Every day, at least a couple of visitors pop over from Google or from one of the blogs that has linked to my posts on my home office to check out the photos and descriptions of the room where I write romance novels and these blog entries. Whenever someone clicks on a photograph to enlarge one of my pictures, that's recorded in my log files, so I know people are looking closely at what I've posted. But I'm no celebrity, so why would people who have never heard of my blog or my books be so interested in my little yellow office?
Most of us writers have at one time or other constructed--in reality or just in our minds--our own versions of the perfect writing environment. Like giddy new homeowners poring over decorating magazines, we're eager to check out the workspaces of other writers to see if we can find any tips on beauty, comfort, or efficiency worth adding to our fantasy or real-life workspaces.
Today I checked out the workspaces of seven writers in a feature at Guardian Unlimited. Sarah Waters has pinned maps on her walls, as I have, and for the same reason. (My map is actually on the back wall of a closet, but I keep that door open because I have shelves full of books and papers in there.) Playwright David Hare's wooden chair looks awfully uncomfortable, even with that pillow on it. And Michael Frayn, whose space looks like something you'd see at a cube farm, writes, "I envy people who have the ability to surround themselves with interesting things - beautiful little whichwhats that a burglar might want to steal, or amusingly whimsical doodahs, or thingummies full of secret personal significance. But it's not something that I can do, and it's no use pretending."
The other photographs and descriptions are equally fascinating, so click over to the article. And then if you'd like to share about your own workspace or those of other writers, please leave a Comment.
2 comments:
Thanks for the link. It's interesting to see how other's work. I work from home (the job that pays the mortgage) so I share my workspace with my writing space.
It's a fairly big office - 10 x 14 - and I've tried to seperate the writing from the work, because sometimes the other can be a distraction. So I have the ends of my huge L shaped desk designated. One is the writing side with it's own computer, and the other is the work side, again with it's own computer. Other than the printer, they aren't networked. It seems to help.
When I'm writing, I can look out my second floor window at birds and trees and let my imagination free.
Elle, one of my writer friends uses two computers--one with an internet connection and one without. She says she doesn't have the discipline to ignore e-mail and such, so when she's on a tight deadline, she uses the "disconnected" computer, which is, I believe, in a diffeent room of her house.
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