Feng Shui, for the uninitiated, is an oriental concept of arranging the elements in one’s surroundings to achieve various positive conditions in one’s life. I am a positive person. I have some fine qualities. I am loyal, courteous, kind, and quick to hold the door for people carrying packages. Alas, however, discipline is not high among my virtues. Do not think I haven’t tried.

Despite having my own home office (where I ran my own business for several years), a grown and out-of-the-house family, and sweet little dog who seldom barks, and a husband who works capricious hours and is not home during the day…. Despite good light, an ergonomic chair, proper tools for the craft, a fairly simple-to-use computer set-up, friends who only call at night and recently updated eyeglasses…..Despite all this, I absolutely cannot write at home. Laundry is calling. The dishwasher is calling. Chores I loathe call to me. Computer games call me. Everything in the world calls me, except my Muse.

It has taken me countless years (and I am no longer a youngster) to discover that I need to work in a public area. I know it sounds goofy. I wrote three shows in Burger King – and they were good shows. I don’t do Burger King now that I am home – it is too far from the house, and besides, I don’t need the calories. But I do find a wonderful writing place very conveniently in our town library.

Even when I ran my own advertising business, when I needed to write press releases, or brochure copy, or proposals or anything else that required concentration, I packed up all my gear and went to the library. I find that a) I can spread out, and I am a mega-spreader-outer; and b) the distractions there provide the white noise that turns me into a dynamo. I can get more work done there in two or three hours – and good work, at that –than I could in my cute little office in a week.

I have also discovered my peak times. Are you ready, ladies? Between 4 and 6 pm. Seriously weird. But that is my peak energy time. It has taken me years to discover that little fact, mainly because those hours were always devoted to home/family. It is only now that I have the luxury of being able to utilize those precious high-energy peaks for myself. My husband doesn’t come till home till around seven and the grill, the microwave and the crockpot are my best friends. I can spend half a day writing at the library (and I do it longhand, the old-fashioned way), and then I come home around 4 or 4:30 and spend an hour or so retyping it into my computer, editing as I go. And when I am done, I feel like I have accomplished a lot. In reality, it may not be such a lot, but it is five times as much as I would have accomplished had I stayed home in my ergonomic chair.

Finally, I am also a sprawler. Not only do I like to physically spread out, but I like to spread out my writing. A half a dozen legal pads, a looseleaf binder, pens of various colors. Tools of the trade. Again, it has taken me years to discover the habits that work for me. I like to write in longhand during the first stages of creativity. I also am a big thinker-about-what-will-be-in-the-next-section of my new book. By the time I actually pick up the pen, I have already thought it out a great deal, so I have a fair idea of where I am going. I type it up at home, print it out double spaced, three-hold-drill it, and put it in my binder. Then, if the Muse is catnapping or on vacation, I can edit what I’ve already done. I edit in red or green or bright blue pens. Each day, I use a different color, so I can tell where I left off. I scribble all over the typewritten pages, back, front, and margins. The paper is full of arrows, circles, and “see A” sections or “pick up paragraph 3 on page 46”. I love it! I am sure I am the only one who can figure it all out. When I have created sufficient mess, I use my 4-6 time to re-edit and reprint out a new draft, which I put a date on, so I can keep track of my latest revisions. I keep the old copy in a separate looseleaf, and put the new pages in my “working” looseleaf. Strange. But this is one habit I really like.

So the moral of the story (and of course there is a moral!) is: despite what everyone tells you about how to form good habits or break bad ones, it will ultimately be your own body and your own temperament that will find the right level. Don’t think for a moment that because the habit is unorthodox that it is a bad one. Hemingway wrote standing up at a podium; Thomas Jefferson wrote at a slanted lap-desk of his own design. There are probably countless others who wrote in bed, or in the bathtub, or at 3 in the morning, or only using green pencils.

Feng shui, shmui. It is whatever works for you. It may take you a while and you may need to try many variations, but once you find the feng shui for your Muse, she will snuggle in for the duration.

Feather Schwartz Foster is the author of LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities, (ISBN #1-59286-361-2) about the First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower. They each “write” their own chapters and everyone (including the moderns) chime in with commentary. Mrs. Foster has also written as more than a dozen children’s musicals and spent more than 30 years in advertising and public relations before “retiring” to completely creative efforts. Her second novel. “GARFIELD’S TRAIN” about the death of President James Garfield in Long Branch, New Jersey, will be published in 2005.

Feather Schwartz Foster may be contacted at http://www.authorsden.com/featherschwartzfoster fsf@comcast.net
Feather Schwartz Foster is the author of "LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities, a unique look at First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower. She frequently lectures in NJ, and her second book will be available in 2005.