where, prompted by His Spirit, our words create worlds inspired by Him.

Valerie Ronald writes from an old roll top desk in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with her tortoiseshell cat for a muse. A graduate of Langara College School of Journalism, she writes devotionals, fiction and inspirational prose. Her purpose in writing is to encourage others to grow in their spiritual walk.