Cassandra "Caz" Stark

I’m one of those people that has to have everything in place and be in a certain “mode” to get into a creative work space. Usually, that involves a great deal of organizing wherever my desk space has recently landed and cleaning.

Nomad-life doesn’t lend itself to sense of space or the most apparent routines. So, to find a mental space within an impermanent world requires that I get creative about what blocks the “here” from “there.”

For instance, in this moment my desk space is also the kitchen counter. However, to get into the right mental gear, I literally have a side of the counter that I only work from versus the side of the counter where I cook or socialize. I clean up thee space to have no evidence of the other half of my life. I light a candle to signify that it is some degree of “me” time and to outline my area so my thoughts don’t wander beyond the immediate space. And I stack my notes, my journals, or whatever it is I am choosing to work on to one side and my hot Perro to the other. Space is efficiently outlined and mood now becomes mode!

Before I could even find myself here, I had to sort through the start of my day – the things that have hovered on my to-do list long enough to linger in the back of my mind. And in order to cleanse myself of those unpleasant must-do’s like budgeting and negotiating, I went for a completely off-grid two hour hike ended by my daily trip to the grocery store. Now, I effectively have nothing between me and the rest of the day. I am mentally clear and ready to dedicate as much time as necessary to what I WANT to do.

To achieve this overall, I even have three different devices to help signify three different work modes.

In the mornings, I work from my phone. From my phone, I only do emails, messages, task management, project management, and research. For the rest of the day, I don’t carry my phone with me. This work mode is done.

When I seriously need to get something done and dive into a work project that often involves mind mapping, presentations, or spreadsheets – you’ll find me at my laptop.

If I am in creative mode – drawing, journaling, working on a screenplay – I will have my iPad.

If I absolutely have to concentrate and cannot be bothered to perfect my environment in order to clear my mental space alongside the physical, you’ll find me at my local WeWork happy to leave the dishes and clean up to someone else for the day.

Sometimes it isn’t always about the environment. Sometimes, in order to get to the right place I have to start small. Like now. Right now I am writing this to activate all of my free-flowing writers energy so I can bang out a final iteration of my beat sheet (for the episodic television script I am working on) as well as flesh out a new pilot synopsis and series synopsis. My script is due in less than a week!