How to Build a Writing Aesthetic That Makes You Want to Create
As a writer, what you see, touch, hear, and surround yourself with directly affects how inspired and creative you feel. Your environment can literally light a fire when it feels beautiful to you.
Romanticizing your writing life means intentionally choosing sensory elements that support your imagination and make writing feel fun and purpose-filled instead of like an obligation or a chore.
Here’s how to make a writing space that is perfect for you and your writing:
Step 1: Identify What Feels Beautiful to You
Beauty is subjective. There is no universal aesthetic you need to copy. To figure out your own style, look around you. Do you carry a backpack or a Chanel purse? Do you love the smell of incense or candles? Do you collect crystals? Bird feathers? Or chunky bold earrings?
To find your style (if you’re not sure), look around online too. Pinterest is a great resource for this. Start pinning everything you love and then notice the theme:
Are there a lot of nature or animals?
Do you favor pastels or bold, darker colors?
Are you attracted to minimalism or busy, hectic patterns?
Whatever makes you feel the most creative is a good indicator of what your writing space should contain.
Step 2: Curate Your Writer Toolbox
Your planner, notebook, pens, keyboard, mug, playlist, even your browser tabs all get to be a part of your aesthetic.
Choose the notebook that both pleases the eye and feels good to the touch. While I love a fussy, expensive notebook, someone else might feel more comfortable in a spiral-bound college-ruled notebook. And I love a gel pen, but my husband is a tried-and-true ballpoint kind of guy.
These details matter. When the mug, the pen, and the notebook feel like you, you feel safe to open up while using them.
So rather than thinking you have to copy my style or someone else’s to be a “real” writer, instead ask “What would I love?” and choose that instead.
Step 3: Engage the Senses
Beauty is multi-sensory, meaning that it can involve one, some, or all of your senses.
Consider:
Sight: soft light, inspiring paintings, a clean, tidy shelf with your favorite collectibles
Sound: music, white noise, rain, silence…whatever helps you arrive at your manuscript
Smell: candles, essential oils, fresh air from an open window, or that fresh cup of coffee you just brewed
Touch: your favorite cozy sweater, your cat, a gently blowing fan to keep you cool, or the sweating glass of iced tea in your hands
Taste: munch on your hero’s favorite brand of chips, or sip on your heroine’s favorite wine. Whatever brings you closer to their world helps.
The more senses feel supported, the easier it is to enter creative flow.
Step 4: Let Your Aesthetic Evolve
Your tastes will change, whether it’s with the season, or over a decade. As you grow, allow space for your style to evolve. For example, in high school I was anti-pink. This was the grunge era, after all, and I wouldn't have been caught DEAD in anything pink. Now I love it. I wear it, my office walls are seashell pink, and even this website is inspired by the hue.
As you change, update your space to reflect those changes. Repaint the walls, update your playlist, refresh your altar (I mention this in my Writing Aesthetic blog as well). Bring in fresh flowers, buy a new notebook, switch brands of tea to something more bougie.
These may sound like small, insignificant decisions, but as you allow authenticity, you also allow your writer voice to come through and be uniquely yours. And that is something no AI can duplicate.
If this resonates, you’ll love the full guide on building your writing aesthetic and romanticizing your creative life.
Read the complete post here:
Writing Aesthetic: How to Romanticize Your Writing Life
xo, Jessica 🍋✨