3 Things You Must Have for a Good Writing Environment
By Michelle
When you think of a writer, what comes to mind?
A melancholy artist hunched over a typewriter? Li Bai with a brush in hand, looking at the moon? Mary Shelley scribbling with a quill as a thunderstorm rages outside?
Actually, it doesn’t matter that much if you don’t have a typewriter or a fancy color-coordinated bullet journal on a desk with Instagrammable succulents.
There are really only 3 things an Essay Narwhal must have for a good writing environment, before you can begin a college essay:
#1 Writing Tools
For an Essay Narwhal, your most important tool would be the college essay prompts You can’t begin the writing process without having a direction in mind. The prompts will help give you that direction. What topic do you want to write about? Is it better to talk about that time you entered an arts contest, or would talking about volunteering for a robotics camp be a better choice? Your brainstorming and draft will all depend on the essay prompts themselves. Having an endgoal in mind allows an Essay Narwhal dive for their best ideas without wasting too much energy floundering in the water.
Beyond that, it’s not that important whether you like to handwrite an essay first before typing it or typing it into the laptop directly. The writing tools you have just need to be in good working condition. You can stick with the simplest tools, like blank notebook paper and pen.
Your laptop word processor is also another choice, whether it is Microsoft Word, Pages, or something else. You might not even need the wifi or internet to be turned on to use them. Microsoft Word and Google Docs are both still perfectly useable without needing to be online, since Google Docs does feature an offline mode.
Some students might be tempted to use their phones to write their essays, but that is probably not the greatest idea. The small screen and the other distractions on the phone (texts! TikTok! social media!) can strain both your eyes and your concentration. Stay with the pen and paper combo, or your laptop.
#2 Good Surroundings
A narwhal will migrate in the summer to shallower, warm waters, and in the winter to deeper ones, for food and habitat reasons. An Essay Narwhal also, should make sure they find the right surroundings for themselves for writing and stay with that as a routine.
Try to have a clear space for writing, like a desk and a chair that you can sit in with good posture. If not your own desk and chair, somewhere else like a clean kitchen table or a quiet library table could also be ideal. A place with fewer people and fewer sources of noise would be better; let others around you know that you cannot be disturbed during your college essay writing time.
For example, writing an essay in a room where two siblings are playing loud video games would not be an effective use of writing time. And if you have pets, you can consider whether you need to put them in a separate room or not, depending on the pet’s personality. On the other hand, small writing breaks to play briefly with a cat or pet a dog can be great for your mental health too.
#3 Comfortable Space
Once they have the right writing tools and surroundings, an Essay Narwhal should also think of ways to make their space even more conducive to writing.
The space should not be so comfortable that you can fall asleep. I would highly suggest not doing any writing in your bed. Keep your writing space a productive space, and not a place that your brain will link to resting.
What can you do to make your space more comfortable and thus more prepared to write?
For example, a few factors that could affect you:
- Does the window need to be open or closed for some fresh air?
- If it gets colder, do you have a jacket nearby?
- If your health requires you to take meds regularly, have you taken them?
- Do you have water or other liquids in a closed water bottle so you can hydrate? Do you have snacks that are easy to eat, like nuts, dried fruit, or even a few pieces of candy?
- Do you focus best in total quiet, or do you need some white noise like a coffee-shop atmosphere from Coffitivity or soft instrumental music?
No matter how long or short a time it takes you to write an essay, an Essay Narwhal will pay attention to creating a better environment for themselves that enables them to swim smoothly through the writing process!
