Virginia Woolf was right when she said that in order for a woman to write fiction, she must have money and a room of her own. And I believe her reasoning is still valid today.

Woolf felt that for a woman to be a successful writer she needed her own space and her own resources; not dependence on a male figure, be it a husband or a father. And while I might not have the same issues with dependency that Ms. Woolf and her counterparts did in the 1920s, I am finding it increasingly difficult to sufficiently isolate my brain into productivity … because there is ALWAYS something else to do.

I am a writer (in case you’re new here and didn’t know) but I’m also a mother, a friend, a wife … and I like a clean house, clean laundry, good food … oh, and I have a very demanding full-time job that does involve writing and editing, but not creative writing. Not fiction. And so, admittedly, especially as of late, it has become increasingly difficult to find the time, not to mention the mindset or the right environment, to keep up with my task (insert loud, sad sigh).

NOW, if I had a few extra thousand to toss into the air I would build a room of my own off the far side of the house … a room where I wouldn’t hear the knock at the front door, the neighbor’s dog, the construction across the street, nor the buzzer reminding me to switch the laundry (then again, if I could afford to build that room I’d probably pay someone else to switch the laundry too).

Ah, well, I might not have a room of my own, yet, but that’s OK … for now. Because if I didn’t have the people around me, both near and far, to share these walls with, well, then I really wouldn’t have anything to write about anyway : )

So, I’m curious, where do you produce your best writing—at your desk, on your phone, at a noisy café? How does the environment affect your creativity?

Cover image, clearly, is the cover of Woolf’s book.

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