What is a Sacred Space?
20 ideas to make your home feel like you're writing songs in Nashville
When I first went to Nashville to co-write songs, I realized something important about where we wrote. Sure, we would often turn up at the publisher's office or maybe at a coffee shop to chat before we'd write. But, when we arrived at the special place in the publishers' writing rooms at Brentwood Benson/Universal Music, it made a huge difference to be writing in a cool place. Somehow, it made us feel like we wanted to focus on our creative work better. And the results were often better songs. Cool.
So, now that many of us write and co-write from our own homes (especially through and after COVID), what would make our own spaces feel cool like they do in Nashville? This is what I call sacred space. Here are twenty ideas to create your own sacred space at home.
20 ideas to make your own sacred space
Different writers have different approaches to their work, but here's what I ended up having in my workspace:
1. A separate physical space — A separate room where my favorite stuff, my writing, my instruments, and my studio, can be kept. And secured.
2. A comfortable chair — Actually, I have four:
A piano stool, which is probably the most expensive chair in my space, and, yes, it's for playing the piano!
An office chair for me to do work stuff at one of my two desks (see below),
A very comfortable sitting chair where I read, meditate, listen to music, and research stuff on my iPad/iMac.
A fourth chair, which is an upright chair for my writing room, where I am right now.
3. Cool lights — There are several lights here in my studio. The most important ones are my LED strips that tell me when to start and finish my work: at 8:30 a.m., my LEDs kick on to say "time to work," and I (normally) get straight to work. At 6 p.m., it turns itself off, and that's when I generally go find the family.
4. Candles — Essential. I've got so many various aromas that my supply will last for a year or so. I'm back in Nashville because it always smells nice in the writing rooms at Brentwood Benson/Universal. (Plus, each October, it tells me when Christmas is coming.)
5. Art — I'm not really into buying expensive art, but I do have some art my daughter painted, and I still love it.
6. Quiet — My studio is a lovely quiet place, which serves two different purposes. First, it's a vocal space with noise dampers, two doors, and a bass trap, which means I can make whatever noise I want to make. It's important the whole house doesn't hear everything!
7. A dedicated writing area — My desk has space to write by hand as well as several computers and keyboards, and other instruments, including nice monitors and speakers. Important stuff.
8. Solitude — I need my studio to be a private space within my house so I can leave my workaround without fear that anyone will take a look, move anything, or tidy up. It's always there when I come back to it and a safe place to do the best work of my craft.
9. Sacred stuff — This is important for me: if I'm writing worship songs, I want this place to feel like it's for worship, so I find a small cross and candles to make it feel even more sacred than it did before.
10. A place to play — I need a space to explore and throw around ideas, no matter how crazy, before I can hone them into something credible and finished.
11. Favorite instruments — I keep all my favorite guitars, keyboards, mandolin, and plugins close at hand. While I have a lovely Yamaha C5 Grand Piano, for some reason, the most productive keyboard is my old beaten-up Studiologic TMK88 midi controller that I bought second-hand in Nashville.
12. A right-brained, creative space — This is a dedicated part of my studio that is a fun place to be. This space wakes up the right side of my brain instantly.
13. A left-brained, logical space — A separate area that serves as my office. It's where I do business stuff, like planning trips, doing courses online, making connections with other creatives using social media, working on my website, and anything to do with the left side of my brain.
14. A trophy area — I have a wall and a shelf for trophies, certificates, awards, nominations, and even inspiring quotes by important people in my life. Not just musical things but other awards. The journey is sometimes better than the destination.
15. Good background for video calls — Given people uses video more than ever these days. It's important when I'm video co-writing to make it feel like my partner can be invited into my workspace, even if they're 4,000 miles away.
16. Inspirational reading — From time to time, I find having something I can hold in my hands to be much more inspirational than reading on my Kindle. On my bookshelf, I find it especially useful to keep notes from courses and workbooks. My favorite book is Sammy Cahn's Rhyming Dictionary, which is something my late father gave me a long time ago.
17. Natural light and air — I find both of these elements extremely inspiring when it comes to writing time. Since I live by the sea, as soon as the weather gets warmer, I always open the door to get the sea air to fill my space! Natural light is also important, especially in the spring and summer.
18. Rugs — Here in the UK, winter can be a time when I just close everything up and live in candlelight in my space. I always have a few lovely rugs close to my writing chair, one I can pull over myself when it's a little cool.
19. A cupboard for everything else — I confess I've acquired quite a lot of gear for my studio, especially as technology has moved things forward over time. If I'm not using them, I still love keeping some items somewhere, so having a cupboard for everything unused is important to keep this space as minimal as possible.
20. Clock — My parents gave me a lovely little carriage clock that is now tick-tocking on the shelf of my own writing room. This just makes me feel at home in this Nashville-like sacred space. And tells me when I actually need to spend time with the family too!
Questions
Here are a few questions:
Where do you write your best work as a songwriter?
Have you anything else you need to support your work?
Are you feeling good about the space you write songs in?
Is it a sacred space for you?
Hope this helps!
Simon