M.L. Philpitt
My Space
It’s taken me many years to develop “my space” for me to write in. As a teenager, my books were written at my kitchen table and in school. In university, my bed or desk. As a new adult, a couch, but none of those places were “mine” and I was never comfortable within any of them until finally making spaces of my own.
A solid 80% of my writing time is done in my office. As a kid, I always dreamed of a large writing space, so when I was able to make the dream a reality, it was, well, a dream come true. I’m obsessed with my large monitor, the expansive space for notes and snacks, and the ample storage shelves. Behind me is the bookshelf I store author copies of my books on and my two large white boards that depict my publishing schedule and todo lists for each book I’m presently working on. The office is my space, and it’s where I do lots of my writing, all my editing, my formatting, any administration tasks, as well as any personal life tasks.
But the window is distracting sometimes, so when that happens, I go to my other space and honestly, my favourite room in the house: my library.
The chair in there has seen so much of my process, being it’s where I wrote my debut novel. I hide in the library when I’m struggling with writing, or when I’m nearing the end of a book and I need to close the world off to finish it. It’s quiet and distraction-free and a large motivator, because when I find myself drifting, I end up staring at all the books I own by other authors and think about how soon I’ll be in someone else’s library and it pushes me to continue going.
No matter where I am, my dogs are with me. Sometimes curled into the blanket at my side, other times at my feet or on their bed, depending where I’m sitting.
Whenever I write, I will have headphones on. Every book gets its own playlist, so no matter where I am, music will be playing in my ears and propelling me in my story. Hours will pass sometimes before I realize I’m 400 songs past my original playlist.
But I’m also a very busy human, so I’ve learned to write wherever I can, so while I may have my preferred places, my laptop is nearly always attached to my hand. It follows me to work where I’m able to get words in on my breaks. If I need to cook, it ends up on the kitchen table so I can continue.
Often in the evening, I curl up on the couch, simply so I can feel like I’m part of the house but the writing will still continue. For me, when I start, I hate stopping so I will ensure my writing can follow me around in my day.
M.L. Philpitt is Canadian-born and raised, and enjoys representing Canada within her novels. As a Ravenclaw, she loves education, having undergraduate degrees in English Literature and Sociology, a certificate in Autism and Behavioural Sciences, and a MA in Counselling Psychology.
She writes in various romance new adult genres including paranormal, fantasy, dark romance, and contemporary. She has lots of crazy trapped in her head for readers to enjoy.
When M.L. Philpitt isn’t making up stories, she’s devouring those imagined by other authors. Her love of reading began when she was a young child and only grew with age. She enjoys many genres, as reflected in her writing preferences.