Finding My Space

I write in a little cubby that holds my computer and the printer. To my right, the hall opens up into the living room and kitchen. To my left, the bathroom and kids’ bedrooms punctuate the long space.

Most late afternoons, you can find me sitting cross legged on a folding chair, tapping at the keyboard while in the company of Lego mini figures and balancing a baby doll across my lap. The TV blares, the dog nudges my chair every time she passes and the kids race up and down the hall throwing Nerf darts.

My writing is interrupted after almost every sentence. More water, I’m hungry, I need to go potty, what’s for dinner, she hit me. I meet every demand. I referee the arguments. I soothe the hurts. And then I keep writing.

In my dream world, I’d have a writing space filled with light. There would be a large window looking out over an even larger garden to encourage daydreaming and plot planning. My desk would be white with splashes of color for inspiration. I would sit in a cozy chair that leaned back as I stared at a chain of paper cranes tumbling from the ceiling. The worlds in my head would spin out of my fingers. The stories would weave across the page in an uninterrupted line.

There would be a lock on the door.

But that dream isn’t my reality. The reality is I write. I need to write. I must write. To do so, I have to find a writing space inside - an internal room that mimics my dream and allows me to escape into my stories at a moment’s notice.

Sometimes I get frustrated with hallway desk. But, lately, I’ve decided to give it a positive spin. If I can write while my daughter climbs up my lap and my son “tattoos” my legs with permanent markers, I can write anywhere.

Where do you write? How do you find the space you need to expand and grow as a writer?

Today's Guest Host is Mandy from Mandyland. She also tweets.

Summer of You begins Monday!

We are thrilled that the Summer of You begins Monday. We have some great posts lined up for this week - from Carrie of Views from Nature,  Kelly of Dances with Chaos and Jennifer of Whispatory.

We will have a Red Writing Hood prompt and a RemembeRED prompt and the linkys for those, too.

Each week, for the next six, we will have three different community members taking over. I hope you will support them as much as you have supported us.

Nichole, Katie and I are a DM or an email away if you need us.

But we're pretty sure you won't.

We're leaving this blog in excellent hands. We're leaving it in YOUR hands.

The Summer of You

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support over the past year - it's almost been a year, can you believe it?

You have been incredibly loyal. You have inspired us with your writing. We have seen you grow and take chances and push yourselves. We've been amazed at the support you've given each other.

It is because of YOU we have a community about which we call all be proud.

We want to take this site to the next level. This summer, your three hosts - Nichole, Katie and Cheryl - will be hard at work making this happen.

And to do this, we need time.

So we've decided to turn over the blog for six weeks to some of our most committed members. Thing is, we have so many, we literally had to pick names out of a hat. And even then, we couldn't figure out how to get everyone involved - this time. We will have more opportunities in the future, so if you don't get a chance this time around, we will make sure you are next time.

We hope you are as excited about this as we are!

Please leave any questions or comments below, or you can contact any of us privately via email or DM.

And thank you. We are truly, truly grateful for each one of you.