Inspire Me!

One day…

One day I will have an office to call my own, and not a little corner of a room. When that time comes, I’ll have the freedom to design it however I please. I can draw inspirations from here and there to create a place that is wholly and purely—me.

However, being a military family that lives on post more often than not, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. So, instead, I have my own little corner carved out in the bedroom. There’s not much to it, really. A desk, a file cabinet with a printer on top. Yep—that’s about it.

So, how do I take a place like this and make it my own?

1. Personalize it! You have your own unique tastes—allow yourself to splurge just a little to use those tastes to create your work space. Like colored sticky notes instead of the plain yellow? Get a few to go crazy with. Maybe you always wanted a mouse pad with Taz on it (if you don’t know who Taz is, quit reading immediately. Just kidding!). Personally, I love all things color, so I have colored sticky notes, colored pens, colored paper clips…the list goes on. What can I say? Color inspires me!

2. Play with it! Just like when you first move into a house, sometimes the first set up doesn’t end up being the most ideal. Maybe you thought having the notebooks stored below the desk was best, but you found that you were spending too much time digging for a specific one. Instead, maybe they need to be stacked neatly in the open space above the computer so you can select the one that you need with ease. Make these changes as needed, don’t let them fester and get under your skin. It’s easy to take a few minutes to rearrange.

3. Plaster it! Don’t forget…your walls are your friend. So, invest in a couple of corkboards or whiteboards. These are great ways to keep track of lose papers, hold calendars, and jot notes. Don’t go overboard—unless that’s your personality. Clutter often gets me down more than inspires me creativity.

4. Pictures! Paper! And Parcheesi? You know what sometimes inspires us the most? Those little trinkets that make us smile, the ones that distract us just enough to all our minds to muddle through that last road block. So put up a couple of pictures of family/friends, or of beautiful mountain views, flowers…whatever tickles your fancy. Write your favorite quotes or short excerpts of books/poems on colorful paper and post them around your work area. And Parcheesi? Sometimes games that work our brains will stimulate more activity. Now, I technically have no idea what Parcheesi is…it just started with a ‘P’.

I’m still in the process of getting my “office” sorted out. As the days go by, I hope to start incorporating my inspirations into my work space. I know I have those pictures somewhere…

What are some steps you can take to up the inspiration quota of your work area?

UPDATE: I just finished the substantial edit of Dividing Spirits! Yes, I’m super excited to have that done. I’m putting the novel aside for a bit to work on the query/synopsis/proposal part of the writing process. After that, I’ll probably do some more planning for Sam’s Way. The story is really starting to come alive in my head. In a couple of weeks, I’ll come back and do another run through Dividing Spirits to pick up anything I may have missed, possibly add in some more layering. Fun stuff!