Hello, everyone!

When I was writing this morning, I started thinking about how dope my writing sessions are. I always come out of them feeling relaxed, accomplished, and inspired. I don’t have a book recommendation today because I am working on finishing any one of the million books that I’m reading right now.

So, here are my tips for a low-key writing session:

• Always sit down at your desk or writing spot with a cup of coffee (S tier writing beverage) or your beverage of choice. There’s something about truly spoiling yourself with a nice drink as you sink into your chair to write. Having a coffee by my side makes me feel prepared for anything that might come up while I’m writing.
• Keep various writing tools in your workspace. This might seem like a no brainer, but let me explain. When I sit down at my desk, I’m thrilled to see the notebooks I purchased most recently, (lately, I’ve been hitting up my local Target’s back-to-school section for $2.99 notebooks) the pens and planner that I bought etc. Then, of course, there’s my laptop.
• Keep productive clutter on your desk. Eek! Did she just say, “productive clutter“? I absolutely did. I know it’s not the most popular advice, especially when minimalism is so popular right now, but I honestly prefer my desk to look like it’s been truly lived at. My version of productive clutter is a series of fiction books that I keep on the other end of my desk, and then a couple of books about writing. There’s something about surrounding myself with literature that makes me feel like I’ve truly escaped real life and I’m swimming in the dreams I’ve created with my own pen.
• Make sure you keep your ears busy. Some of you might live in busy cities, I am fortunate enough to live in small big city in Kansas, so there’s not a ton of noise pollution. However, one of the reasons I’ve always taken to writing is that I have an overactive imagination. If I don’t keep my ears busy, that’s when the intrusive thoughts start to roll in and I can’t get anything done. I like to listen to a podcast or one of the playlists that I’ve made for my project. I have a different playlist for each project.
• Wipe the dust off. No, not the dust on your desk, I could not give even a little bit of fuck about whether or not your workspace has dust in it. That’s not the kind of advice you’re going to get here. What I mean when I say ‘wipe the dust off’ is you should do a writing warmup. If you’re the kind of person who can’t turn the editor off as they write, a quick writing practice before you get to the main event will help you boss up to your piece feeling more confident. 5 minutes with you and your pen. I like to refer to a book of writing prompts when I do this, today I used this one.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’d love to hear from you guys about what you do to create an amazing writing session. What are your tips?! Leave a comment and turn on notifications for ajcreads to keep the conversation going.

I’ll be back next time with a book recommendation!

See you next time,

Alicia