My (not-so) Dreamy Office Space...

As I mentioned in my previous post, today was my first day back at work after a week and a half off. It didn't go as badly as I was expecting, but I can honestly say it hurt getting up at 6.30am again. One thing that I did decide to do on my time off is to try and become more serious about my writing - I'm not just talking about writing novels, I talking about freelance writing too. And today it just really hit home for me how much I would simply love to work from home and write all day for a living. But what's the one thing an aspiring writer/author/freelancer needs in order to be super-duper productive? A nice snuggly/jazzy/comfy home office of course!

At the moment, we're currently halfway through renovating our house (it sucks - trust me on this, if you're having building work done, go and see if you can kip on a friend's sofa for a few days - the dust alone will drive you mad) - we've got the stairs in, new kitchen lights and we've plastered over all of our horrible artex ceilings. So it's coming along, however, the one area that is being seriously neglected is our spare room.

I'm almost too embarrassed to show you a photo, but here it is in all it's glory:

  

Mmm, don't you just love the sight of brown, unpainted ceilings? As you can tell, my spare room is currently a dumping ground for everything we don't actually have a proper place for yet.

However, it's now my mission to ensure that my spare room will be transformed into a place of beauty, calm and serenity (unless of course, I'm listening to classic rock or something on Spotify). So here's a kind of mood board of what my ideal home office space would look like, if I had a) the room and b) when I have the time/motivation to do up the spare room:

First of all I'd LOVE to line one of the walls with bookshelves - obviously so I could go and browse my collection for inspiration, not just procrastination...I also love the colour scheme used in this office - I'm a sucker for pale pastel/country colours and this blue would make a really relaxing workspace. The sofa would also be amazing to have, if I needed a break from the computer screen, without having to go downstairs and resist the temptation of TV. 

Again, I primarily chose this photo for the colours. It looks beautifully calming - and the table for the teapot and cakes is a must for any writer too. I especially love how this office is clearly outside. If I had the money, I'd definitely build my own separate office cabin (or buy a shepherd's hut) at the bottom of the garden, so I could look out over the fields as I write. Although my budget sadly won't allow for that, I do like the white desk and the desk lamp, so perhaps I can incorporate some of this design into my own office after all.

I adore Cath Kidston, and this whole set-up just reminded me of her designs, and I knew I had to include it. I'm still in two minds about what colour to paint the spare room, but I am strongly leaning towards a pale pink - I don't tend to wear pink much at all, but I find it to be an incredibly calming colour on walls. I love this wallpaper and how the desk lamp matches in with the decor. The bookcase is a must-have, as are the storage boxes (for the stack of notes/notepads I've accumulated over the years), and I particularly like the fancy pin board, where I could plan out my latest novel in all it's glory. 

Okay, so I don't actually like all the filing cabinets in this particular office, but I do like the colours - I like how calming (are you noticing a theme here? Writers need to remain calm AT ALL TIMES) the white is, but the pops of bold colour really make it personal.

And finally, I'd love to have a swinging bubble chair just casually hanging from my office ceiling (for guests to sit on obviously, not just so I can take a nap...), and I absolutely adore the brightly coloured rug in the second photo - I think it really makes it stand out. So if all else fails and I have no space to build my bookcases, maybe I'll just paint the whole room white and get a really bright rug instead. Sorted!

Overall, I guess I'd just love my office space to be calm (there's that key word again), but also a place that'll encourage creativity, be full of light and most of all, make you want to stay there and work. After all, that's the key to being a good writer - actually staying at your desk and writing.

This blog post was inspired by the fab people over at WeWork, a community of shared office spaces across the world. If you're looking for a space outside of your own home, feel free to check out WeWork to see if they're in your area. They've got shared office space locations all over the world and offer all sorts of amenities, benefits and discounts to freelancers, startups, remote teams, and more. You can read more about WeWork and their mission here. 

Do you have a home office? What's it like? Do you enjoy working there? What would your ideal home office space look like?

Happy NaNoWriMo day!

Today is the 1st November, which means not only is Christmas (and my birthday) now only mere weeks away, it's also the start of NaNoWriMo!

For those of you who are new to writing, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is that by midnight of the 30th November, you'll have written 50,000 words. Its a tough task, but definitely achievable. If you're just getting started with your writing, I would highly recommend giving it a go - it's invaluable in terms of teaching you about vital it is to write every day (or at least, getting into the habit of writing regularly), as well as giving you the opportunity to reach out and connect with fellow writers all over the world. If you'd like to know more, check out the NaNoWriMo website here.

Although I love the concept behind NaNoWriMo, this year I've decided not to officially participate. However, I will be there in spirit if not in person - I'm going to attempt to get the bulk of my latest WIP down on paper, as well as maybe try and get another project off the ground, but we'll see how my WIP goes first.

Also, I just thought I'd give you all a heads up - I'll be making a few changes to my blog/other social media sites over the coming week, one of which being (provided it all goes to plan and I don't mess it up) my blog URL will be changing. At some point over the next couple of days, it'll be changing to rachelpattinson.com. So this is just a warning in case your can't get onto my blog for a day or two (because knowing me, it'll go wrong somehow) - but fingers crossed everything will be up and running by IWSG on Wednesday!

So that's it! At the moment I'm just trying to tackle my huge to-do list that I wrote while on holiday last week, as well as mentally preparing myself to go back to work tomorrow after a week and a half off.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Are you taking part in NaNowriMo this year? Why/why not? Do you use a custom domain name, and did you find it easy to set up? Let me know!

Small victories...

It's been a little while since I last posted - the Engineer and I went away last weekend to see some old uni friends, and then I've just felt pretty bogged down with work and one thing and another. But I'm back now, feeling refreshed and ready to go!

And I have some good news! I did read all your comments on my IWSG post, and firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented. You all inspired me to stop moaning/procrastinating and actually get on with what I'm here to do - write. So on Thursday night I finally started working on the sequel to Synthetica - I'd made a detailed synopsis some time ago, but I hadn't actually got around to writing a word of the actual manuscript. 

And oh my, was I in for a shock.

I think I've actually completely blanked out how difficult it is to write those first few pages of a manuscript. Seriously, it felt like I was pulling teeth. I just wanted to cry and scream and break something. You want to know how many words I managed to write? 281. I'm truly not exaggerating when I say how awful those 281 words were. They were appalling. If you read it, you wouldn't think I was capable of even speaking English, let alone writing it.

But you know what? It didn't stop me. On Saturday, I got up, had breakfast, wandered around for a bit and then sat and wrote most of the day. On Sunday, I repeated Saturday's routine (with an impromptu trip food shop thrown in).

This weekend I managed to clock up a total of 5127 words. When I look back over what I've written I think I can pretty much break it down into chunks like this: around 3000 of those words will ultimately be cut because they make zero sense, 1000 words will be chopped and changed into some kind of coherent order, 800 words can be kept outright (because they're basically essential words such as 'said', 'he', 'Anais' and 'and') and hiding amongst all the crap, there might be 200 words/phrases if I'm lucky that I'll keep because they're actually telling the story I want to be told.

Does it make me feel disheartened when I realise that most of my weekend's effort won't survive the final cut (however far away that may be)? Not at all. If anything, I'm happy that I actually have something to work with now - instead of staring at a blank page, I can remodel, cut and paste or rewrite my novel altogether, until what's on the page finally reflects the book that's in my head. After all, it's only through trial and error that we can really see what it is we truly want out of our writing.

So that's my news. Book 2 is coming on slowly but surely and right now, I'm super happy about that. Also, I've discovered that I've now lost a stone since the summer, so I went on a small shopping trip after work tonight and I was delighted to find that I can now just about shoehorn myself into a size smaller than I was :). A small thing, but nonetheless an achievement for me :).

Happy Monday, folks!

How's your writing going? Do you find first drafts strangely torturous to write too?

 

IWSG October: New beginnings

Welcome back to the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Every month, writers get together to celebrate/commiserate/console/chat about all of the worries, pleasures and general day to day happenings of being a writer. Whether you're old or young, new to the writing game or a writing veteran, we're all here to help, no matter how big or small your problem seems to be! If you'd like to join up or read more about this fantastic group, check out the official Insecure Writer's Support Group website.

I'm going to keep this post short, to the point (ha!) and positive. First of all, thank you to all of you who commented on my post about autumn earlier this week - seeing how excited you all are about this coming season made me feel a lot more positive about life and writing in general, so thank you so much for all your kind words :).

I guess it's not so much that I'm worried about my writing today (I say today because last week/at the weekend I was totally paranoid about it all...but so far today, so good...), it's just that once again I have to find the energy to begin my second novel. The outline is there and whenever I look at it, I get super excited - it's just 'finding the time' to write. Essentially, I'm just procrastinating. I know I should just get down to it, but every time I think I'll do some writing I come up with an excuse - my favourite one at the minute is the fact that I don't have a laptop so to write, I have to use my desktop which is located oh-so-far-away upstairs...which is actually a very good thing, because it's nowhere near the TV/other distractions!!

So this month, I'm just going to have to get on with it. I'm going to complain and dig my heels in and drag my feet, but eventually I'm going to have to get stern with myself and just do it. I even thought today about waiting a month until NaNoWriMo starts, but again, that's just another form of procrastination!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're all having a lovely week :).

Are you procrastinating about starting your latest project? How do you keep yourself on track? What are your writing woes this month?

Autumn Days...

It's that time of year again; there's a crispness in the air, the nights are turning darker (and colder), and the leaves are beginning to fall. Yup, that's right - it's the arrival of my favourite season: autumn.

I adore autumn. I love the colours, I love the chill bite in the air, and obviously, I love Halloween. I love waking up in the morning and beginning to feel that stillness in the air that only the arrival of autumn and winter can bring. I love seeing the mist shrouding the fields as a hazy sun begins to rise. Even at 24, I still find this time of year magical. It reminds me of being a small child and going hunting for conkers in the churchyard, deliberately stepping on crunchy leaves in my path (I still do that now too if I'm honest...) and watching my breath fog the air as I walked home at sunset.

There is no real reason for this post, other than to reassure you all that I am still here, and to share my love of autumn with you. I think at the moment, I need to remind myself of all the small things that I know and love - once again I'm having doubts about my writing, and my daytime job isn't going so well. It's at times like these that I simply need to stop, breathe, look around at all the beauty that autumn brings, and then return to my writing/day job with a smile on my face (or failing that, at least the sense that everything will be ok). Sometimes I do tend to get so wrapped up in my own head, I forget about everything else that's out there. But autumn can be so simply breathtaking (when it's not raining that is), I just need to enjoy the here and now.

Have a lovely Monday, everyone!

What's your favourite season? Do you have any childhood memories of autumn?