I have been struggling with how to fit writing into my life. I could say I haven’t had the time, but that’s not true. I’ve lacked the focus needed, that’s for sure. I am the obsessive type, but unfortunately I only have room for one obsession in my mind at a time. So while I’d love to write and ignore all else, I can’t do so because there’s always something else nagging at me.

How do I solve this? Well, my first step was to designate a small area of the house as mine. I’m a stay at home Mom of school-age kids; you’d think I could find some space where I wouldn’t be disturbed. But, that’s the problem. I’m home all day. There is no differentiation between sitting in my spot on the sofa on Pinterest and Facebook, and opening up a Word doc and writing.

Finding a separate space in a house that we’ve outgrown isn’t easy. Nearly every square foot is spoken for. We have a small cubby under our stairs where we store games, and that was my darling husband’s first suggestion. OK, I know I’m short, but c’mon. As much as the nerdy part of me was squeeing over the possibility of feeling like Harry Potter…no.

Hmm… at some point I had written a much longer post. It would seem my laptop is unhappy in its new location.

Anyway, so another option was this small area between our closets in the bedroom. Normally, we are very careful about keeping our room “sacred.” We don’t bring the computers up here, no phones, and while we have a TV it’s only for me to listen to when my husband is away, to drown out the noises that would otherwise keep me awake all night.

But, beggars can’t be choosers, as they say. We’ve outgrown the house for the most part, so this is it. I have to say, I like what I’ve done with it. I can come up here, shut the door, and write. Of course the kids love this too and I’ve already had to fight them off. Naturally, they want to be where I am. But…I can close the door!

I have my autographed swag from some of my favorite writers, my books on writing, my favorite fiction books–lots of inspiration. I can already feel it working.

And when I’m done, I can close the laptop, close the desk, and put it all away until tomorrow.

Speaking of which, tomorrow I will attend my first writers’ conference, a meeting of our local RWA chapter. I’m pretty excited! A huge step. I am looking forward to meeting even more writers and learning about the craft. And hopefully, I will update! You know, from my new office!