By Delia Lloyd
As writers, most of us have numerous other demands on our time. These might be professional--we use our day job to subsidize that great American novel we're writing... personal--parenting/partners/parents... or simply the mundane errands of every day life that always threaten to suck you into their wake. But I've found that one of the hardest things about being a writer isn't just finding the time to write. Rather, it's learning how to set up a space--physical, emotional, spiritual--that enables you to be creative, so that when you are pulled away to do other things you can easily re-enter that space and become productive.
Obviously, accessing that creative space isn't unique to writing. It's something all artists need to do. I have a painter friend, for example, who begins each day with the following simple ritual. First, he cleans his pallet of the prior days' work. This is the most important part for him. Having his tools fresh and clean and all laid out in front of him allows him to sweep away the toil and struggle from the day before, thereby opening up new artistic possibilities. Then he puts on some music. He also makes sure to always have numerous pieces in progress hanging in his studio. He takes some time looking at them until one catches his attention and then he begins work on that. When he gets really stuck, he tries something completely new.
My routine is somewhat different. In order to "cleanse my pallet" of the prior day's work, I spend one hour--but no more than one hour--editing whatever it was I was last working on the day before. This might be a chapter from my novel, a piece of reporting, a blog post, or a personal essay. Spending one hour editing allows me to feel that I've "fixed" whatever it was that I allowed myself to leave on a loose end the day before. If other thoughts come to me while I'm in editing mode, I jot them down in a notebook so that I can remember to apply them to the relevant projects once I'm done. Then I start the main project I'm working on and continue to pursue that for the next several hours. Even if it's completely different from the piece I was editing, having spent an hour editing one project frees me up to be creative somewhere else. And I never, ever listen to music while I'm writing.
I also have a few gimmicks that I employ to get myself started. For instance, I never start writing until the minute hand is resting on one of the numbers on the clock face. So, for example, if I sit down at my desk at 9:17 a.m., I wait until 9:20 to start writing. Why do I do this? Lord knows. But I've been doing it for so long that, at this point, I need to do it in order to begin working. I know writers with other, similar hang-ups. Some people need to face a blank wall in order to start. Others need to have a view. One friend always eats an apple before she begins. For stories about how the more famous amongst us begin their days, check out the Daily Routines website. I particularly enjoyed this entry on Philip Roth.
The important point for beginning writers is that writing isn't just about having raw talent or having enough time. It's about being able to readily call up whatever it is inside you that draws that creativity out. And it takes awhile to figure those routines out.
How do you access your creative space?
Delia Lloyd is a writer based in London. Her work has appeared in the International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Guardian Weekly.