Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

Writing Space

How to Write Your Best Work

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Self-care takes lots of forms

Nothing is better then when the words are flowing through me, and I can’t seem to get them on a page fast enough. When I am in “writing mode,” the world drifts away and it is just me and the page in front of me. I am completely immersed in a world I have created. Sometimes, if I am lucky in my busy, loud life, I can do this for  hours. I emerge from the other side of this writing haze and realize I have wrote through lunch or dinner, or both, my bladder is bursting, and my leg has fallen asleep. I stand out of my chair as pins and needles race up my leg and I hobble to the bathroom, then to the kitchen for any food I can get into my stomach quickly because I am now starving. Sound familiar?

When I am engrossed in a project, it consumes me, even when I am not physically working on it. I am always thinking about it. I have also gotten stuck, I mean really stuck, or written myself into a corner. It is like a puzzle I sometimes can’t figure out which makes me nuts too. I often lay in bed at night thinking of characters and plots, or even dreaming about them. I try to have a rule of moderation in all things in life, but I think writing at least for me, is something that I have to be all in, or all out of when I am really working on a project. Along the way I have learned a few things for good writer’s self-care.

Exercise: This doesn’t have to be strenuous, but you should get the blood pumping. I love to walk when I have writer’s block, moving my body, changing the scenery and getting outside really does seem to help. I am sedentary when I am writing, my butt is in the chair. I know I could use a standing desk, but it’s not for me, at least not when I am writing. Move your body, it might move your plot along!

Eat Right: I know this is easier said than done. My nutrition seems to tank when I am writing. I begin to live on things that can be cooked in the microwave, or toaster. What can feed me quickly so I can get back to work. I now know that if I am digging into a big project that I need to plan ahead for meals. I will wash and cut up fresh vegetables and stick them in the fridge, then they are just as easy to grab as an unhealthy snack. Keep healthy foods at the ready and make sure to drink lots of water.

Sleep: Writing when my entire house is asleep is a special and unique experience. My dog sleeps at my feet as I type away. The light of my screen and my solitary desk lamp light the room. This is a feeling that easy to get addicted to, but then like most indulgences, the next morning is rough. I wake, after sleeping a few hours, to happy energetic kids who could care less that I filled a plot hole and now I need to sleep, they want breakfast and a trip to the park. I have burnt myself several times this way and I have learned that it is not the best idea to write well into the early hours of the morning.

Cleanse Time: This isn’t a new age spa treatment. After a long day of writing, or after completing a tense scene. I need some time for my brain to rest. I have to go find an activity that doesn’t require problem solving or strategic thinking. Some of my favorite things to do to rest my brain; watch a comedy, cook, knit, work in my yard. I find these tasks to be relaxing and they recharge me so I can go back to writing.

Read: I love to read! I was late to the reading game, as I have said before in previous blog posts, but I am making up for it now. I am always reading. While I am working on a project, I like to pick a fun piece of fiction to read. I generally try to read in the genre I write in but, I read all sorts of fiction. I do have one rule, as I write primarily romance, I will stay away from any story that has any resemblance to my own work in progress. I do this out of respect for the author. I know that it is said, that imitation is the biggest form of flattery, but I don’t think that holds true in this case. I want to respect the identity of another’s work, and not have it bleed into my own.

Community: Plug into a support network. I am luck to have a sister and a husband who are both excellent writers. My support network knows the ups and downs of writing and how much it really takes out of you after a long day of writing. I know I am very blessed to have a good network like this. I have also found more recently a great writing network on Twitter. There is a very active and robust writing community there. It is great to connect with others who “get it.”

Remember when you are writing or working through writer’s block to take care of you. Your characters rely on you for their voice, if you aren’t in the best shape, then you do them a disservice. Take care of yourself and write on!

A Space of my Own

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(Our very fat cat, Minerva McGonagall inspecting her new nap spot, under my writing desk)

Your writing space matters. I remember reading a chapter in Stephen King’s book On Writing when it was first published.  He wrote about creating the ideal writing area, how it should be free from distraction and a retreat from the outside world. I remember thinking about what my room would look like if I ever became a writer. At that time, I had very little interest in writing, and I read the book because it was written by Stephen King.

Fast forward fifteen years later, and we were searching for our forever home to buy. We walked into the house we now live in, and there was a room off of the foyer, listed as a library. Jon, my husband and I have always been ravenous readers, so this room sold the house for us. Granted we could have bought any house an put the library in a spare bedroom but the fact that the floorplan of the house was built for a home library, sold us. While our country idyll is large, it needed a lot of work when we moved in. I often like to think of myself like Mary from It’s a Wonderful Life, continuing on with life while painstakingly redoing a large old house.

We signed the paperwork for the house and then went and bought bookshelves for the library. The bookshelves were our first purchase for the new house. Over the past few years, the library has become a special place for us. It is a quiet retreat in an otherwise noisy life. A few years back, when I sat down to write my first novel, I realized I did not have a place of my own in the house. I put a small table in the corner of the library and set to work. I have now been writing continuously in the library for almost five years. It has become my creative space. This past fall I decided to switch career paths, and I landed at home for a while, running my business for a while until I found where I wanted to be. Jon is the managing director of our business, which allows me to work outside of our home.

For years I had been working on a second-hand table from Ikea, in a space that I was creative in but that did not feel like my own. One morning I declared that I was going to paint the library and make it my own space for creativity. My husband who is always massively supportive was skeptical, the library is a quiet retreat for him too. I went off to the hardware store and bought all I would need to redo the room; paint, brushes, drop cloths, rollers, etc. I would come home each night after work and stay up late painting and patching the walls and ceiling, caulking the trim, and making the space my own. My husband Jon, looked on nervously.

I chose a gray/ taupe color that I found calming and creative. Once the room was painted I picked out a new desk, a real desk, not a second-hand piece. That was an adventure in itself. I commandeered a corner of the library for my own space. My desk faces the shelves of books, of all genres. I carefully chose the pieces that would be in my writing space, a desk lamp my young daughter gave me for Christmas, an area rug, and a print that Jon had given me. It is an old sailing poster that says, “The Perfect Finish- No job’s done till it’s All done. Only full days make full records.” This print is inspirational to me in so many ways, it reminds me to finish the job, to work through the writer’s block, to make the time to write because it is what I love.

My writing space in my library is special to me. It is my creative retreat. More importantly, even as I write this now, I look across the room at the shelves of books. I think to myself, at one time every book sitting on that shelf had an author who sat where I am today, having been bitten by the writing bug, and wanting to share their work with the world. I hope that one day, my own work will sit on my bookshelves, published. I imagine myself sometime in the future, walking into the library, a cup of coffee in my hand and setting to work on a plot hole, or wrapping up a chapter because the book is due to be turned into the publisher. The books across the room, cheering me on as I work, and the print hanging on the wall, reminds me that, no job is done till it’s all done.