Guest blog post by Camy Tang

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about spaces. Mine, specifically.

As a writer—requiring creativity and artistry—I know in my head that I need to protect my creativity from the stresses of day to day, but it’s been hard for me to actually do it. Creativity is especially susceptible to getting shut down by negative stuff in our lives, whether just worry or full-blown bad situations.

I think a lot of people can relate to this, whether they’re writers or not. Stay-at-home-moms deal with kids all day and sometimes don’t have child-free space to unwind and regain their sanity. Working folk deal with coworkers and bosses all day and sometimes don’t have a quiet space at home (which is filled with kids, dogs/cats, spouse) to recharge for another working day.

Or maybe they have quiet spaces, but just never have the time to use them. I think that’s more common.

Now that I have publisher deadlines to meet, I’ve been realizing that I can’t be all laissez-faire about protecting my creativity. I really do need to protect it, or else I can’t write, can’t meet my deadlines.

So, I looked at my day and started looking to see what I could trim away.

I prioritized the important stuff—my husband, my work with the church youth group, my writing (the actual writing part, not the freelance editing, not the Genesis stuff I do, not the emails, etc.).

Then I looked at my second tier—my blogging (it’s fun and it’s helping me connect to my readers), coordinating the Genesis contest (because I really enjoy working with writers and like giving back to ACFW in this way), my critique buddies, a few important email loops like ACFW, FHL, and my Seekers support group.

There was a LOT of other stuff that didn’t make it into my second tier.

So, I got off email loops, mailing lists, forum boards. I even set up a separate email account to handle the non-urgent stuff like the email loops I remained on. I only check that separate email account once a day.

Then I started looking at my office. My desk was too small (but it had been free, so I wasn’t complaining too loudly) and I hadn’t done a good cleaning in a while. So I cleaned and chucked a whole bunch of stuff.

Then I removed my desk and instead bought a 36” x 80” door from Home Depot, and cinderblocks. I wrapped the cinderblocks in plastic garbage bags so they wouldn’t rain dust on my carpet, and set them up as legs for my door desk.

Voila! I have a HUGE desk with lots of room! I have lots of writing space so my brain can breathe! I have less stuff because I cleaned!

(Can you tell I’m just a little excited about all this?)

I now have someplace where I can sit and declutter my mind. For me as a writer, it means all kinds of other weird things can crowd into my brain, but that’s another story.

Hopefully my story has inspired you to find your own space in your house! Thanks for letting me blog here, Delia!

(I'm giving away a copy of my new release, Sushi for One! Just leave a comment with your email address so Delia can contact you later. She'll draw a winner out of hat on September 27th.

If you want more information about Sushi for One, you can visit my website at http://www.camytang.com/)




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Thank you, Camy; for being a guest here on my blog and for making me realize that I need to be more conscious of my writing space.


Ya'll I was stalking reading Camy's blog before I even had one of my own. She's an awesome person and an awesome writer. I won't even mention her marketing skills (let's just say she could make a killin' helping other writers with their marketing) or her critiquing skills or her networking skills or her ability to work a conference. Man! She's one busy lady!


I loved Sushi for One?. In fact, my copy is already on my Keeper shelf because I'm not willing to share it. But, Camy is much more generous than I, and she's giving away a copy to one of ya'll. Isn't she nice? Like she said, all you have to do is leave a comment here for a chance to win.