Right now I’m working and can hear the TV in the living room.
In an ideal world, my wife and I would have plenty of room to spread out and fall completely into our own little worlds for as long as we needed to create.
But that’s not happening anytime soon; we share less than 900 square feet in which to write (me) and sew, play Celtic fiddle, and do art (her).
So What To Do?
I could get flustered and be distracted by the sounds in the background. I could not write and blame it on the situation. I could plan and wait until the ideal situations for creating happen and we each have dedicated spaces for our creative endeavors.
But to wait for ideal conditions in the future means I don’t move forward right now.
Putting It In Perspective
In some ways, I’m luckier than my wife: writing takes up less room than sewing and art. I don’t have to clean the kitchen floor (the only smooth floor in the apartment other than the bathroom), every time I cut large pieces of fabric like she does. I don’t have to go into a closet to drag out supplies when I want to do art — I come back to the office, sit at my desk, and turn on my computer. I no longer work in hot warehouses and have to write while exhausted. I think back to a small pile of screenplays and a novel I wrote while sitting on a hard metal folding chair for years…the standard office chair I now have is a throne compared to those days.
My Only Option
I could still complain that the setup isn’t ideal…because it isn’t. But that would do me no good.
My only choice is to deal with the current situation and keep producing, because that’s what will help us reach a point where things are ideal.
Yeah, I can’t wait until we both have offices and space of our own.
Definitely don’t put things off because you don’t have room (I put off art and similar things because of it, but decided music and sewing will never be put off if I can help it). There are a few things you can do to lessen the effects of lack of space, especially if you talk together.
I can’t use the tiny study, because my sewing takes up too much space anyway and the room brings out my claustrophobia. I have some storage in there, but otherwise it’s your writing room. Now, we still need to organize a little more, and it would be nice if there was an actual closet in there, but you make do with what you’ve got for now.
I use the living room for music and sewing. Thankfully, my fiddle stuff takes up one tiny section of wall and I can take it to another room if I need to. The sewing on the other hand…. unfortunately, since the sewing machine takes up more space, we’ve decided to skip the Christmas tree this year and let that be the sewing corner until we do have space. I’ve also been hand sewing more often, and made myself a little portable sewing kit out of my old art bin (it’s like a tackle box). That makes things a little easier, even if it takes longer.
I have the TV or Pandora on for company and to drown out any noises you might be making. You have headphones (either noise-canceling or music) to drown out any noises I am making.
We’re pretty used to that (especially since I sometimes tend to wait until later in the evening/early morning to work, like during summer), and rarely distract each other now. About the only time we dare not even step into each others’ space is the few times we need to focus like if I’m doing something important like cutting fabric or making a pattern, or you’re doing something huge with writing and work that’s similar. Most of the time, we’re able to stop and chat if we need to.
It’s just a matter of getting used to some of the things we’ve had to give up, like — even though I try to keep it clean — sewing clutter in the living room, lack of a Christmas tree, etc.
At least we keep trying!
Most people I know have created in less-than-ideal situations.
Many of those who stuck with it now create in those spaces people dream about having.
I’m pretty simple in my needs and know once we each have a room completely to ourselves, things will be even better.