I’m writing

I am writing (#amwriting) again. I’m sitting at my computer in my new writing room and I’m writing. YAY me! For the tour of my writing room watch this video:

Storyboard for my WIP

It feels so good to have everything set up, I’ve even got a storyboard up on my wall. And I’m listening to the soundtracks for Harry Potter as I write. I also like listening to the soundtracks for  the Lord of the Rings (LOTR), the Supernatural television series, a playlist I found on Pandora that has all the songs mentioned in Stephen King’s Dark Tower book series, and a few others.  (Sorry the lighting for that picture sucks, my walls are actually a pretty bright purple, not that muted color. )

So I’m writing. Don’t let anyone tell you that writing is easy. It’s not. It takes work, commitment, and time to write a novel, not to mention a lot of coffee and late nights, wine and late nights and then a lot of coffee the next morning.

What comes to mind when most people think of a “writer” is a mental image of someone in their pajamas drinking coffee or bourbon typing away with a carefree expression on their face–like a scene out of a movie.

Why can’t I get this scene right?????

In reality we look more like this:

I look a lot like that some days. Especially when I know what I want to do with the scene but the words just aren’t right…

There are other days when it goes smoothly and at the end of the day I’m doing the happy dance in front of my computer.

And then there are the days when I can’t write at all and I feel like throwing something, mainly my computer or at least the keyboard. Sometimes I just walk away from the computer and sit down somewhere comfortable and read for a bit to help unblock my mind. Like many other writer’s, I struggle with writer’s block. I have used various techniques to get the words to flow–sometimes one thing will work, other times something else works, and on occasion the only thing that works is stepping away from it for a wee bit of time. When that happens I like to do something physical like take a walk, clean something in the house, or even just go check the mail. Other times, when it’s really bad, that’s when I read a chapter (or three) in whatever book I’m reading, or I watch an episode of a television series on Netflix, or I watch a video on YouTube.

Today has been a great writing day so far. I’ve written 802 words thus far today–the day isn’t over with yet so the word count will go up. I’m getting into the story, and it feels good to be writing in my new writing room. I still have quite a bit of organizing to do, but the bulk of it is done. Now I’m off to write…

 

My New Writing Space

It’s been a struggle the past few years trying to figure out the what and where in regard to my personal writing space (now my writing room that I share with my with my step-daughter who visits once or twice a month–we’re purchasing a futon for the room–more fun and versatile, especially since she’s a teenager). I think we finally have it. I had found it when my son left for bootcamp, but he came back (medical problems) and took that room, and I was stuck without a private writing space.

I have a lot of books. They are spread around the house in various bookcases (total of 6). Two bookcases in the hall, and 1 in the living room, and 3 in my writing space.

So without further ado, here is my new writing space:

Red Desk with bookcase

Bookcase on desk

Where the genius happens (my writing space)

Red Bookcase

Another Bookcase

 

Tour of my writing room [NaNoWriMo Day 20]

Today wasn’t a good day in some ways, but it was in other ways. My aunt died last night, so today I’ve stayed busy (for the most part) trying to occupy myself with physical work so that my mind is otherwise occupied. It worked and yet it didn’t work, but what it did do was provide me with some much needed organization.

I didn’t get much writing done though. So now I’m off to write.

 

My new writing space and other things

Burgess Taylor’s New Writing Space (for NaNoWriMo 2014)

We spent this weekend moving furniture. Not just any kind of furniture, but antique furniture that was given to me by my Aunt Jan. We now have a dining room set and it seats 6 people, and since we have exactly 6 people in our immediate family (me, Mr. Rockstar, my son D, my daughter M, my step-daughter K, and our grandson Mr. Viktor) it works perfectly. I’m so excited. Tuesday evening we will use it for the first time when my daughter comes over for her birthday dinner. We’re having a party for her on Saturday and my parents and hopefully my brother and my nephews are coming for that, but Tuesday night is just us. and it will be our first sit down meal at a table where everyone fits and Mr. Viktor isn’t on my lap or my daughter’s lap. I still need to take the AC unit out, hang the longer curtain, and unpack my fancy china that has been in boxes for twenty years (it’s older than I am but I never had a place to put it).

And I’ve got a new writing space. YAY! (insert loud applause here…) I’m so excited… I’m not finished with it yet. There is still a lot of work to do. Closet space to switch out, shoes (oh my sweet nectar of the gods my shoes that will finally have a space) to arrange in the new closet space, books to arrange in the small bookcase Aunt Jan gave me that we had to put in the living room because there isn’t space in the writing room for it, etc.. But without further ado here is my new writing space…

Aunt Jan gave me the green chair and ottoman or footstool, and it’s perfect for my writing space. When I have the time I’ll get fabric paint and change the color. I like dark green well enough, but it’s not my favorite.

And here is my red bookcase:

So I’m back to outlining for NaNoWriMo, rearranging closets, and I’ve got to find my important things to put in my new curio cabinet that Aunt Jan’s best friend gave me. In a couple of months we’ll be getting an antique buffet that will be going next to the curio cabinet. I’m so excited about my new things.. Did I mention I got an antique wardrobe too?  I immediately thought:  Magical wardrobe! (Mr. Rockstar has never read or seen the movie The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe/The Chronicles of Narnia… We’ll be watching the movie this weekend.)

Burgesses magical wardrobe.

I’m just so happy! And words aren’t enough to express my gratitude to Mr. Rockstar for making my own private writing room happen, to him and my son for helping me move all that heavy-ass antique furniture (there’s more we just don’t have it all arranged yet), or to my Aunt Jan for giving me all these precious pieces of furniture.

 

Changing my Writing Space

What do you do when the writing space you have isn’t working for you? I’ve changed writing spaces several times now. I’ve gone from having my own private writing space, to the dining room, the living room, our bedroom…and the only place that worked out well was when I was in my private writing room where I could shut the door. I was away from everyone else, the television, the kitchen, and all the other distractions that cause me angst.

In the dining room or living room I am plagued by thoughts of “I need to wash the dishes,” or “I need to sweep the floor,” or I need to dust the furniture,” or “I really should be folding that pile of laundry,” or “I really ought to be…” and the list goes on. The pile of clean clothes, the dishes in the sink,  or the dust on the furniture are waging war on my concentration. As I type this I have a load of clothes in the dryer, a pile of clean clothes on the couch I need to fold, a large pot soaking in the sink, and a sticky note that has a small list for the items I need from the grocery store.  The moment I get up to warm my coffee or pour myself another cup I am distracted by what I see in the kitchen. The moment I look to my left I am distracted by the pile of clean clothes that have yet to be folded. (Damn that cleaning fairy for disappearing!)

I should be writing. I need to be outlining for NaNo. 

Yes. I’m piddling around. I’m distracted. I can’t concentrate. I can’t plot. I can’t write. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t… Wait a damn minute! I can change things around. I can make it happen. I can do this! I just need to figure out where I can write with minimum distractions.

Mr. Rockstar, bless his heart, is willing to give up our bedroom and move our bed into the guest room, which means putting the twin bed in the small metal shed we have out back. We sleep in the guest bedroom/Mr. Rockstar’s daughter’s room (she comes here once or twice a month overnight) and when she does visit we’ll sleep in our recliners–he sleeps in the recliner half the time anyway. I sleep there on occasion. So we move my desk and one of my bookcases, along with a chair and ottoman into our bedroom, and WAA LAA I have my own private writing room (including a bathroom–I won’t have to leave my writing room except to get coffee and eat).

Whoa! But giving up my bedroom, my bed. so I can write? Wait a minute. How much am I willing to sacrifice here? Why can’t we just move my desk and bookcases into the guest room, and get a futon or something for her to sleep on when she’s here? Or why can’t we let her sleep in our bed when she’s here and we sleep in the living room–it’s only one or two nights a month. Sigh. I don’t like any of the choices.

I don’t want my step-daughter to not have her own space when she’s here. I don’t want to give up my bedroom. I don’t want to not have a dining room again. I can’t concentrate being in the living room. I don’t want…Something has to change though or this NaNo is going to be hard. I’ve considered rearranging the living room so that I’m in a corner instead of out in the open–the walkway from the front door through the living room and into the kitchen. I’ve thought about rearranging our bedroom.

I’ll figure it out. One way or the other I’ll figure it out. I just have to figure it out before NaNo.  For now though I better get back to trying to write…Or at least outlining.

 

 

Where Do I Write?

I’ve seen several posts on WP and Blogger, and Twitter #writingspace about the writing process, where writer’s write, and what their favorite things are or what inspires them. When I was in college I wrote in between classes, at the coffee shop, at the cafe, outside at a picnic table on campus, in my bedroom on my bed, at my desk…You name it. But that was homework, research papers, etc. Things have changed over the past 15 years.

Once I started taking my writing seriously instead of just thinking of it as a dream deferred, a hobby, or a creative past-time I began dreaming about having a writing shed, or at least a room of my own. And for a short while that happened, but alas I am now back in a main part of the house, which is fine when I’m home alone, but not so great when it’s not just me at home.

My red and wood desk, and my husband’s desk. with bookcases…

My red bookcase, and the curtain I wrote the lyrics to “our song” on for my husband.

Above you’ll see a few pictures of the writing room I had for a brief period of time. Once my son finishes college (since the military thing didn’t work out for health reasons) and gets a full-time job I’ll get my writing room back, or by then we’ll be able to afford a wooden shed so I can convert into a writing cottage.  But for now, where I write is in the living room.

The pillows on our couch match my writing space…

Red bookcases and desk go well with our updated look.

This is actually clean considering it’s Camp NaNo

 

Camp NaNo Day 1

So I’m coming right along with my novel for Camp…3226 words on Day 1. Not bad for the first day.

I spent part of today organizing my physical writer’s bible. I’ve printed out several things over the past few months–writing resources, outlining info, detailed character worksheets–and I needed a place to store them, in an organized manner, instead of stuck in various drawers of my desk. Now that I’ve moved my desk to the living room, there’s no way I can continue to have the creative clutter I had on the desk when I was in my own writing room. I dream of having a writing shed/barn/cottage/ in the backyard one day, but for now I’m in the living room….

Book cover, Save the Cat, notebook, etc

This is actually clean considering it’s Camp NaNo

Thought I’d share what my desk looks like while I’m at Camp….IIt’s much cleaner since I’m in the living room now.

 

Cover for Camp NaNo Book and other stuff

I am so excited….A fellow NaNoer made the cover for my book for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo which starts tonight at midnight (only 1 hour and 15 minutes away for me)… And I love it!!!!!

To see the original version check it out here http://qoalaka.deviantart.com/art/Revelations-444134467?ga_submit_new=10%253A1396312029

My cover… I saw this pic while looking through Deviant Art and she got permission from the artist to use it. Isn’t it amazing! How it turned out! The pic itself! I love all of it! It looks like a real book cover. I am just so excited!!!!!  (Makes me feel like a bonafide writer!!! Once again I’ve changed everything at the last minute! SIGH!!!

I can’t seem to help myself. I’m using almost the same premise. I’ve changed the character’s names, and the title of the series but not the title of the book. I’m in the process of changing the whole outline to fit the revamped premise and characters… Double work, maybe, but I was reading Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat and realized what I had wasn’t going to work, not the way I wanted it to. Thus the changes. I’m okay with that. It means working on my outline at the last minute, but I’d have been doing that anyway, at least now it will be the right concept, theme, etc for what I want. I’m happier with it now, even though it means more work. But I found a great outlining video over a year ago from Katytastic that if you’re interested in learning more about outlining using the 3 act structure from Snyder’s Save the Cat, or outlining with Scrivener in general, it’s a great start.

Isn’t that the great thing about WriMo though?… You sort of need just a little pantsing to make it fun… At least for me I do. I’ve gone from a pantser to a plotster so I guess I have to throw some pantsing in there somewhere or it’s not fun for me.

I’m in a cabin now, with people near my age bracket (last time I ended up in a cabin with a group of NaNoer’s around my children’s age, which wasn’t really a good thing for me since they are between the ages of 25-14)…I’m happy about that. And our living room is finally finished… YAY! I no longer have my writing room… BOO!! But my son has his room back. He was injured while at bootcamp. He’ll be able to recycle in the next 6 mths, but he has to heal. While he’s healing he’ll be going back to college and is thinking about going in the reserves (Navy or Air Force) instead of going in the Army full time (Can’t say I’m unhappy about that–I’m all for serving our country, but I believe in working smarter not harder and the Army and Marines are definitely in the work harder category).

The pillows on our couch match my writing space…

Red bookcases and desk go well with our updated look.

So here are the pics of my new writing space… Instead of being in the dining room we decided to completely rearrange our living room so that I could have my own little space. We painted the walls, moved everything around, and put our pictures in completely different places so that I could have this space. My husband ROCKS!!!! (Now I just need to paint the hallway and we’re done with the khaki/taupe color and it’s off to figure out what color to paint our dining room and kitchen. I love how our new living room looks.

Ok, I have less than 1 hour so let me get back to outlining. Happy NaNoing and have a great night.

 

 

The Ultimate Writing Room

This is the cutest writing space ever…. The Ultimate Writing Room.

 

Scrambling to Get Things Together

The Writing Prompt for today for the 365 Days of Writing Prompts, which I am just now starting, was titled Writing Room. I am finally getting the rest of my writing room together. My desk is now in place, I am about to put the other computer on my husband’s desk, which won’t be used often because he’s not home much, yet I still have all this MESS from emptying and then moving my desk into my writing room. I won’t take a picture today–frankly, the room is a mess now. On second thought; frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn!

So here are the pics of my writing room. It’s a work in progress. My son’s stuff is still in the closet, and I’ve organized it best I can with an injured rotator cuff. I’ll eventually get to the rest of it (especially since I’m seeing the specialist next week) and then the closet will contain my stuff and I’ll be able to shut the doors. Since we first moved into the house I’ve dreamed of having a writing room, of what I’d do with it. I’ve written several posts about it…And I imagined a room with lots of purple or red. I didn’t want to paint the walls red because I’m doing the dining room in red, and using red accents in the kitchen. And my (step) daughter’s room is now purple, Grape Ape purple. So I had to find a color that would go with red (or purple) and Aqua Chiffon was it. It’s bright, cheerful, and one of those colors that is supposed to help with focus.

I really should have taken before pics. But if you check out some of the my other posts you’ll see some of the room before I put the red desk in there…This isn’t exactly what I imagined, but it’s definitely me, and since it’s my writing room it can look however I want it. I’m sure I’ll end up changing it later on, especially once my son gets his stuff. I’m just happy to have my own writing space. My daughter and husband helped me a lot with the room. If it hadn’t been for them I’d never have gotten as much as I have gotten done. (Not with a messed up shoulder.) But at least now my daughter has plenty of room for the pac-n-play in the writing room and she can sleep in the twin bed when she comes to visit, and my (step) daughter has her room decorated and painted. Now we have to do our room.

Since we moved the desk out of our bedroom we went ahead and rearranged our bedroom and now we have so much more space. We can actually walk around in our room and not bump into things. YAY!!! Now we have to figure what color to paint our room since I’ve used all of my fav colors I guess we’ll probably go with a darker shade of blue for our bedroom since that is his favorite color…Midnight Blue… Hmmm… I can work with that.

My red and wood desk, and my husband’s desk. with bookcases…

Top of smaller desk still needs to be painted, and we still need to get the bed frame out of storage.

My son’s FS TV that he’ll be getting once he’s out of bootcamp and training/school.

My red bookcase, and the curtain I wrote the lyrics to “our song” on for my husband.

My inspiration/corkboard is now over my husband’s desk but at least I won’t be so distracted by it now. And i can look to the  right and there it is…