I am not one of those who prescribes to the notion of a writing sanctuary. While this doesn't mean I don't lust for a She Shed of my very own, it does mean I can't let something like place determine my capacity and commitment to write. Some of my favorite places for word craft?

Doctor's offices.
In the car with a little one napping in the backseat.
Meetings where my presence is not really necessary but is required.
Coffee houses... really any, but I have a few favorites.
My writing desk.

I have listed my writing desk last because it really is the one place where I do not spontaneously write - and thus the writing that happens there is the writing that feels the most like work.

Because it is work, and sometimes a change of scenery, or an unexpected moment seized for creation rather than tedium, is all the motivation that I need.

But, my desk.

I write there, a lot. It's a place of seriousness, of getting down to business, of meeting deadlines. I am lately interested in what I can do to make it a worthier space. I bought it a few years ago off of Craigslist after searching for "antique school desk," and my dad refinished it for me. The top is still pocked with the vigorous efforts of some kid working to dismantle it a compass point at a time. The drawer is often stuffed full of drawings from my daughters, rogue colored pencils, beads, buttons, receipts for things I think I am going to return to the store but never actually do, and handwritten notes to myself about things that I am writing or want to write.

I leave it relatively bare, because I haven't wanted distraction. There's a jar of dice and a ceramic pencil cup filled with dry erase markers for my Pathfinder game, and I recently purchased a tiny, weighty iron owl who is meant to hold place cards but instead holds my gaze when my mind is wandering. It's cozied up next to a functional fire place that is nevertheless rarely lit, and whose mantle is stuffed full of novels.

I have a lamp because warm light is essential, and an uncurtained window because soft, blue daylight is beautiful, too. There's a print of a paper cut tree hanging on the wall. Sometimes there are dozens of post-its, usually not. It's a good space: clean, comfortable, nook-like. I grew up in a bedroom that was probably the size of your closet, writing in bed with a spiral bound notebook balanced on my knees because there wasn't room for any other furniture. So I like small. The less room there is for my body the more there is for my mind, right?

What about you? What are your creative spaces like?