Fables & Fiction

In all actuality, I am constantly pondering the questions posed in this prompt, and I think most writers should. By all means, you don’t have to have the absolute perfect space to be a writer. Or even have a solid chunk of time carved out to work on your writing. I’ve known moms who’ve written entire novels on their phone’s notepad while waiting in their children’s school pick-up line! The many different ways we find time to write are just as valid as working hours uninterrupted at a desk surrounded by beautiful, concentration and productivity-inducing plants and stationary!

But let’s look at the what-ifs and daydream a little, yeah? I encourage you to think about your ideal writing routine. Where would it take place? What days of the week, and what times of the day would you start and finish? Your preferred tools? Rules you would set to help you along?

And don’t worry about getting crazy with it! Use that imagination! We’ll modify our musings later on so they are more realistic to our lives. But for now, dream with me! 

Ideally for me, I’d write wherever I damn well pleased! Just kidding! But in all seriousness, I would love to have a clean (hard emphasis on clean!), beautiful, and dedicated space at home. One not filled with endless sticky notes, prompt cards, and various empty mugs! And while we’re dreaming, I’d die for a travel laptop for when I want to be that writer. You know the ones! I, personally, desperately want to be the stereotypical author and cozy up at a cafe, writing while drinking far too much coffee! 

I’d start about an hour after waking up and getting my daughter fed, dressed, and off to school, or something of that nature. This would give me all the time I need to savor some coffee and get all my morning needs met before sitting down and focusing on what I need to. And I have ADHD, so that can be pretty damn hard sometimes! But alas, I would persevere!

I would write for a few hours every day during the weekdays, carving out the time to work. Three or four hours, maybe even writing the whole time my daughter is in school! I could be at my computer typing, or glaring at a blank computer screen until I come up with ideas. And hopefully, in this future scenario, I will own my own writing program. 

Some rules I would set are:

1.      Writing time is sacred. I am working. There are to be no interruptions. And if there is, it better be something more important than filling up a water cup or switching over the laundry or whatever.

2.      I will write on my novels, stack of writing exercises and prompts, or other things related to my writing on my novels (like a plot line or character sheets) only.

3.      I will write for a few hours each day. At least a minimum of 3-4 hours if I can swing it.

4. The phone will be answered only if it is something important. Texting and messaging friends is not important. Neither is doom-scrolling Instagram. 

Now it’s time for a little realism. How I really get shit done is by planting my ass at my desk, grasping at any extra time I can find to write my novel in between being an amazing (if I do say so myself) mother, partner, and friend. My desk is a mess of stationary, meds, pretty pens and half-full coffee mugs a good majority of the time. And my computer is pretty much obsolete at this point, but gets the job done. I work from a school-owned program, or Google Docs. It is super inconvenient, but it’s what I have! (I have found a couple of programs I want to do some research on that format your books for you as you write. It sounds really nice to not have to worry about formatting after you’ve finished writing a whole ass novel!)

It’s nice and, I believe, necessary to dream. Honestly, in writing out these perfect environments and scenarios, you can and should pull from them to create goals and plans for your future. With me for instance, I never really thought much before now about making guidelines for how I go about writing, but I am thinking I may actually adopt some of the rules I outlined above. For productivity’s sake!

Also, maybe I might give not being a goblin a try, and clean my damned desk!

With much love as always, and wishing you all the success!

A.D. Strohman