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Yesterday, my students and I were talking about the space in which we do our writing. All of us are inspired by different things; for me, I have to be in a pleasing setting to write. My surroundings must inspire me to hunker down and get to work.
And while I will always drool over the notion of having a writing shed in the back yard (dream on…dream on), I have been creating a space that makes me want to come in it and write.
I’m the one in the house who uses the office. My husband loves to park himself in the kitchen at the counter with his laptop. My daughter does her homework in her room with a desk and our laptop. My son used to work at his desk in his room, which now sits vacant, as he is in college. So, not that I’m territorial or anything, but I do feel like the home office is mine, and as I am the only one in the family who writes and publishes books, I need to be “feeling it” in there, meaning I need to be able to close the door and be creative as I spend a great deal of time in that particular space.
The walls in the office are currently a Tiffany blue, with built-in desks and dark countertops; there is a built-in bookcase loaded with our books; there is a good-size window that the sunlight comes through; and on the opposite wall is a cabinet for storage and a bulletin board with sweet notes I’ve received that I’ve pinned on it.
Behind my husband’s back, I (along with the help of our electrician, Al) removed the dark fan that hung from the ceiling in the room and replaced it with a chandelier. (“What the hell is that?” he asked, with a smirk on his face, the first time he came home and saw my new chandelier hanging in the fan’s place, to which I replied, “A chandelier. You can never have too many.”) I’m now thinking of painting the room a white or light gray color next year, as I am inspired so much by the office pictured above. I love that office. It screams, “Come on in, sit a while, and write!”
Mine is getting there. With time.
All of these books were written primarily in my home office. Gotta love your writing space.Writing is my thing. I’m presently juggling three writing projects at once: updating our textbook, Event Planning: Communicating Theory and Practice, for a second edition with Kendall-Hunt; dabbling with a sequel to Inn Significant; and writing Chapter 5 of a new thing that has me completely motivated.
Writers will write, and we’ll write anywhere, but for me, the home office is where the creativity begins…and thrives.