My Writing Environment

The folks at the Writing Cooperative interviewed me about the craft of writing, how I began, and some of my idiosyncrasies. The interview appears tomorrow on their website under the Write Now heading.

I want to go into some details I couldn’t cover about my writing environment. By writing environment I mean the environment I create for myself when I actually write (as opposed to the environment I create/tolerate while I do other tasks like editing, marketing, graphic design, etc).

So, here’s my writing environment:

1. I’m in my office with my laptop
2. The blinds are closed
3. The overhead light is off
4. A candle is lit
5. Hydration (herbal tea or water) is close at hand
6. My phone is in Do Not Disturb mode
7. My primary reference books are on my desk
8. My writing notebook is open and to the right of my laptop
9. A sticky note with my starting word count is next to my notebook
10. The desk lamp is off until I open one of the reference books
11. My earbuds are in and 14Hz binaural beats are playing on a loop

Seems a little neurotic, now that I list it all out, but here’s the rationale for each point:

My Office

This is the place I have the most control over my environment. I have written at home and at libraries, but have a more difficult time getting into the zone—or, some term it, being in a state of flow. My office—a dedicated space for me to write—enables me to get in the zone more quickly, and stay there.

Closed Blinds

During a writing session, I’m continuously warding off distractions: how many words have I written, how long has it been, I’m hungry, I’m tired, I need to use the restroom, what’s on social media, have I gotten an email.

When I close the blinds, I shut off a major source of distraction. I don’t stop writing because a pretty bird landed in the tree, or a person walked by, or a nice car pulled into the parking lot. The only worlds that exists while I’m writing are my office and the fictive world I’m creating.

Lights Off

This is like putting blinders on a horse, and I’m the horse. There are plenty of distractions in my office, and I don’t want to see them while I’m writing.

Candle

This began as a whim, but has added warmth to the cold blue glow of my laptop screen and is now just a part of the process. This is the least purposeful item in the list, but has become as important as anything else.

Hydration

Having water at hand helps remove the excuse to get up and get a drink from the drinking fountain in the hall. However, I take sips to avoid the distraction of going to the bathroom. I try to show up to the office hydrated in the morning so this isn’t an issue.

Do Not Disturb

With all my ranting about distraction, I’m sure I don’t need to explain why I set my phone to Do Not Disturb. If you’re not familiar with this feature, learn to use it. I like it better than Airplane Mode because my contacts can still get a hold of me in an emergency.

Reference Books

I keep copies of Webster’s College Dictionary, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, and New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors on my desk while I’m writing. The first two are pretty standard. The third one is useful for answering specific questions about trouble words and phrases (e.g. is heavy-handed hyphenated, does the acronym MO include periods between the letters).

Writing Notebook

This is a notebook used specifically for my fiction, where I have notes about plot ideas, characters, locations, and more. Often, especially at the beginning of the process, I can’t remember names and places, so I’ll jot them down for reference. During later drafts, this notebook also includes outlines, drawings, and needed corrections.

I have another notebook to help me organize non-writing tasks, brainstorm, take notes during calls, etc.

Word Count Sticky Pad

This is pretty straightforward. At the beginning of each writing session I note my starting word count. I usually have a 500, 1000, or 1500 word writing goal every day, and the sticky note is my mile marker.

Desk Lamp Off Until Needed

I like the light off until it’s no longer feasible because I need to read a definition or refer to my notebook.

Earbuds with Binaural Beats

Earbuds block out audible distractions. Binaural beats help me focus on the task at hand. If you’re not familiar with binaural beats and brainwave entrainment, here are the basics: our brains operate at different frequencies depending on our state of consciousness (e.g. hyper-alert, sleeping). Our brains can be tricked into entering a particular state (in my case, a delta state of deep focus) by listening to tones of different frequencies in each ear. For example, the tones in my left ear are at 114Hz, and the tones in my right ear are at 100Hz, which net to 14Hz (a delta frequency). These tones, together with the overlying music, are called binaural beats.

Conclusion

The whole goal is to get into the zone as quickly as possible and stay there as long as possible. Everything on this list (minus maybe the candle) is geared around this productivity. 

Let me know if you have questions about any of these things. Happy to answer.