Writing Where

Offices and bus stations, beaches and gardens: all writing happens somewhere. Words don’t just spring up in an abstract realm of ideas; they come into being at your desk or on a scrap receipt in your back pocket. So why do we pay so little attention to our places of writing? This collection of SPACE maps looks at the physical spaces where we write. The places depicted below are both images and real. As you wander through them, ask: What does your SPACE of writing look and feel like? Does it offer you room for joy?

Olivia, USA

Olivia’s favourite writing space is her office. Each physical item found there—a mid-century modern chair, rays of sunlight, trees just outside her window—becomes an integral component of her metaphorical SPACE of writing.

Melissa, USA

Melissa’s SPACE of writing is a collection of objects. A clock on the wall represents time for writing, while the ‘no wifi’ sign beside it demonstrates a space of no distractions. The tablet on the left side of the picture offers a formula for social balance: ‘Meet, Greet, Edit, Chat, Hold Accountable, Positive Peer Pressure’. 

Elena, Italy

Elena’s SPACE of writing is a ‘safe room’. Light streams in through the windows of a reading nook. Motivational quotes are pinned to a corkboard. The room overflows with bookshelves, plants, art, comfy chairs— and let’s not forget her pet dogs, one sleeping on the sofa in the sun, the other curled up in an armchair.

Catherine, New Zealand

Catherine has drawn three islands in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf—Waiheke, Rangitoto, and Tiritiri Matangi—and pulled them together to form a range of hills. Her SPACE map shows stick figures biking, swimming, hiking, and writing: :at cafes, in baches (beach cottages), and even on the ferry.

Brad, Canada

Brad’s SPACE of writing is his office while he’s on sabbatical. He has a coffee steaming on his desk, a door open to visitors, sunlight flooding through the window, and books lining his walls to remind him of scholars who inspire him. ‘What can I do to be productive with pleasure?’ he asks.

Louisa, UK

Louisa makes a literal map of all her writing spaces. She is seeking an ‘elusive fifth space’—the ‘holy grail’ where social engagement, aesthetic surroundings, and creativity are all balanced.

Sabrina, USA

Sabrina’s imaginary place of writing is uncluttered and aesthetically balanced. ‘Bring in the zen’, she comments in the margins. Sabrina suggests ‘freewriting about why the project matters to you’ as a way of grounding yourself in the emotional SPACE of your writing. A yellow dog offers social support.

Kim, Canada

Kim does not have one space of writing, but rather many spaces. In her SPACE map, she draws the street where she walks, the class where she teaches, and her home office. All these spaces are fruitful places of writing.

Linda, New Zealand

Linda imagines her SPACE of writing as “beach writing,” surrounded by sun and sand. Initially fearful of showing her writing to others, she approaches a crowd of beachgoers with a smile on her face: “I’m coming!”

Loren, USA

Loren’s SPACE of writing is a comfortable family home complete with a blooming garden out front, frying pans and coffee in the kitchen, and a friendly-looking dog. She focuses on the idea of ‘social writing’ which fills each corner of her house. 

Linda, New Zealand

Linda’s SPACE of pleasurable writing is a metaphorical island, an engaging but solitary space. Writing, for her, feels like climbing to the island’s peak. In an encouragement to keep on hiking, Linda reminds herself to ‘consider the view from the top’. 

Christina, USA

Christina does not have a dedicated writing space at home. Her SPACE map is a plan for this ideal space—a window for social connection, coffee to be emotionally uplifted, a desk to write on, and hand-written notes to physically engage with his work.

Rob, UK

Rob has transformed his garden into a 5-sided SPACE of writing, with each section recalling a different pleasure principle. There’s a patio for socialising, an aesthetically nourishing flowerbed, a creatively challenging hedge, and—of course—an emotionally uplifting shed for tinkering with new ideas.




Main image credit: Melissa, USA