Here’s my office. 
To me, it’s the best room in our home. Two windows looking out on an open street with 
trees bring in light from sunup to sundown, and many of my favorite office ‘mates’ line the shelves and walls – books, sculpture, prints and wall-hangings.
A perfect place to write…in my mind, a dream office.
But instead, I take my paper and pad and write at a conversation-buzzing coffee shop a mile and a half from the house.
Why?
Because I can’t work in this dream office.
That’s not quite true, because I do work there. I see clients for counseling, therapy, coaching.
But I don’t write in the office I made perfect for writing. Because for whatever reasons, I am easily distractable, and discovered awhile ago that I do my best writing away from home, in an environment that strangely creates positivity not because it is beautiful or perfectly quiet, but because it is humming with the kind of noise that helps me concentrate.
So positivity, particularly positivity for the writing life, comes in part from knowing exactly who you are and what you need at any given time, and trying to find a good match for those needs.
Dreams that don’t come true, or at least that get turned on their heads, are part of our characters’ lives, and ours, as well.
And although the disappointment of a dream that doesn’t come true may be very real, the positive emotion created when we take pleasure in the dream’s new form is nurturing.
If we see them as lovely surprises, opportunities, possibilities, dreams with new faces help us flourish.
Have you experienced this? Have you made changes to how or where you write, or what you write about, because you’ve realized your original “dream plan” was just not right for you?
Those are interesting questions. I’ve made lots of changes to where I write, mostly because of physical discomfort. These days I do about half of my writing while walking very slowly on a treadmill a built a desktop for. I also write in a glider rocker by the woodstove, and at the dining room table, and just a little bit at the desk I’d envisioned doing all of my writing.
And I’ve certainly changed what I write about. One book I’ve been working on for several years has undergone a huge transformation. I had to let go of the old premise to move forward and now I’m falling in love with the new premise.
Hi, Paul -
Your last statement is true not only for our writing, but for life, don’t you think? And yet it takes practice to be able to jump into the void of letting go, without any guarantee that we’ll “fall in love” with whatever’s ahead. A tricky passage…and yet – I agree – we can’t fall in love with the new premise, dream, or idea, unless we let go of the old. A good reminder for my current MC (and her creator)!
Carol,
I came to your blog by way of Ron Doyle linking your site as an example of color. I like the colors, BTW. More importantly I like your posting about creating the perfect situation for writing. I created a as-perfect-as-I-can-get-it-right-now office for writing, which is attached to a toy room so that I could write fabulous prose while my baby/toddler played.
You acn imagine how well that worked out. She doesn’t like playing in the toy room but really likes climbing up my drafting table chair and trying to scale onto my shoulders. So I moved into the living room upstairs and have been mostly typing from my couch. At least when my daughter sits next to me there is room for both our butts.
Now my office is a lonely stop for mail that needs to opened and bills that need to get paid. But on busy days (like today) I drop my daughter off at a friends house and go to the local Panera Bread and write for hours. I am more productive in three hours away from home than 8 hours where I live.
But my dream? My dream writing environment would be a small, quaint building behind our home, with large picture windows, a coffee maker, cozy recliner for reading, my bookshelves, and my computer. And all my favorite inspirational sayings stenciled on the walls and ceiling. No phone. No laundry to stare at. No kids allowed. Sigh. Maybe someday. But for now, I’ll have to settle for the red microfiber sofa. Thanks so much for this post!
Hi, Rachel – Thanks for your response. It’s such a great example of how our dreams may come true in unexpected ways. And maybe…maybe the red microfiber sofa isn’t really “settling” at all!