Ella Jacobs – author

Location
I often see authors posting a picture of their writing space. I’d love to do the same, but I don’t have a fixed writing cave—a specific desk or nook where I work. My writing cave is wherever I am whenever inspiration strikes.

When I’m in a rewriting or editing phase, I’ll typically write on my laptop, at a table, or on the couch. But when I get new ideas and the inspiration really flows, I’ll write just about anywhere. I’ll type away at my phone when I’m out for a walk, reach out from behind the shower curtain when an idea strikes, or in the parking lot before going in to do some shopping.

Once, I even spent an hour writing in a line to get a corona test.

Also, of course, with the types of stories I do, I like to write in bed sometimes too with my vibrator at hand.

When inspiration is slow, one of the best ways to get it going is to get away. It’s not always possible, but when it is, it really does the trick. Leaving behind my everyday life and all the stress and pressure that comes with it clears my head.

I’ll often spend a lot of time on vacations writing. And when my Dom and I go to the zoo or something like that—I find it very peaceful to watch animals—we’ll find a bench and just sit there, him reading and me writing.

When we went to Spain in January, I would spend a lot of time at the harbor. Same scenario. Him reading, me writing.

Routine
My routine is as fickle as the location.

When I’m in the creative part or the process, I can write for an entire day. I think my record is 10.000 words in a day—though this is very rare. Especially if I’m alone, I’ll just keep writing and writing non-stop. It messes with my sleep, and I forget to eat, so I usually can’t keep this intensity up for more than a week, tops.

Then there’s the other side of the spectrum where I’ll go days without writing a single word.

After I released Not Yours to Keep in October, I was so fed up with everything related to books that I had to take a long break. On top of that, some things happened in my personal life, which took up a lot of space in my mind as well as emotionally. Not only was my regular work really busy, but my Dom also started sharing me with another man—the fantasy come to life. I got some really great highs out of this, but the subdrops rendered me all but usual, once for a whole week. (I’ve written a blog post about this: https://ellajacobs.com/crashing-into-subdrop/).

So that was two months where I didn’t manage anything significant on the writing front.

But now I’m going again at a more steady pace, writing most days.

Projects
Just like the location and routine is ever-changing, so is my focus, inspiration, or ability to stay on one project.

Sometimes, I can spend a couple of months on one story—especially if I have a certain goal such as release or some good feedback to work with. But at other times, I’ll change projects from one week to the next.

This is simply how my creativity works. It can go on for months upon months without a break as long as I feed it some different plots and characters. But if I try to force it to stay on one story, it will run dry and require a break.

This is why I have more than five active works in progress. And I can’t wait to share them all with you!