A New Writing Space = More Productivity?

Almost I year ago, I wrote a post about my writing space in my room. When I was in college and then newly graduated, that space still worked quite well for me and the words continued to flow. However, starting several months ago I noticed that more and more when I was at my desk, I just kept gazing at my bookshelves or glancing over at my rapidly filling DVR and ended up closing my laptop for other activities.

With the deadlines I have set for myself when it comes to finishing and publishing books, and the fact that I actually do have people expecting my next book, I can't keep allowing that to happen...which makes it all the more amazing that I was finally given the space to turn into an office at home.

My brother moved out about a year ago and the two small adjoining rooms that had been his bedroom had been left to collect junk and dust. Talking with my mom, I was finally able to move forward with plans I have had for months. While leaving the actual bedroom available for if we ever need a guest room, I took the other room and moved a lot of boxes around and now I have a working office. Yes, I still have quite a bit of work to do, but it is functional and that is what is important.

I need to go through all of my papers and folders and notebooks so I can organize everything, but so far I am really liking the new space. The only books I have are textbooks and other reference materials and there isn't a television in sight. Not to mention, I think the Internet is stronger in the office too, which is really nice.

This of course, also means that I have so more cleaning and organizing to do in my bedroom, namely getting in the closet and pulling out my college textbooks that might come in handy (you know, Forensic Science, Espionage, History, Religion, Library Science, Museum and Archival Studies, languages, etc.). They will go on this bookshelf after it has been cleaned off of all my notebooks and binders.

I'm also thinking that I need to get a dry erase board to hang up on the wall, in case I need it for plotting and such. Oooh...and a calendar to mark important dates (book deadlines, release days, blog posts, book signings, etc.). These things are important, especially considering that the wall is pretty bare right now, aside from the duck wall stickers behind the desk.

I will probably move my NaNo posters to the wall, and then add in the calendar and dry erase board.

Yeah, this is what is right behind my laptop on the wall. It's clear evidence that my brother used to live here.

It might take a little time to fully transition into my new writing space, but for now, I am really liking it and hopefully having an actual office will help me to feel more like a professional author and keep the books coming.

UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, I have done some more organizing and rearranging and now even more progress can be seen in the office. I still have to go through a bunch of my files and folders but if I work on it a little at a time, I think everything will work out just fine.

Here's my bookshelf, now loaded up with a bunch of textbooks. They aren't organized exactly how I'd like them but the height of a few of the books made it impossible to place them on anything but the bottom shelf.

The wall now has my NaNoWriMo posters that used to hang on the back of my bedroom door, a calendar to keep track of important dates, and a huge dry erase board, which will come in handy if I need to visually plot something.

So, here' the overall view of the office space right now. As you can tell I have a lot of folders and such to still get through, but I'm thinking maybe a filing cabinet or something similar will be necessary. I am also thinking of getting more desk organizing equipment so I can maintain a clean work space.