My Creative Space

February 9, 2022 The Ameri Brit MomLeave a comment

Today, I wanted to give a you a tour of my creative space. This is a work-in-progress, but a space in my home that I have claimed as my own and that I try to keep clean and functional at all times.

In this space, I write personal projects, craft blog posts, design photographs, update social media, edit client work, and focus on my own goals and dreams. Before graduate school I would work in all corners of the house, but as I began to work on longer assignments and doing more and more online work at home I decided to invest in a space for myself.

There are still a few touches that I would like to add, but overall, the simplicity of the space draws me in and allows the mind space for my most creative work to take place.

Desk

My desk is a simple, 4-drawer desk with an opening for book storage. This is a great addition for a writer because it is so easy to clutter spaces with books when you are doing a significant amount of reading for your creative practice.

Chair

As a writer, I spend a lot of time with “butt in chair”. For those of you in the writing community, you know the importance of sitting down each day to write something and the amount of time spent in a chair warrants a splurge for a nice one. My chair has a high back, sleek design and allows for some reclining and adjustments.

Photos

Filling a creative space with photos that inspire your best work is important. For a personal project, I created a photo book of images that speak to me as a creative and I display that on my desk. This book was a compilation of images from social media and Pinterest. Whenever I feel like my writing well is dry, I flip through the images that inspire me and find my mind reignited.

Desktop with a computer, Starbucks coffee, pen, plant and candle

Wall Tattoo

Okay, so this idea is a little unconventional. A few years ago I felt inspired to paint something inspirational over the spot where I create. Much like my own physical tattoos, I didn’t put a lot of planning into the project, but on a whim I inked what felt right at the time onto the wall. For me, this painted message is a reminder to Create Everyday. Now my wall has a permanent reminder in my own penmanship that spells out a life goal.

Coffee

No creative space is complete without the fuel that drives the artist. For me, that is coffee. I would guess that 95% of the time I spend in this space is accompanied by a warm mug. Most artists have a specific food or drink that helps to usher them into the sought after “creative zone”. I chase my muse with plain, black coffee.

Computer

My work is done on an HP Chromebook. Because we use Google at my school, I am most familiar with the functionality of Chromebook and prefer it to the more expensive competitors.

Pens

I could write an entire post about my pen collection. To say that I am obsessed is an understatement. One of my creative outlets is calligraphy and hand lettering which makes my pen collection very important. If you are wondering, my absolute favorite pen is anything from Paper Mate. Right now, I am pretty obsessed with the Paper Mate Flair Ultra Thin pens. For regular writing, I have been using Paper Mate Write Bros 1.0.

Aesthetic Accents

The addition of 2-3 sensory objects can also help to ignite the creative genius in any space. I try to keep those accents to a minimum because I am also inspired by clean, orderly environments. Right now, I am loving my succulent plants (which are fake) and a candle. Whenever I need inspiration I can look to my senses for help and these accents help to bring me into that creative space where all the magic happens.

The Ameri Brit Mom

What Feeds Your Creativity?

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 The Ameri Brit MomLeave a comment

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I just watched an inspiring TEDx talk by Gabriela Pereira, founder of DIY MFA. In it she discusses the fact that our human nature makes us creative beings. (Side note: our Father is the ultimate Creator and we were formed in his image.)

We can become our own biggest obstacles, but at our core we all have a story or creative spark to share with the world. Our responsibility to ourselves is to put in the work daily that helps us to channel that creativity.

For me, that creativity is in the form of writing.

The passion I have for telling stories is strong. That passion has led me to study and practice the craft nearly every day. I’m working on my next steps as a writer by working through the DIY MFA Book Club.

After reading some of Gabriela’s advice I put together a “Feed Me” box. This is a box of things I use to spark my creativity. For years I’ve had go-to resources, but it is always a refresher to see what others use to help them create.

I gathered all of my resources into one box and am excited to share that with you.

You could really put anything in your box. For me, I have several prompt related resources, an adult coloring book, dice, and random pictures.

Another item that feeds my creativity is coffee.

With mellow music playing in the background and a fresh cup of coffee in front of me there isn’t much I cannot conquer. When I’m writing lesson plans at school I create a similar environment.

What gets your creative heart pumping?

The Ameri Brit Mom

Books

Writing Down the Bones

October 31, 2015 The Ameri Brit Mom15 Comments

November is National Novel Writing Month also known as NaNoWriMo. Each year thousands of writers nationwide commit to writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. That equates to 1,667 words per day. It’s a huge commitment and although I’m quite intrigued about the discipline I have decided not to participate this year. I am, however, planning to focus this month on my own creative writing and I have set a goal to write creatively for fifteen minutes each day. That will put me nowhere near 1,667 words per day, but the idea that I’m practicing each day should still help me develop as a writer.

Over the past month I have been reading the book, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. In her book Goldberg challenges her reader to find the life in every object and scene and capture those thoughts, feelings, and words in your writing. There are so many principles I have learned through this book and I wanted to find a way to incorporate her tips and ideas into my writing. So, I am going to call November my Creative Writing Month and I am going to use some of the prompts that Goldberg gives in her book to prompt my fifteen minutes of creative writing per day.

If you would like to join me on this quest here is a look at the writing schedule for the month:

Each day that you use a prompt from this calendar please feel free to copy a link to your post in my comments for that day.

I will leave you with one endearing quote from this book, “…if you want to be a good writer, you need to do three things: Read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a ton.”

Happy NaNoWriMo!