Your Ideal Writing Space: A Webinar Recap
This week’s webinar began with a focus on slowing down.
The constant to-do lists, work demands, and even health and wellness challenges often leave writers (and everyone) depleted and not in the best headspace for creating. Deep breathing, light stretching, and the Self-Acknowledgment Hug calmed the nervous system and created a sense of safety before we started. We each thought of an image of something that would make us happy. Starry sky, ethereal, dandelion, prolific, balanced, and expression were some of the words used to describe the images in the group.
The Perfect Space to Write
From there, we moved into a clustering exercise about our ideal writing space. Each writer let an image come to mind and then clustered to add details. Where do you sit? Are you in an office? What is on your desk, and are you using a computer or a pen? And importantly, how do you feel in this space?
A timer was set for 5 minutes, and we wrote short stories that placed us directly inside that imagined place, allowing us to experience it as if it already existed.
The Stories
Beth began with the word private at the center of her cluster. Around it, she added: a comfortable chair, warm lighting, a fireplace, music, notebooks, pens, a computer, and hot tea.
Her story unfolded like this:
It’s a stone cottage with an open door. Daffodils line the stone pavers leading inside. It’s early morning, so I light a small fire and start the tea kettle.
With my cup in hand, I move to my oversized chair, grab a blanket, and curl up. Beside me are a few quality notebooks and a variety of colored pens. I pull my lap desk close, open my laptop, and the words flow freely.
When I’m tired, I rest. Lunch arrives almost magically. The day stretches out in front of me. I take a long walk in the warm sun, then come back and write some more.
Peppa’s writing about her ideal writing space was sensory and poetic:
I’ve always had a fixation with the feeling of a certain pen gliding across certain types of paper. I take full advantage of those small pleasures. That’s why I write.
The walls where I organize my thoughts, the view that opens into nature, the mirror where I speak to my stories, and the typewriter that keeps my silence company, these are simply the toppings….
Why This Works
It’s important to note that this exercise wasn’t about “manifesting” or wishing something into being. It’s about how the brain works. When we vividly imagine and write about our ideal space, we make it mentally concrete. The brain begins to recognize it as possible and starts noticing opportunities and small actions that move us closer to that reality. Once we recognize an opportunity or a way to overcome a block, the next step is to open ourselves to change and adjustments that help us reach our goals.
Try the Exercise
- Calm the mind and body. Take several deep, slow breaths and try some gentle stretching. Close your eyes and wrap your arms around yourself in the Self-Acknowledgement Hug. Say the affirmations out loud:
- I love you (state your name).
- We’ll always be together.
- We’ll always be safe.
- We are enough.
- We demand and expect better.
- Think about your ideal writing space. What image comes to mind? Write a word that describes that place in your center circle. Take a few more breaths. Allow more images to come to your mind to add details. Add those words around your center word.
- Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write a story about your writing space. Have fun with it!
I’d love to read about your perfect writing place. If you’d like to share, please send your submission to: wordofthedaypractice@gmail.com
The Next Webinar
In the past three sessions, we explored writerliness, imagined our ideal writing spaces, and began to understand what truly supports our creativity. Now it’s time to design a writing routine that works. You’ll notice I didn’t use the word “schedule.” A schedule often suggests rigidity and expectations that, when not met, lead to frustration and stifled creativity.
In our next session on February 24, you’ll learn how to design a writing routine that fits your life as it is right now. Together, we’ll explore simple strategies for creating flexible structures, realistic writing windows, and supportive habits that lower pressure and increase consistency.
When you remain flexible and adjust your routine as your life changes, your writing becomes sustainable. Set yourself up to succeed by learning to work with, not against, the challenges and business of daily life.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Here’s to your personal success,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
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“They’ve been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
Tell me who of them will come to be,”
— Stevie Wonder, 1976
Stevie Wonder put the diagnosis right up front.
Not as an accusation.
Not as a sermon.
But as a quiet observation about how human beings lose their lives without ever leaving them.
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