This Writer’s Life—My New Writing Space

by Melissa Corliss DeLorenzo

There is still vitality under the winter snow, even though to the casual eye it seems to be dead.—Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Photo: Melissa Corliss DeLorenzo

My son keeps complaining about winter. He wishes fervently for summer. He hates his coat and his hat and he laments being cold. (He does like his super heroes snow boots, though.) I get it and I know many who agree with him (his Dad included), but, personally, I love winter. I like the cold and the bare trees and the snow. I walk every night after the kids have gone to sleep and I love the clear and snappy air. The moon and stars are wondrous in the winter night sky.

I suspect I am in the minority for this preference of mine of winter over summer. But something about this time of year motivates me. I get more work done. I start moving furniture around and rethinking our space and how it might all work better. It’s rather funny, this compulsion of mine, as in everything else I resist change. It’s not an overstatement to say I despise change in many instances, as unhealthy as that may be.

But I do like to move the furniture around. (Drives the husband a bit crazy.)

Last winter, I contrived a little writing workspace on one of my kitchen counters that I have been using ever since. It worked okay, but got easily cluttered and usurped by drying pans and sometimes the crock pot. Also, in order to work, I needed to stand, which although I didn’t mind, somehow was not always conducive to getting into the writing. I had some of my writing materials in an adjacent room in a desk. It was all a bit scattered.

I needed an effective work space. A little feng shui for the writer.

I don’t know if I buy into feng shui, but some of it does make sense to me. Essentially, it’s about cultivating harmony in your environment which in turn will seep into your life. Create surroundings that encourage balance, inspiration and a sense of being nurtured. That all sounds pretty good.

So, although I don’t exactly have a room of my own, I do have my kitchen and I do have that desk. I dragged it into the kitchen, which may seem strange but my workspace needs to be in my kitchen which, for me, is the center of my home and where I am most productive. I reduced the clutter which, according to principles of feng shui, can cause one to become stuck and stressed.

The upper shelves hold jars and containers of grains and legumes, flours and sugars for my cooking, but now beneath all that sits an effective workspace: practical, utilitarian, a place where I can be truly productive. It’s organized with everything I need within arms’ reach.

I still have to cook and make snacks and clean dishes and fold laundry, but this feels to me like—finally—a writing space that works. In the midst of this cold of winter, I am creating a vital writing world!

What does your writing space look like?

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