Making Space

You have to make space for things to come into your life. Psychological, physical, emotional. It's so corny and trite. But true.

When we went to Joe Forte's to pick out a painting we trooped out back to the art studio he and Meg have made. It is filled with paint and art and pieces of inspiration and drawers of treasures that will go in future collages. It is a converted garage, 100% devoted to making art. He said making it a studio made him make art. He had only scratched out a few pictures before he made his studio. But once he made the space the art started to emerge. Now he has painted on an old mattress, dozens of huge canvasses and endless pieces of paper. He has had shows downtown and at Bergamot Station. It all started because he made a space for it.

Clutterbusters say leave an empty bookcase for new books. Love counselors say make room for love. A friend said hire a nanny if you want to write. You have to make the space to work, not earn it or prove it to yourself.

So here are two spaces I will make.

An Art Room: Upstairs I have a room I love. It is a magical room filled with light and views. It is all exposed wood and windows that look out into a giant pine tree from the 1920s and across the hill to Camrose and Hightower. One friend said we should make it our dining room it is so spectacular. It is a tree house and a secret place off the rest of the house. It is a room for dreaming, floating in the air. We have long called it the computer room. I told the boys I wanted to make it the art room. Now they call it that, preparing me, although I have done nothing to make it an art room. But naming it is a first step. And when I call it the computer room Theo always corrects me. No, Mommy, you mean the art room. I have done a wall of inspiration. Next I will get a table for the boys, and art supplies. Then a rug that you can spill things on. And then we will be ready. We will have our space.

A Writing Time: My other space is time. I need to work on my book every day. This is the hard part. I can crank out copy, but it is harder to reframe, reimagine, re-structure the same material. That is where I am. It involves thinking, but not necessarily pages. It is hard. But if I work every day a little I do better. I am high on Thursdays, when I have time to work, buzzing with ideas percolating in my head. But by Saturday I have lost my momentum. The buzzing thoughts have just settled down and been forgotten again. So this week I will make a space for writing. This Monday through Friday, for one week, I will get up at 6 and work for 45 minutes. No coffee. No tea. No wake up stretching. I will just rise, trot into the ART room, and plop myself down and spend time on the book, pushing myself to do whatever I can. And maybe something wonderful will emerge.

I write this here to make myself accountable. To out myself!

And I ask you: What would you make space for in your life if you could?