Today’s visiting professor is author Bella Andre. Being a firm believer in the force of positive energy, I took Bella’s Feng Shui workshop and have since organized my workspace. I’ll take all the help I can get when it comes to getting my creativity moving!
Whether you are a Feng Shui believer or not, there’s nothing wrong with having a great workspace, right? Bella is here to share her thoughts on the subject.
Take it away, Bella!
During the past few years, I’ve given several FENG SHUI FOR WRITERS classes for RWA, both online and in person at chapter meetings. I tend to get into the details pretty quickly – the specifics of what to move, where to move it, and whether to get rid of it all together. But today, I’m feeling like approaching the idea of Feng Shui from a completely different angle. [Funny, the same thing always happens with my books after I outline them. 
]
You’re probably wondering, what is the point of Feng Shui for writers? Well, the basic tenant of Feng Shui is that all of us live our best lives – and do our best work – in environments that suit our particular needs and personalities. This is why one size does not neccessarily fit all. For the most part, people work best in rooms that are clear of clutter. However, there are cases where people are comforted by smaller spaces, by darkness, by having things all around them. Have you ever known anyone who has dragged their mattress into their closet? I know two. It wouldn’t work for me, but it’s the only way they can get a good night’s sleep.
I’m notoriously “tough-love” when it comes to Feng Shui – but here’s all I’m going to ask you to think about today: Think about every space you’ve ever written in. (Office, Starbucks, your car, your bed, an airplane, etc.) Think about the best scenes you’ve ever written. Is there a constant element present? Were you at home? In public? If you were at home, which room were you in? Was there music? Silence? Were your kids and husband around? Was the TV on? Were you outside?
Now, all you need to do to give your career a great Feng Shui jumpstart, is to try to recreate that situation as closely as you possibly can on a daily basis. i.e. If the only book that ever “wrote itself” happened while you were vacationing at a lake, surround your office/workspace with artwork/photos of lakes, add a fountain with running water, get blue curtains, add pillows with lake motifs.
It’s a simple exercise, but a very powerful one. And of course, I’m happy to answer any more specific Feng Shui questions if you’ve got them, so fire away!
***
RU Crew, does your workspace need some positive energy? Bella will be here to answer questions on how to make that happen.
Thank you to Bella for a great post. Join us on Wednesday when John Arden Warwick returns for another installment in his series on men being capable of love.
Bella’s Bio: Bella Andre has always been a writer. Songs came first, and then non-fiction books, but as soon as she started her first romance novel, she knew she’d found her perfect career. Since selling her first book in 2003, she’s written twelve “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publisher’s Weekly) about sizzling alpha heroes and the strong women they’ll love forever. If not behind her computer, you can find her reading, hiking, knitting, or lunching with her favorite romance writing ladies. Bella lives with her fabulous husband and children in both Northern California and a ninety-year-old lakefront log cabin in New York’s Adirondacks.
Bella’s latest release, NEVER TOO HOT, is the third book in her Men Of Fire series.
A TOUCH IGNITES. A FIRE BURNS. AND THE HEAT HAS JUST BEGUN.
Deep in the cool green mountains of the Adirondacks, wounded firefighter Connor MacKenzie has come to rebuild the 100-year-old MacKenzie family cabin–and to be alone. A horrific blaze has left him scarred inside and out and certain of two things: He’ll get back on his Hot Shot crew no matter what it takes, and any woman who ventures too close will not stay long.
Ginger Sinclair has been burned by a different kind of fire. Having just escaped from a bad marriage, she’s retreated to the safety of the lakeside vacation town in upstate New York to start a new life. She’s done with men, with relationships, with the danger of desires that can rage out of control–until she unexpectedly encounters Connor MacKenzie. As a hot summer on the lake grows ever hotter, they find themselves sharing a cabin and a romance that will swiftly engulf them both.
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Hi Bella,
Thanks for the great Feng Shui tip! A couple years ago, I moved and took one of the upstairs bedrooms as my office. The closet became my library, the walls have artwork from different cultures and are painted a warm penny color, the desk is littered with fairies (and paperwork!). And I finally found a chair that doesn’t make my hip ache.
I love my office. It makes me happy, and I do try to organize my desk every couple weeks.
Thanks, Tracey
Posted by TraceyDevlyn | June 14, 2010, 5:04 amHi, Bella. Thank you for a great post. I try to keep the stacks on my desk organized. Really. I do. LOL. I’m a Feng Shui believer. Every little bit helps! When new people come to my house, they’ll sometimes ask me what the thing (Bagua mirror) over my front door is. I tell them it repels poison arrows so they’d better not be shooting any.
Posted by Adrienne Giordano | June 14, 2010, 7:19 amLove your post Bella. I am always straightening my desk in order to feel centered. As for recreating my best writing experience, it might be hard since it was before kids and husband, and my kids have taken over the prime writing hour known as the middle of the night. I have a family of night owls, but I’d love to give it a try.
Posted by Julie Shumway | June 14, 2010, 7:45 amMorning Bella!
I am surrounded by clutter, but try my best to hold it at bay with pitchfork and shovel. I think in order to apply Feng Shui to my office, I’d have to be able to see the carpet/desk first…=)
My perfect writing time is 2am..in the dark, in the quiet….
Thanks for the great article…that and Tracey’s description give me something to shoot for!
carrie
Posted by Carrie Spencer | June 14, 2010, 9:11 amI liked your post. It made me giggle because I titled my first paranormal book The Art of Fang Shui as a play on the original. My book is about balance in life so it fit LOL Anyway, I’m afraid I don’t always work at my desk in the guest bedroom. It gets really hot in there the back half of the day so I take the laptop other places around the house. Hmm, maybe I need not do that?
Posted by Sandi Sookoo | June 14, 2010, 9:13 amHi, Bella -
Feng Shui is a topic I haven’t really delved into. What resources might you recommend for a FS neophyte? I’m always interested in organizational strategies that could make me more creative and effective.
I did move my desk into its own room (away from the clutter on my son’s and husband’s desks) earlier this year, and the move made me very happy!
One of my favorite things about my office is the chair and poof (ottoman) where I can sit to edit, read, or just close my eyes for a few minutes.
Thanks for being at RU!
Kelsey
Posted by Kelsey Browning | June 14, 2010, 10:14 amYou’ve got me thinking, Bella. My favorite scenes have been written in a variety of places since I don’t have an office. Most of my writing is done at the dining room table, on the couch, or, if everyone’s around, I’ll sit on the bed with the door closed. Sometimes I’ll go to a coffee shop.
My mind often feels cluttered with hard-to-sort-out details which is a reflection of my writing space (or lack of one). If I’m feeling particularly “lost,” I’ll put on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones either without music or with a lyric-less movie score, and everything around me disappears. (Ugh, like right now, my husband, who works from home, has a loud conference call on the speaker phone.)
This summer, I hope to carve out a place in the bedroom to put a desk.
~Laurie
Posted by Laurie London | June 14, 2010, 10:36 amHi, Bella, thanks for opening up this subject.
I am in the interior design business, and I have utilized feng shui principles for my clients for years. I have found that one very important point to address is desk placement. Positioning the desk so that your back is not to the door, and ideally so that you are not facing a wall, gives you a sense of power and control over your space.
I would also suggest that you avoid keeping files related to anything other than your writing at your writing desk; bills which need to be paid and other real-world demands tend to distract you from creating your fictional world.
If you still have one of those older model large computer monitors, it is a good idea to have a potted plant on your desk to absorb negative emissions.
Your suggestion about creating the atmosphere which evokes your best writing venue was great. One more thing which could be added to that would be aroma–scents are extremely evocative.
After years of study and application, I have found that the thing which first drew me to feng shui is really the most important: it just makes good sense to take into account how you move through your space, and how it looks and feels when you are stationary in it (i.e., sitting at your desk).
Posted by Diane | June 14, 2010, 10:38 amWow! You ladies are FANTASTIC! I’m going to be away from my computer for the next few hours and then I’ll come back and answer any other questions.
Bella
Tracey – Your workspace sounds fantastic!
Adrienne – Thanks for your help in putting up my post.
And I really do think it’s helpful for people to learn even a little bit of Feng Shui – changes the way you look a things, doesn’t it?
Julie – Me too.
So we’ll just do our best, right?
Carrie – I’ve always felt like one of the most cathartic things to do is fill garbage bags.
And, more than once after a big clear out, I’ve sold books. Seriously!
Sandi – Actually, it’s fab to move your workspace around as the energy moves throughout the day/year. Very instinctive feng shui.
Kelsey – The simplest and funniest Feng Shui book is MOVE YOUR STUFF, CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I really think it’s a great resource. Right up there is CLEAR YOUR CLUTTER by Karen Kingston. Those are my go to books.
Laurie – I do think mood plays so much a part of our writing. The mood of the space, what you’re listening to, etc. Feng Shui is, in a lot of way, about creating the exact mood that you desire for each of your rooms. I once had a client tell me, “You’re the first person who’s ever given me permission to do exactly what I want.”
Diane – All great suggestions, thanks! You’re so right about desk position and the details of what you surround yourself with. And flow. Flow is so important for not only our feet but our brains too.
Posted by Bella Andre | June 14, 2010, 10:48 amYeah, count me among the members of the Clean Desk Club. I keep a task list and coffee mug on the right corner, and my enormous computer monitor dead ahead, and a little white dish for clips and bands behind it. That’s usually it. Most of my work is on the computer so I rarely need paper on the desk.
It just makes a huge difference in productivity. I’m a busy person and can’t allow myself to be thrown off pace by clutter.
Posted by Theresa Stevens | June 14, 2010, 10:57 amHow do you keep your desk clean?
Posted by Yasmine Phoenix | June 14, 2010, 1:26 pmBella – Thanks for the book suggestions. I’ll look those up – oh, any excuse for another book
.
I did have a small clutter epiphany a couple weeks ago when I was writing with a blue pen. I detest blue pens, yet I had two in my little desk here at my friend’s house. How many of us have the “blue pen” syndrome, keeping things we don’t like because we think we should? Either because we paid for them, they were gifts, or what-have-you?
K-
Posted by Kelsey Browning | June 14, 2010, 11:04 amI have a suspicion that pens and paperclips, when left inside a dark drawer, tend to replicate….
Posted by Diane | June 14, 2010, 11:07 amHello Bella, I am a strong follower of Feng Shui since being introduced to it by you.
My living room is my writing space and I use a three panel screen as a door. I like writing in the morning until around 4pm when I lose steam, so I start looking for what to cook for dinner. The house is quiet and even though my son is home from college he doesn’t disturb me. But when my husband is home on the weekends, I can’t seem to settle down and write or edit or do anything related to writing. He sits at the kitchen table and works from his laptop as if he were still in his office downtown. I don’t bother him, but he bothers me. LOL. I don’t like losing the flow I’ve got going Monday thru Friday, it makes Mondays difficult to get going. Any suggestions?
Posted by Yasmine Phoenix | June 14, 2010, 11:29 amBella,
You really got me thinking. I’m like Laurie (London), I have no office at home, and I’m surrounded by a three year old and five year old and all of their toys (I work a day job, too, so home “me” time is limited). However, at 10 pm-ish each night, they go to bed, and I get the laptop out. At that time, my family knows “Mommy is working.” I work until 1 or 2 a.m., until I’m so tired I’m using just one eye at a time to write.
That atmosphere is quiet and dark and cozy. While at work during my lunch hour, I write in my cozy cubicle with headphones on and music playing that fits the mood of my scene I’m working on. Now the key is to recreate this all on a regular basis. Need to talk to my husband about carving out a space for me in our small house.
Thanks for a thought-provoking topic.
Ann Charles
Posted by Ann Charles | June 14, 2010, 3:17 pmTheresa – I feel exactly the same way about clutter. I simply feel lighter when the mess is gone.
Kelsey – Yes, we often keep things because of “guilt”. But ultimately what matters is what makes you feel good. Because that’s when you do your best work – when you feel good. Powerful. In control. Happy. So go get rid of those two blue pens, will ya?
Yasmine – Hi there! How’s it going? Ah, husbands….sometimes they need a good feng shui-ing don’t they? LOL. Well, since you can’t change him (another important tenant of Feng shui), you’ll have to change you.
Make your Saturday/Sunday work space different – and I suspect you’ll not only stop being bugged by the husband, but you’ll have a fresh burst of energy in the “new” weekend space. Feng Shui is all about movement, really. And comfort. And safety. And being able to breathe deeply in the spaces you live and work in.
Ann – I’ve got my own set of 3 & 5 year olds.
They also know when Mommy is working. (Usually because they get a “what” barked at them when they ask me a question…) I’m glad you’ve had an epiphany about a dark, quiet, cozy workspace in your house! Sounds fabulous!
http://www.bellaandre.com
NEVER TOO HOT ~ out now!
Posted by Bella Andre | June 14, 2010, 7:46 pm