40 Inspiring Workspaces Of The Famously Creative.

CanLit for LittleCanadians: Awards: 2013 Canadian Library Association Book Award winners announced today!.

Instead, with my next book, I’ve been writing it and abandoning it in my head. Over and over again. I can’t quite find the right place to start and I waiting until the story becomes clearer to me before I begin. I hope this doesn’t mean that I never finish a book ever again. I hope instead that it means I don’t have to give up and begin over with a new point of view, a new character, a new story, because I’ve been a little more patient in the planning of this novel. I’ve been reading about – shock and horror – outlining. Perhaps, perhaps, it’s time to give outlining a bit of a try…

Today, spend a little time outlining a possible story you want to write one day. Something new, something you like the idea of, something that’s been ticking over in your mind. Write out one way for the story to go, then leave it for a few days or weeks and see if the story will end up working for you. I’m going to try this too! Good luck.

One way for writers, published or unpublished, to improve as writers and as members of the writing community is to attend workshops like this, hearing the opinions of other writers.  Plus, it’s only the first or second time I’ve been out of the house late (it runs until 10pm which is late for me!) since my daughter was born nearly a year ago.  Sometimes writing time is listening time.  I’ll keep you posted.

I had a long, lovely email last night from a writer who reminded me of the time I told her that I received seven rejection letters in one week and, while holding the last one, I tripped and fell down the stairs, collapsing into a heap of misery (with a very sore ankle). She writes: the temptation was there to give up, but you didn’t. You went back to the computer and kept writing. I think of this story often, and it inspires me to keep writing. 

If you’re feeling fed up with rejection letters and worn out with the quiet disinterest of publisher after publisher, remind yourself that rejection is part of the job.  Any writer you admire (and probably some you don’t) will have received their fair share of rejection letters. They will have hoped for something that didn’t come to pass, dreamed of an ending that never happened. Someone smarter than me once said: Fatigue is a symptom of effort. Yep, you’ll feel tired, hopeless, frustrated.  And sure, the first few days after a particularly galling rejection aren’t, perhaps, the days you feel like reworking anything. You are, of course, allowed to wallow in misery. A little.

Then it’s time to get over it and get on with it, because from rejection comes the opportunity to rewrite, recreate, rejuvenate. Remind yourself of that when you feel like giving up. Sit back down in your writing space and write. Write more. Write something new. Write something better. Never let something as ordinary as rejection stop you.

Time to tidy my workspace, and get it ready for the messy business of writing.  What is your workspace like?  

Use this line to inspire a dialogue between characters – think about tension and conflict as you write and try to increase both if the dialogue starts to flag.

There are other crucial tools for writers – vocabulary, grammar, storyline, characters, style, voice – but making time for reading is the best way to inspire your work.  An eReader is as well designed as a book made of paper but it is a useful tool.  One I’m glad to have.

At least, that’s the idea.  Try it!