Space to Remember Who I Am

I think now and again about how Virginia Woolf said a woman who wants to write needs an income of her own and her own space in which to practice her craft. Her long essay A Room of One’s Own is a phenomenal read for where it takes us in women’s suffering, even in the 21^st century. All writers need to take care of the writer’s soul with journaling, walking, yoga, meditation, anything that helps your mind wander, free itself of junk, and settle into telling a story. You need space, a place where when you sit down and open your laptop, your mind quiets and focuses on writing. You also need a time when you can be alone, not so much for social media and correspondence, but for the real writing to take place, and this might mean blocking out a Saturday afternoon when you’d rather be at a matinee. Once I started making money from my writing, I got myself a studio with a desk, a nice comfortable chair, sunny walls, and lots of mementos from my life to remind me who I am. I need it for quiet, but I also need to remember who I am.