Imagine yourself sitting in a comfortable writing environment, use your five senses to create this scene. Think of your favorite authors and why you like them. What do good writers have in common? When in their creative self, they are introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving. Think of yourself as a storyteller of secrets! Pick a nice comfortable place; perhaps you have a favorite part of the house you write. Mine is the study.
I’m surrounded by research, stacks of manila folders, with newspaper articles, photos, notes for book ideas, character descriptions. Writers also happen to be superstitious; I have a favorite writer’s cap: Latitude 31, a hat given to me when I wrote Low Country, a novel about the restaurant travel business on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. Whenever I write I’m wearing this beat-up ole cap. It’s a signal that I’m busy and wish not to be disturbed. Sometimes I write with earphones and light jazz fusion playing softly in the background. Use whatever works for you. Imagine yourself sitting in a chair that has “director, producer, actor” on the back of it. You lean back and contemplate your next scene, action, or dialogue. You feel a tremendous rush of confidence as you control the action, much as a puppeteer with your actors, changing sets, designing new plots, interesting characters, and plenty of action. Is everyone comfortable in the writer’s den? Remember, this is your inner sanctum, your safe place for creativity.
