Blogger: Mary Keeley
Every year around this time my mind begins to wander (more). The days are getting shorter, and it’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is three measly weeks from today, and then onto Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling the pressure of so many work-related things yet to do before the end of the year: proposals to polish and send to publishers, and manuscript submissions needing a read and a reply. I feel a weight of guilt over that one because client needs and contract negotiations come first, and some of these writers have been waiting a while. You surely have your own set of circumstances that raise your stress and guilt levels too. We’ll always have these to deal with, but a few personalized adjustments to your writing environment can boost your outlook for work optimization any time of year.
A natural place to begin is at your WORKSPACE.
This goes beyond the usual organization of files and research materials. That’s an obvious need, and an entire post can be dedicated to organizational tools and technology, but today’s focus is on environmental aspects that influence your individualized work optimization. I’m a firm believer in the adage, “A cluttered desk = a cluttered mind,” because for me this is true, but it might not be an issue for you. While working, some writers have the gift of tunnel vision and don’t even notice the non-essentials crowding their workspace. Because there are no two of us alike, there is no one-size-fits-all set of recommendations.
Some people are more sensitive to their surroundings than others. Creative people, such as writers, tend to be distracted easily, often by external stimuli, which then take their thoughts on a detour. How frustrating this can be, especially when we’re writing against a deadline. I wonder if this is in part why Anne Lamott talks about keeping index cards with her at all times in her book about writing, Bird by Bird. She uses the cards to jot down thoughts, words, and ideas as soon as they come to mind so she doesn’t forget them. Knowing they’re recorded for later use, reverting to the task at hand is a quick step. Good tip, but other influences distract too.
Subtleties of the ENVIRONMENT surrounding your workspace are important.
If you’re noticing a difference in your productivity as the autumn days become shorter, you might be interested in reading this feature article, “Winter Darkness, Season Depression,” by Martin Downs, MPH, on WebMD.com. According to him a number of factors are involved, but the commonality of those who suffer from what’s called “seasonal affective disorder” (SAD) is that they are unusually sensitive to light or the lack of it, particularly sunlight. Alfred Lewy, MD, adds his research finding that “the most important time to get light is in the morning.” There are varying degrees of severity, but apparently the best way to deal with it is to add bright artificial light to your work area and invest in a light therapy lamp.
The color of your work area can have nuanced effects as well. If your space faces north, you might want a cheery tint. If it faces west or south, a quieter hue might be better for you. Here are a few examples of the effects of colors from an article, “Color Psychology,” by David Johnson:
- Green – soothing, easy on the eyes, the color of nature
- Blue – peaceful, tranquil, the color of the sky and oceans
- Red – emotionally intense, said to stimulate a faster heartbeat, also the color of love
- Yellow – cheerful, bright, enhances concentration, but most difficult color for eyes
Pay special attention to how you might be reacting unconsciously as you walk into your workspace area. Do you enjoy the surroundings or do certain elements deplete you? It matters in terms of your work optimization. As winter approaches and windows are closed, add several plants for the oxygen and the natural beauty they provide. Keep your room a little cooler to avoid feeling sluggish. Put a special light box on your Christmas list. Change the paint color to one that works better for you.
What elements affect your work optimization? What tactics do you use to keep from being distracted easily while you’re working? Are you aware of the degree to which you are affected by bright light or the lack of it, or by the color of your workspace?
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When one has learned to control breathing and pulse, that one may optimally pull a trigger between heartbeats, I’d say one has a fair capacity for tunnel vision. I can work anywhere, under almost any circumstances.
One thing I might clarify – the acceptance of a rough working environment actually requires strict organization. When I was in the field, I made sure that I and my guys were kitted out identically; tourniquets around the neck, morphine and dressings in the upper left blouse pocket, magazines (kind that fit a rifle) in the same place on the web gear, and so on. For the medical stuff – you don’t use your own on a wounded colleague, so you need to know where to find his. Consistency is life, and yes, this is from personal experience.
The laptop computer with wireless connectivity changed my workspace. I am no longer shackled to my desk. For my day job, I’m in my office, at my desk. At home, I can be anywhere–outdoors when it’s warm, and next to the woodstove when its frigid. The sewing machine now has dibs on my desk, and there’s more fabric than paperwork cluttering that space. Which explains the willy-nilly index cards on the coffee table. **sigh**
* Yes, I am one of those. My father gave me a plaque, “A clean uncluttered desk is a sign of a sick mind.” My desk at work is an archaeological dig. It doesn’t help that the tasks of two different persons were merged into one–me. You can actually see where a project was put on hold to accommodate a more urgent problem. And thus they stack up. Literally.
Wow, Mary, I have no doubt you are an organised soul. I sense it in your topics, your writing, your overall style, etc. I lean more to the creative side, although I tend to prefer an ordered desk. I guess though, that I am also the lazy soul that bill Gates felt would boost the creativity of MS – I always seek a simpler, more efficient way and I habitually build tools and apps to help me. So I put in rules in my inbox to prioritise and manage mail, my websites have a lot of self-run apps, I built tools in excel to manage my clients, etc. That is how I cope, but I do envy souls like you who are more organised and uncluttered – its an enviable virtue that builds trust in your clients – as a writer I value that. I suspect Andrew might identify a bit with me as he is also a little more right brained, but I am sure he will speak for himself. I actually have an inverse learning style, called “visual spatial”, which is a bit overlooked in school systems, so like my sons I tend to work best from a generalisation to specifics, as in deductive thinking. As such, I am more comfortable with a bigger picture, vision, dreams and broader concepts and I then organize that into a logical order, whereas an inductive thinker would be more inclined to get everything in logical order and build on that to arrive at broader outcomes. Like Andrew I also tend to work fine in most circumstances and can switch off to anything, but that may be partly a guy thing if the stereotypes we see in humor are anything to go by.
Peter, we’re alike in that while I’m at concept stage of a project or learning something new, like you, I am more comfortable with the bigger picture first, because it’s easier to make sense of the various components, where they fit in, and how they should work together to accomplish the desired outcome. However, we’re different when it comes to my office. When I step through the door, I clearly shift into work mode. I think my bay window keeps the walls from closing in, but I and my laptop enjoy reading manuscripts elsewhere.
For those who are not long riflemen on extended leave, and happy (well, sort of) to work in a rubbish tip, some thoughts that I hope may be helpful –
* Define your space in some way. If you have a corner of a room, some sort of delineation, a piece of furniture or a wall hanging to mark YOUR space is vital. I learned this from sharing hootches with guys whose propensity for clutter made one long for a direct line to FEMA.
* Your working surface is sacrosanct. No unopened mail, no coffee mugs left for an afternoon, no “I’ll put it here for now”. This is your rice bowl; care for it.
* Choose decor with care, and use neutral photos or paintings. Family pictures are a bad idea, because the way we feel about our families changes, and we want, I think, to maintain emotional consistency when we write.
* Likewise, try to pay bills online through another computer, or through your phone. If you have a laptop, physically remove it to another place to pay bills online. No one likes paying bills, and you don’t want that kind of negative ambience associated with your workplace.
* Select a dark-topped desk. Locating and reading research notes on paper against a light surface is hard on the eyes.
* Dress for work. Do not work in you PJs. You’re a professional, act and dress like it.
* To fight SADD, use full-spectrum indirect lighting. You’re not trying to recreate the outdoors; you want the feeling of a room inside on a bright, sunny day.
* If you have plant, remember to water them. Nothing kills creativity faster than a dying plant.
* Except, perhaps, for a dying goldfish, so if you have a goldfish bowl on your desk, remember to feed the poor thing. Think how YOU would feel, having to watch yourself write, and being hungry to boot.
Hi Andrew,
My home office is neutral, and I have paintings on the wall instead of family pictures. I even have a window for a little natural light. But my desk is white.
I agree about dressing for work. It makes me feel more alert.
Thanks for sharing.
“The way we feel about our families changes” … ha ha! 🙂 That made me giggle.
Andrew, another list of great suggestions, and it’s clear you know what works for you. Many of your points are universal, but some are not for everyone, and that’s what makes us unique. For example, I don’t mind paying bills at my desk in my office. I feel efficient. What all of this underscores is the benefit in making even minor adjustment to our work area that are conducive to getting our best work done.
Clutter definitely impacts my work focus. Although, when I’m working on a deadline, I’m learning to ignore it. I often write at my kitchen table because the room feels more specious, I can light a candle, and look out our sliding glass doors at the sky, the changing colors of neighbors’ trees, the animals that hang out in our back yard. . .
*I just don’t look at the piles on the kitchen counter. I have begun telling myself I will deal with the piles a little bit each day until they’re gone. This has help.
Jeanne,
Sometimes I call for a family 10 minute declutter time. It’s amazing how much can get done in ten minutes when everybody pitches in. The kitchen seems to be our catch-all space because we enter it through the garage, and it doesn’t take long to get out of control.
Jackie, I love that idea. I’m going to have to instate that! 🙂
One further thought – those who use home offices should be aware that this ‘preserve’ can engender resentment, and either spouses or kids may ‘unthinkingly’ drop personal items in your personal space, as territory-marking.
* Wow. “Spouses?” I think either I’m hazy on the grammar, or am unconsciously writing to the polygamists lurking amongst us.
I actually work best in a place like a coffee shop … I love background noise and can completely block it out, but feel it if it is not there. It so stimulates me – as does coffee (even decaf as I do). I actually hate being at a desk – I feel restrained, hemmed in, bureaucratized and presumptuous (as in maintaining an image). Heck I even hated phoning people and preferred to run across and talk face-to-face if that was possible – got much more done and achieved a far better understanding. My boss never got it, but I never missed a deadline so he accepted it. Even in a corporate work-space I always did better at a meeting room table (as I am doing now) or in a coffee shop, which certainly was right for brainstorming, meetings, mail-work, research – only retreated to my desk to be available, for demand work and private meetings with staff. So methinks that organizing the work-space might not make us more effective (indeed it may just rearrange deck chairs), where thinking right out of the box and changing the work environment may well release our mental flow. I think a formal work space risks shackling free thought and engagement of people or the environment. By its very nature, a formal work space is an enslaving, parochial symbol. I am reminded of a man who went to a store to buy a drill, but the salesman asked him why? Once he knew why, he said, “Oh so you need a thingy that makes holes in walls, which may or may not be a drill” – he got the sale – maybe we don’t need a desk, but thingies that optimizes our effectiveness.
I rather like Orde Wingate’s rules of organization – “Keep your rifle clean, and kill your man before he kills you.”
Noise is my biggest problem. If anybody’s in the house I close my door and try to block out noise. We are a big, loud family and I hate to be left out of the fun. Sometimes I even turn on an instrumental CD to help me concentrate.
Thanks for sharing these working environment ideas!
Yes, noise!! I write best in a silent house. Although, I edit best to classical music.
Silence IS golden.
Interesting, Jennifer, that you write best to silence but edit with music – am I reading this correctly?
* Silence really isn’t an option here, not with 21 dogs in the house. Eighteen of them tend to quiet contemplation, but Denali the Happy Husky is always commenting on something…and the two Red Heelers, ladron and the imaginatively-named Red, are always looking for a herding job. When the other dogs decline their services, they herd ME. “Stop working!” “Go write!” “Have a cigar!” “Put on a DVD!”
* The latter request, usually made by Ladron, is accompanied by her picking her favourite film – “Fury” – out of the stack, and whacking me on the leg with the case. She also like “Lone Survivor” and “Saving Private Ryan”. Though I like Hugh Grant in almost anything, Ladron most emphatically does NOT.
Yup. Create in silence. Edit to classical music.
Since I’m a singer, and cannot harmonize to save my life, I don’t do well with other words and notes being blasted at me.
In editing, I am working with words already written. And I always edit to the same playlist. So, subconciously, I know what’s coming.
Feel free to analyze that, Dr Longname.
I think you’ve already done a splendid analysis, Jennifer. That kind of insight is what makes you a great writer…and I don’t mean maybe. In your blog, and the comments you make here (and elsewhere), and of course in your work, a talent shines forth for which the reader would be well-advised to don sunglasses. It’s so very bright, shining with excellent craft, and infused with God’s grace and love.
What about temperature? What do youse guys tink de ideal working temperature is? For me, myself, and I, it’s a little in the chilly side. But whaddabout da rest o’ youse? (Sorry, in the middle of writing north Noo Joisy dialect, and it leaked.)
Ha ha, Andrew! Yes, on the cooler side. Hot temperatures are probably responsible for murder mysteries! 🙂 I’ll find myself getting a headache or feeling bad … and realize I’m sitting in a slowly boiling-up room.
Definitely cooler. If I’m too warm, I’m no one’s friend. In turn, my characters are bound to suddenly abandon all charm.
Just for the record, I live in North NJ, and I do not talk like that (thank you, Midwest roots).
Warm is good. Next to the woodstove.
True, Shirlee … it depends on the weather. If it’s too cool, you can’t move your fingers to type. 🙂
Fun, Andrew. I tend to like it on the warmer side, but not too warm. If I’m too cold, I get distracted.
I recently bought a scanner, and it has helped tremendously. I never thought I would enjoy going paperless, but clearing the piles has helped clear my mind. I still have the pretty journals and colored pens, but I no longer have the stacks.
Interesting, Meghan. How do you use your scanner? Do you deal with the items first and then scan them for storage? Or, do you scan them first and plan to go back and deal with them later? If later, do you still have a nagging awareness of the “pile,” even though you can’t see it?
I started out scanning my bar review class notes. No need to keep those two huge binders on a shelf when they can reside quite comfortably in the cloud. After that, I went crazy. College notes. Old papers and manuscripts. My children’s homeschool work. As far as the day-to-day paper, I’m still figuring out a system. The man who wrote the Evernote book that Michael Hyatt recommends wrote that he collects his papers over the week and then scans those papers every Saturday. That sounds like a good plan to me, but so far the scanner itself hasn’t actually been put away, so I’m scanning receipts, stubs, etc., as they come in the house. Most things then get thrown away. I suppose I have digital piles now, but they’re organized into folders and subfolders and no longer on the desk, on the floor, on the shelf, so they don’t bother me. My goal wasn’t to get rid of everything, just to get it out of sight.
My office is more unorganized now than ever. We’ve been in this house for three years … and I don’t have an office closet. I have no where to stash stuff … to be unorganized in an organized way. 🙂 I bought baskets/cute boxes … but that doesn’t really work. But still, it’s not bad. I throw out all I can when I bring in the mail, etc. Real clutter really bothers me … gives me that hyperventilating feeling. 🙂 My notes would probably never be on note cards because that would just add to stacks. I use a notebook, spiral type, or my phone … paper-free. And when my mind is in the zone, little bothers me. When I’m not fully in the zone, everything has the potential to bother me. I’m like Jackie, I’ll close the office door. And if I’m completely honest … 🙂 anything that isn’t in order now is mostly because writing has taken over my life a bit. I’m like the kid in the candy shop, and I don’t want to leave. 🙂 My hubs will tell the girls to only spend so much time on this or that … and I know he’s sending me a subliminal message. 🙂 He wants to fix me. 🙂
*My girls will help me blitz the house
*I’m worse when I’m writing the MS
*I try not to work in the evenings or on weekends … maybe I’ll just read when others are watching TV (if it’s a movie I’ve seen a dozen times).
*Y’all know I’m laughing while writing this, right?! 🙂
And I am laughing…well, smiling, as it hurts too much to laugh…as I read this, Shelli.
Shelli, you’re too cute. But I know what you mean. As I mature (though I doubt there’s any scientific evidence linking maturity to order), I am more and more bothered by clutter. We’re in a small house and eventually I just have to stop and tidy things. Because space is a commodity, anything unnecessary is fair game for dismissal! 🙂
I am so so jealous of your office door. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 sons and a Newfoundland dog. My office is the puffy red chair in the living room. But I love my puffy chair! You make me want to see all of these cute boxes you stash things in. What a great idea…not sure where I would put them though…under the puffy red chair maybe…or the dinning room table. Ha ha, that’s it!
Kristen, I have an old entertainment center that fits perfectly into this “nook” in the wall. That’s where I have bins and boxes … it’s all exposed because there are no doors on it. 🙂
WHAT?? If your office is cluttered, than I’m doing the pas de deux with Magua in Swan Lake!!!
People?? Shelli’s home is beautiful, well organized, and totally UNcluttered!!
And fix WHAT?
*then
Aww, thank you, Jennifer! Got tickled at Karalee the other day … I did something silly, and she said, “Mom, if you weren’t so cute …” She got that from you, Jennifer! 🙂
Love all your smiles, Shelli! 🙂
Meghan, those smiley faces are a bad habit! 🙂
One thing that helps me is ‘pre-positioning’; at the end of a day’s writing I take a few minutes to organize the research materials I shall need on the morrow. It helps me to start writing immediately, rather than getting sidetracked in admin work.
* Also, for those who are smokers, empty the ash-tray regularly. Few things are less conducive to an organized writing session than the presence of a receptacle overflowing with ash and cigar butts. Not PC, I know, but cigars do lend that Churchillian ambience.
Hi, Mary! Hugs to you as you work through a busy season. I just wrote about attempting to approach this month as “NO-vember” — saying no to as many extras as possible. So hard!
I love your environmental approach to workspaces. It varies for me depending on task. Here in my full-time job office, I need plenty of light, a clean desk, colorful prints on the wall, and often have music playing.
However, the space I’ve found most conducive for writing is much different. There is a small bunkhouse out in the country I’ve rented several times for a weekend to get a bulk of writing done. It’s cozy with dim lighting and a fireplace. The decor palette is subtle earth shades of browns and oranges and creams. I don’t turn any music on, but rather let the quiet of the space envelop me, occasionally opening the window to hear nature sounds. And, before I know it, I’m lost in the fictional world I’m writing.
I’ve never thought about the differences between my various work spaces. Interesting the correlation between task and environment.
No-vember … I like that!
great post, Teresa!!!
Teresa, it’s fascinating to hear about the differences between your day-job office and your writing environment. I didn’t consider that. And who wouldn’t love to get away to that cozy bunkhouse in the country to write.
I have the ability to totally ignore the piles of clutter around me. Ask my family. There are corners in this house that looked like we’ve been robbed and the thieves tossed stuff in their hunt for loot.
But, in my mind, there IS order to the clutter on my dining room table/office. If I have a stack of research material that I know I’ll need, I’m fine. If I can’t see those books, I panic. They need to be right there, on my right, within arm’s reach.
*I* see a perfectly ordered room as rigid and incompatible for MY brain to create. But that’s just me.
I have an antique cabinet in which I put all my extremely important papers. No one is allowed to put anything in it. No one is allowed to even open the doors. I can tell you exactly where things are in that cabinet. And I will know if something has been touched.
And yes, I will find whoever did it…
Ahem.
I have an office chair, and I have a heating pad for my back. Even in summer, that thing is on. I have so many back problems, and heat is the only answer.
I cannot write if I’m cold.
Most royalty is like that.
My dining room window looks out into a rather rough backyard, and then there’s the woods that border the neighbour’s yard. The view is tranquil all the time. The dining room walls are the colour of pale lilacs, and the wall that I face has a painting, in purples, of “Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.”
The furniture (an oak ice box, a mahogany china cabinet, 4 chairs, writer’s fold top desk, oak mirror) is antique.
But not the padded, navy, hydrolic office chair. 😀
Basically, it’s exactly how I need it to be. Calm, old, and soothing.
Yep, that is me, thieves it was definitely thieves. It is the combo of the random folks and the piles that get to me, not necessarily the piles themselves. Love it Jennifer!
Perfect for you, Jennifer. And I suspect you refinished every piece of furniture in the room, making your environment quite personalized.
Hmmm…when the laundry pile is high, it is hard to concentrate on writing. Especially since we live at a Bible Camp in staff housing and have a fairly regular stream of people coming in and out of our house. The interns, the dishwashers, random teens wanting to play board games with my husband, camp speakers, cooks, counselors…I do OK with this unless it is combined with the laundry pile. Then it freaks me out and I have a terrible time concentrating. I’m doing laundry right now…thus it is on my mind.
Kristen, I hope your washing machine never gives out. You have the potential for lots of distractions, but it sounds like you’ve learned to tune it out well. I admire that ability.
When I start filing and organizing, it’s a clear indication of stress. I remind myself that Jesus never rushed and that God’s timing is perfect. For me, the writing life is a marathon. Perhaps my book won’t be published this year, but I am confident that when God chooses the time, it will be published. Until that time, I’ll polish, work on the next project, and blog. I received an encouraging sign from Him this morning and I am grateful.
Isn’t that true, Shelia. I do the same thing when I’m stressed. Stepping away from it to do the rote work of filing and organizing gets necessary tasks done but gives the brain a refreshing break.
I have mild SAD. Mostly, I get grumpy and my writing productivity goes way down while coffee consumption rises. But a cheap ($10) grow light shining down on my work area does wonders for me.
Some days—actually most days lately—I can’t see the trees for the forest. Today at work has been a tree-felling kind of day, trying to knock off two or three nagging tasks. At home is the same. My office, which I call The Dungeon, is in a perpetual state of chaos. I say I know where everything is, but the truth is I don’t. The last three days have been de-cluttering days. I made a major dent in filing family financial and health records; should finish that tonight, if I can dedicate an hour to it. Then I’ll do some electronic de-cluttering, e.g. completing the budgeting spreadsheet and the accounting spreadsheet for the family business. But the physical de-cluttering is most important. I’ve also been going through old manuscripts and throwing them away. That will clear up a lot of space—has already done so. Then, maybe I can see my way clear to write again. Except, I have hundreds of old photos spread out on the bed in the downstairs bedroom, waiting for me to organize them. Will have to do so before the kids come for Thanksgiving. Sigh. Will delay those writing tasks another month, I’m afraid.
The best tool I have ever used comes from Donald Miller at Storyline. I use his Productivity Schedule almost every day. You can access it here:
http://www.storylineblog.com/storyline-productivity-schedule.pdf