When you sit down to write, what is the area you write in like? Is it a certain spot? Is it organized? Cluttered? Does it provide inspiring items to look at? Are some items perhaps UNinspiring you?

Share your challenges and progress!

Hello! How psychic are you?! I just sat down and began assessing my work area, hoping for a better start to my work today by organizing! And literally 2 seconds later your post appeared! Thank you.

Anyway, I've noticed that the aestetic (sp) part of my office is gorgeous, peaceful, spiritual, clean,....but that my actual workspace- desk, bookshelves, papers, technology, etc. are a mess! I'm almost burried in sticky notes! pretty colors though.

I will let you know how I do later! Jackie

I have good news and bad news. The good is that I have an entire room for my creative space! Super lucky at the moment. The downside is that I have many different creative spheres... Besides writing for BellaOnline, I write fiction, and letters, and follow/comment on a number of online topics, daily. One wall is for sewing, quilting, knitting and crochet tools and projects (the stash is in two other places in the house). Family and business accounting and record keeping share the two walls with desk and computer. My recipe collection sits in a two-drawer file cabinet with the household/business equipment manuals, writing folders in another two drawer cabinet. Have I mentioned I can be a bit OCD? There are half a dozen banker's file boxes full of photos and family memorabilia sitting under the work table because I am in the middle of a major family history scrap booking project....

Upside: I have so many neat things to choose from each day. Downside: ditto, mainly because I am so greedy about wanting to do everything--now!--that I had put off doing years ago because chores came first. I need a 32 hour day, at least!

I have found it very useful to separate generating ideas from research and actually writing the article. I make a new file and jot down ideas or interesting quotes whenever I encounter them, then have a day (usually Wednesday or Thursday) when I'll spend time researching and making notes on any or several of the file ideas. Then when I sit down on Friday to write the article for that week, I pick one of the ideas' files and flesh it out--which saves me having to face a blank screen and operate from scratch! Saturday morning is my post date.

Still, there will be some weeks when the pickings are thin, usually because I'm caught up using my creative juices on some other project. Conversely, some weeks can generate several article outlines. I admit that I am not working hard at this particularly project to the exclusion of all others. I'm rather newly retired and mostly enjoying the freedom to indulge as many of my dreams as possible in the day... BellaOnline and the taxes are the only deadlines keeping me even halfway 'adult' about my schedule, LOL.

Jackie -

Definitely clearing the mess off can help a GREAT deal. I find when I clear my desk that I can focus much better on the tasks at hand. Let us know how it helps!

Cheryll -

You are so fortunate to have a room all to yourself! Many editors dream about some day having that

It sounds like you have a great system worked out!

when i begin to write, the first topic i can think about is the new book i am reading, i may write some thoughts from the book.

ClaireHobby -

That is a great idea, to clear your mind of those thoughts and to record them for later. Sometimes if a thought is stuck in your mind it's good to write it down, and say "OK I definitely will work on that later."

Last night I completely cleared off my desk. I simply put everything "behind me" for now. It made a huge difference! It's so nice to sit down with a clear, empty desk. It relaxes me. I can focus on the task at hand. I know I will get to that other stuff later on.

I also write my to-do list fresh. I don't just carry over the old list. The act of freshly writing down the items helps set my intention to work on them.

Congratuations Lisa! I would love a clear desk! My desk is cluttered, I have books and paper on every available service except the small folding tv tray table I keep my laptop on. It's totally clear.

I do try to keep my office organized as clutter tends to interrupt my train of thought. I'm lucky that I have a dedicated office in which to work. However, my computer desktop often becomes a disorganized mess as I conduct research and save documents to my desktop.

I have to go in at least monthly and delete and organize or else I go crazy. Right now it's a "crazy" time. Both of my monitors are COVERED with desktop notes, pictures, information, etc.. and I need to delete and organize badly, but December and January have been very busy. I may have a moment after taxes are done.

The thing that inspires me about my office is that I have a window I can look out. There is a tree with squirrels playing in it every day.

I took a fresh attempt at organizing my home office a bit more. I'm in here all day every day so it would be helpful to get this in better shape.

I decided to take a "now" photo to inspire me to work on it. So here is what it looks like.



Note it's also good to take regular photos for tax reasons, to help prove to the IRS that you do use the area primarily as an office area. So take regular photos!

I'd love to see how others are doing. It's OK if it's messy. That's where you start.

If that were my office, I would work on the floor behind the desk first.

Tina -

The challenge is that those are all review projects needing an investment of time I don't have right now. The overnight bag has an old Dreamcast computer system in it. So I have to take it out, test that it works, photograph it, and then list it on ebay. The silver thing is an electronic wine chiller I have to test. So I have to get a bottle of wine (when I can drink again, after I'm done with these steroids), chill it, put it in there, see how long it takes to warm up, and compare that with a control bottle. So none are quick fixes. I have to plug through them step by step.