It also helps if you clean the floor

My new apartment is like a beautiful haven of peace love and closet space. If I go out to my balcony and stand on my toes and tilt my head around a couple of power poles I can see this:


That's the Hollywood sign. And in the morning when I look out my window I can see the sun hitting the houses on the hills and reflecting light off their shiny clean windows.

It's important to have an inspiring creative space. In my old apartment, ruled by the evil asshole clan that is Wellman Properties, I was constantly stressed. My carpet was filthy and my space cluttered and I worried about parking and theft and noise and those two stupid dogs who barked at every insect that flew into their pen because the speak-easy running owners never let them go outside and play on the grass, not that there was grass anywhere within sight of that place. And now I have shiny hills and trees and the Hollywood sign.

It's just easier to write when your living space reflects your place in life. I've been reading a book about Feng Shui vs clutter and it's pretty insightful. I've been keeping a lot of old things around that I never use anymore, things that were keeping me grounded in the past. I threw them out during the move and it was such a release. Everything is new or necessary.

It also helps to have a walk-in closet.

New and pretty and organized breeds easier expression of ideas. I'm finding writing so much easier when I don't have to contend with the eight hundred pieces of unnecessary paper I'd allowed to build up in stacks around my desk. Although at the moment I am having to contend with an 18-pound cat in my lap who is drooling on my keyboard. But he's pretty, so he can stay.

So I have a mission for you. Look around your creative space. Is it comfortable? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Do you feel relaxed and open to new ideas when you sit there? How annoyed are you right now by all that clutter?

Sift through every piece of paper, every item that has been sitting around waiting for you to do something with it, and do something with it. Trash it or put it away or use it. Then you'll feel so clean and pretty you'll be ready to go on that next set of pages. Free your space of clutter and you'll free your brain of cobwebs.

And get an apartment with a walk-in closet. Seriously. The world is a better place when it comes with shelves.