T.O.P.s Tuesday: Writer's Cottage Part I

Earlier in the month I attended the Montrose Christian Writers' Conference in beautiful hils of Montrose, Pennsylvania. It was a busy, exciting, and educational week. I came home more inspired to write and with a renewed drive to publish again. An answer to prayer.

At the conclusion of the conference we, the attendees were challenged to prioritize what we would do first. To write being the number one priority. I took time before leaving and made a preliminary to-do-list One of the first things on my list was to create a place to write.

I'll still write on my deck, in the living room, or at a local eatery from time to time yet in a dream world there were I few things I hoped to achieve by having my own writing space:
1) A place where I can leave my WIP (Work In Progress) in organized chaos on the table rather than setting it back up each time I start to write
2) A place without television and distraction but with Internet access
3) A place I can bring my own water and snacks with me (to save money) and not have to spend money for the atmosphere
4) A place outside of my house so I don't focus on the never-ending-to-do-lists at home
5) FREE because I'm a writer, we don't have money. 

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My husband I brainstormed and he suggested waiting until August. After our daughter goes back to college, instead of her room becoming a sewing room, it could be a "multi-purpose creative space". I agreed yet want out daughter to have a place to sleep when she comes home and don't want to wait until mid-August to set up shop.

As with most my ideas, I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea. I told hubby and my dad, "You know my writer's space, I have an idea." They looked at each other, and their first hesitant question was the same..."Okay, what?" I'm known for getting this "ideas" and somehow Dad and Ed make them happen. I shared my idea, "Why don't I clean out Mary's playhouse and transform it into a writer's cottage?" They liked the idea and Dad suggested adding insulation so I'd be warm in the winter, I hadn't thought about this. 

I text and asked Mary permission to use her playhouse, her response was priceless, "Of course, BUT don't get rid of my toys, Barbies, Polly Pockets, Horses, and Barn, well anything. I'm saving them for my kids." Easy enough. I cleaned out a back corner of Dad's shed and moved my future grandchildren's goodies into a new storage location. Next, I hoed out all the JUNK we've been tossing in there over the years. Each time we tossed something in we'd say, "If we have a lawn sale..." Yeah, right! All that stuff was donated or tossed, it felt pretty good to purge it all.

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Yes, I didn't think to take a before picture and decided it's for the better because then you'd all have a detailed visual of my hoarding tendencies, or emotional attachment issues. Each item in there, I remembered who gave it to me or where it came from. I am an emotional "keeper", I keep stuff I don't really want because of the memory it holds. I took a big step and let it go, holding onto the memories, not the stuff.

Instead of clutter to cottage, you can enjoy the renovation itself. My Dad joked, "I know why these little house cost so much money." I looked and bit, "Why?" After wiping the sweat from his forehead and ducking out the 4 foot door, with a smile on his face, "Because it's a pain and tough work. Easy work made challenging due to space." We all laughed and kept working until after Noon when the sun peaked at 92 degrees, we took the rest of the day off.

I didn't get to the cottage today for a final picture of the inside but it's all insulated and caulked. Tomorrow my wall covering arrives. I had fun using my creativity in ordering this. I plan to use the walls and ceiling and story boards and note paper so the walls will be done with contact paper. Yes, you heard me, contact paper. It reminds me of the scene from Johnny Dangerously when they are running from the cops and they peel contact paper off the car as part of their disguise. I looked for a clip but didn't find one, sorry.

Sorry, got distracted. LOL

Anyway, you can write on contact paper with dry erase markers and erase it. I can't wait. Once it arrives, with my daughter's help, I'll be doing "wallpaper" and "ceilings". For now, I write sitting in my living room but the pile of goodies heading to my writer's cottage is exciting and motivating. Within the week I'll be able to leave hubby a note, "At the cottage writing, see you after work."

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If you attended Montrose Writers' Conference,
what is one thing you are working on?

If you are inspired and set a goal, 
what is it and what are you doing to achieve it?