This is another one of those posts that started off a big list covering loads of things and ended up evolving into something I hope will prove useful to other writers.
One of the things I have found makes the biggest difference to the amount of words I get on the page in a day is the way I set myself up when I sit down to write.
I used to hoist my laptop around and have it on my knee in bed or beside me in the kitchen as I ate my lunch, but I found that I got significantly more done when I started to treat this as a job and created a space which is my writing space.
It is such a simple thing, and most people will have a space they can set up to work in, even if it isn't practical for you to keep everything there all the time.
This is what my space looks like:
I will break the image down because I know it won't be the same for everyone, but it might give you some ideas for setting up or rearranging your own space.
Laptop
I know that there are some writers who do everything on their phone, but whenever I have done that it has ended up filled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and because I type quickly, I take a lot longer to swipe on my phone, particularly when I have to keep changing the things autocorrect has decided I was trying to say.
My laptop is a SurfacePro 6, and I can remove the keyboard and use it as a tablet, but I tend to keep it on out of personal preference.
My laptop is on a stand, which raises the screen to eye level. This makes it a lot more comfortable to sit and work for long periods because I don't end up with a sore back after half an hour - it wasn't expensive, but it has made a really big difference to the amount of time I can physically spend in front of the screen.
I don't have the screen at full brightness, and I use the blue light filter (found under 'night light' in settings) which means the screen doesn't give me a headache if I am staring at it for too long.
Keyboard
This is something that is personal preference, but I have 5 different keyboards, excluding the actual SurfacePro one, and I find that using one of those helps me psychologically switch from 'causally using the laptop' to 'sitting down and working'.
I love mechanical keyboards, and find I am a faster and more accurate when I use those. That is something I have learned through trial and error, but if you are spending hours a day writing your keyboard is a really important tool and I think that it is worth taking the time to find what kind of keyboard you are most comfortable writing on.
I had to replace my SurfacePro keyboard after less than a year because I write so much the letters were wearing off and it looked terrible and was starting to skip certain keys which was just as frustrating as having autocorrect slow me down all the time.
Tablet/ E-reader/ Thesaurus
This one is definitely a luxury, but I got my Kindle for next to nothing and I have found it really helpful because I don't have to keep on stopping and opening whichever thesaurus or guide I want to look at on the screen.
I will talk about the writing books and guides I use in another post, but for now it's just something that I have when I am writing because it is a took that saves me time and improves the quality and speed of my writing. If you don't use a thesaurus or any sort of writing guide I hope I can convince you when I talk about why I use them, but if you do it's something that is helpful to have somewhere other than the screen you are typing on.
Notebook
I keep the notebook I am working with on my desk. I use a lot of notebooks for a lot of things, but I generally have one that I want there beside me covering a specific topic such as emotions and physical reactions my characters should experience in the chapter, or the chapter outlines I want to work from in the session.
This is also a matter of personal preference, but writing things down on paper makes me a lot more focused and ready to type out the chapter when I actually do that before I start writing it.
Scented Candles/ Wax Melts
OK, this one is definitely not a necessity for everyone but for me, it is.
One of the things I think is important in writing is remembering to use all the senses. It means you don't end up with a thing called 'white room syndrome' which I have seen a lot in the opening chapters of episodic stories. If you don't describe the setting and characters in detail, they might as well be mannequins in a plain white room.
That is something else I will talk about in its own post; for now, it is just something that I find helps me to focus, and I pay attention to the scents I choose so that they are evocative of particular moods or characters.
I'm not saying everyone should invest in fancy candles, but this is one of the little things I now consider invaluable as a tool to help me write; you might find something else that is totally arbitrary to other people makes the difference between sitting and staring at a blank screen and crafting an entire chapter you are really happy with.
Headphones
Not pictured here, because I am wearing them.
I use noise cancelling headphones. Even if I am not listening to music they help me maintain my focus. My desk is in the corner of my bedroom, and I just don't get work done when my husband is playing a game in the background.
It also means no one comes and bothers me - they can see I am writing, and no matter how many funny AskReddit answers people want to read to me, I can happily continue to type without it distracting me.
Music is also a really important tool in itself, so queuing up a playlist that will help me write the scenes I am planning is something that I try to do before I start writing.
I hope that this was interesting, and that it helps other people to set up their own space to work from.
There are so many things I wanted to talk about in this post, but I have tried to keep it relevant rather than letting myself get carried away on a tangent. I think the next thing I will write about is the writing guide and thesauruses I use, because when I shared those with my creative writing group a few of the other members found them really helpful but I don't think many people consider using them when they start out; that google synonym function is great when you've said 'gorgeous' three times in a chapter, but it's not as powerful a tool as these books are, and I am excited to talk about them!
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