Into the Lion's... er, Writer's Den

Jessica Davidson

Currently working on: FORGED OF SHADOWS, Book 2 in my series for NAL

Mood: Contemplative

I’m lucky enough to have a whole room dedicated to my writing. Just me and my computer and my green-eyed demon dog and my golden geckos in the upright fish tank on the left side of the desk and my work-in-progress collage propped above. I didn’t even have to clean up (too much) to take this shot. Just don’t – for the love of all you hold dear – open the Chinese cabinet on the right.

But my REAL writing retreat is profoundly messier and also way more luxurious. It’s the retreat in my head.

Sounds woo-woo, yes? (Wave to Brenda W. whose guided imagery during a hypnosis session helped me create this second workspace.) But with a blazing candle and some mythic traveling tunes from Azam Ali and Dead Can Dance, I open the door in my mind and find an empty space to brainstorm, or a boardroom with all my imagined characters at the round table, or a playroom with indelible colored markers and permission to write on the walls. Hey, it’s my space after all.

Sometimes it’s a prison or a padded room in a sanatorium. My head isn’t always a pretty place ;) But honestly, I find as a writer I’m best served by a comfy chair and a short chain anyway, and sometimes blank walls are very relaxing. Regardless of its décor, once I sink down into that second writing place, it seems as if the first one – the real one – was the illusion, flickering out like that untended candle.

If you haven’t yet found your ideal writing space or just a personal sanctuary, could you create one in your head? What music, scents and props would you need to make the doorway to that space?

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.”

~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977

CLEANED UP FOR A FEW MOMENTS!

Genene Valleau

Currently working on: edits for STARS IN YOUR EYES

the third connected book for Awe-Struck E-Books

and a new series of nine books

Mood: Incredible!

OK, I cleaned up* my office so the photos wouldn't be a total embarrassment. (*My definition of "cleaned up" is I wiped off the top layer of dust and straightened the piles so they wouldn't show in the photos. LOL!) I like my spaces clean and neat, but I'm a "spreader" when I work. I spread out to use any unoccupied space. Following that reasoning, if I have a smaller space to spread out, my writing materials are closer at hand.

My ideal writing space is pretty much my office. There are just my doggies and me in a nice sized house, so I have an entire room for my office plus several bookcases of reference books in an adjoining room. The window showing in the first photo doesn't have a spectacular view, but the door onto the deck is just a few steps away, leading to the plants and flowers in the backyard, so I can enjoy the fruits of the "dirt therapy" done earlier.

I run three other small businesses besides writing (Web and graphic design, Reiki energy healing, and the beginnings of a dog rescue and sanctuary) from this office. They co-exist peacefully for the most part, though at times they compete for my attention. I just upgraded the software on my Macintosh computer and invested in a digital camera, so all the creative pieces of my life are expanding!


At the beginning of a writing project, I like to cover one wall with easel-sized pieces of paper where I can post photos of people, houses, rooms, clothing, etc., that visually represent my characters. I'm currently plotting a nine-book contemporary romance series, so each book has its own sheet of paper (you can see most of them in the second photo). As I get deeper into each story, I'll add more easel sheets so I can plot the scenes for each book.

You've probably guessed by now that I'm a detailed plotter, at least at the beginning of a story. This gives me a road map of the story, but leaves enough flexibility for interesting side trips along the writing journey without ending up miles and miles away from my destination. Ironically, once I have the story map done, I don't use it that much until I'm about three-fourths done with the book. When it's time to start wrapping up the story, I go back and revisit each character, plot, and subplots to make sure I haven't dropped something and that everything flows smoothly.

I've given myself another week to finish the plotting on this series. Then I'll work on edits for a book scheduled to be released in late February 2009. I'm also continuing to promote my first release, SONGS OF THE HEART, which is now available in paperback on Amazon.com. To celebrate the print release, I will include a copy of that version in the basket of goodies one lucky person will win in my contest drawing on July 4.

I'm really enjoying the promotion side of writing, and have contests planned each month for, oh, the next year or so. LOL! The story line of SONGS OF THE HEART wraps up with the wedding of the hero and heroine in the fall, so then I'll segue into promotion for FEATHERS ON THE FLOOR, which will be released on December 12. The happy ending for that book occurs on Christmas Day. I already have holiday-related prizes picked out and stashed in a closet in my office. After the holidays, I'll start promotion for STARS IN YOUR EYES, which will be released in late February 2009.

By that time, I'll have at least one of the books in my series completed and another story in the works. By the way, that truly is an "antique" rotary dial phone in the top photo. All of my phones except that one and my cell phone have either died or are in the process of dying. A new phone is on my shopping list--after I get that series of books plotted. I figure the rotary model is about thirty-five years old and is good for twice that long! Does anyone have a functional phone that's older?

www.genenevalleau.com

Distracted

Elisabeth Naughton

Currently working on: Stolen Seduction

Book three in my Stolen Series for Dorchester

Mood: Feeling Rushed

So I planned to have this blog up and ready by 6am. Alas, you can see I'm a wee bit late. And there's one major reason. You see, last night - when I should have been putting this blog together - I was reading. What was I reading? Our very own Kristina McMorris's Between The Lines. And I got so wrapped up in this fabulous book, I didn't write a single word. Not on this blog or on my wip or on my editor revisions for Stolen Fury, which are due in, um, like a week. So blame Kristina for my being distracted. I am. ;)

Since I'm in the mood to blame Kristina, I'll also add that because I was so engrossed in her book, I didn't have a chance to clean my desk before taking this picture. I do most of my edits here, my promo work and all my email and chapter work here (in case you didn't know, while I'm a member of RCRW, I'm also the president of the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA chapter in Salem). You'll notice I have piles of notes on the left side of my computer - things I need to work on, letters to respond to, etc. On the right I have a couple boxes of business cards that were just delivered, and which I have no idea where to store. On the floor on the left is my spiffy red computer bag (I love that thing) and my signature flip-flops, which, in the summer, I never go anywhere without. What you can't see on the right, behind my chair, is the stack of books in my TBR pile. At least 15 books I'm saving for vacation in August - and all books I can't wait to read.

I do write at my desk sometimes, but the bulk of my writing is done here. On my living room couch. Not sure why, I think maybe it's because this is where I started writing long before I had my own desk and special place. Can't seem to get out of that mindset.

Far and away, the most important item on my desk - aside from my laptop which isn't always ON my desk - is this Believe sign. It sits on my desk always, and every time I sit down to work, I see it like a shining beacon. I got it a year before I sold, when I was going through a period where I was feeling down about the state of the market, how long my book had been "out there" and what was going to happen next. I believe in the power of positive thinking, and seeing this every day helped reinforce my belief that if I worked hard and didn't give up, I'd eventually sell. To this day I am 100% convinced that positive thinking worked.

What's the one thing that keeps you going when you're feeling down? Is it something visual or is it more internal?

Truth in Advertising

Lisa Hendrix

Currently working on: Immortal Outlaw (Book 2 in my new series)
Mood: Forthcoming

I'm a slob.

There. It's out.

However, slobbishness is only part of the reason you're not getting a peek at my actual office. I'd probably take 15 minutes to tidy up a bit and snap a very tightly cropped picture, paper stacks and overflowing bookshelves and all, if I really did most of my writing there. The thing is, I don't, except when I must, partly because I'm currently sharing the space with a house rabbit who randomly thumps at me and my music, and partly because I have two active kids and find that hiding in the far end of the house with a nearly soundproof door between is us good for my writing but bad for my parenting. You can guess which is more important.

So when I write at home, I tend to plop down at the kitchen table. I love my kitchen. It's painted a clear, buttery yellow that makes my heart sing, and it's got a long wall of windows and a door out onto the patio (you can see the pool, or at least the pool cover, through the door). The picture you can see hanging behind the door was painted by the previous owner of our house and goes perfectly with the wall color, even though I got it after I painted. I like that, and I like the fact that I can see or hear pretty much everything that's going on in the house.

Another thing I like about the kitchen is that the cats, who aren't allowed out with the bunny, can and do hang out nearby and help me write. The grey one trying to engineer an escape from the back of the chair out the door is Zelda, and the black one trying to figure out the keyboard is Clouseau. Both are rescue kitties, one rescued by Animal Control and adopted at PetSmart, one by us outside a local buffet restaurant when he strolled up to say hello.


(That picture on my computer screen? That's the cover for my upcoming book. He's very hunky, and you can get a closer look on my website.)

Anyway, the kitchen is where I do most of my writing at home, but during the school year or when the kids are otherwise occupied, I typically don't write at home. At home, too many distractions raise their colorful heads, beckoning me away from the agony of getting the movie in my head to come out right on paper. To counter this, I find shelter elsewhere, anywhere, so long as people will leave me alone. This morning, while my daughter went off to Young Authors camp—apparently the aberration is genetic, because she begged to go—I spent three hours with my laptop at Donut Country (no donuts, thank you, but a huge iced coffee). Noisy as it was, no one wanted to talk to me, which is, after all, the critical factor for a good writing retreat. I've developed a panorama of such anonymous locales, and I actually posted about them on my personal blog a while back. Some of my favorites are fairly typical, while others are, ahem, odd, so if you're interested or would like to see one of my favorite writing tools, check it out here.

So, I've come out the slob closet. Would anyone else care to raise their hand and join me? Or does anyone else have a good/unusual place that they write? If so, please share in comments. I can always use another idea for somewhere to go. After all, it's only 70 more days until school starts again.

Person Lisa Hendrix

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Shared Spaces

Maggie Jaimeson

• Currently submitting Expendable, a romantic suspense.
• Currently working on a paranormal, suspenseYA series.

I share my writing space with my husband. He is a freelance non-fiction writer--primarily history, with specific expertise in military history. However, as with most freelance writers who need to make a living with their writing he says he'll write whatever he's paid to write. :) He writes during the day while I'm at my day job, and I write at night after dinner.

Our shared space is a bedroom that we've turned into our office. We have the computer space, the filing space, and the reading space (see green winged-back chair on the left). Though some books are in the room--in the closet out of the picture--most of my books are strewn about the house. I do most of my reading in the bedroom, in the living room, in the bathroom. Wherever and whenever I have spare moments alone.

My husband is someone who writes with all kinds of distractions--music, TV, the windows open with views to the outside. I am one who cannot countenance any distractions. Complete silence is necessary so that I can hear my characters and their stories--so I can hear their music, their surroundings. That is one of many reasons I write at night. During the day he likes to write with the windows open and views to the rest of our town. In the winter, he likes to write in the dark with the glow of the computer screen and the TV as his light. At night, I like to write with the overhead lights on and the room bathed in softness. On the weekends, I write during the day with the blinds drawn as in the picture above so as not to have the distraction of the outside calling to me to come out and play. It is amazing we can share the same space. It's only a problem when we both have deadlines at the same time. Fortunately, that happens very rarely.

When I'm beginning a book I am always excited and I can write almost anywhere for the first 100-150 pages. As the work moves on and the complexities mount, I become more and more demanding of my space and my time. When I near the end, the last 50-75 pages, I often need to go away and hole up for three or four days alone and just get it finished. At those times I most often choose the coast near Lincoln City, Oregon. I have writer friends there who will take me in and yet leave me alone. I also have a couple of favorite small inns that allow me easy access to the beach for morning walks and promise no maid service to bother me in the middle of the day to change the linens. I am truly blessed with a wonderful understanding family and the means to go away alone two or three times a year and finish my books.

Moja Milosc

As you can tell by looking at all the pictures, I thrive off of two things: research books and neatness. I cannot focus in clutter and I cannot focus without research books. I have discovered that cannot continue writing a historical question pops up that I cannot answer. Which is why it's so nice to have books I can simply grab from around me, find the answer and keep going. The Google thing really doesn't work for me, mostly because then I go on to check my e-mail and start googling other things that I really don't need to Google and before I know it, the day is over. So I simply stick to my books.I have books that range from the privy (note the fun white book (below) to old encyclopedias from the year 1869. My chaise (or fainting couch) is where I lounge and read while doing all my research. I basically converted what was supposed to be a dining room into my writing room. Which is only fitting. Because I dine on knowledge (cheesy but true). I could go on and on bragging about my writing room, but fortunately for you, I won't. And if pictures are worth a thousand words, then this post is already far too long as it is....
For those of you that don't know Polish (and yes, I am Polish), let me translate the title of this blog for you. It says, 'My Love.' Which is only fitting. For writing is my love. I apologize that the pictures aren't all beautifully organized. I still haven't been able to bloody figure out how to arrange them the way I want them to be arranged. The first picture in the upper left is my writing desk. Where the magic happens, so to speak (or at least where I want it to happen...). The framed map above my desk is a 1859 replica of a London map with all the streets and parks and cemeteries. Basically, my daily inspiration and a reminder of the past I choose to write about. Unfortunately, they cost me A LOT of money. Some have a shoe fetish, while I have a book fetish. The more obscure the book, the more likely I'll buy it, no matter the price (which my husband always grumbles about). The most expensive book I've paid for was worth $300. The least expensive book being $0.75 (those my husband loves to support).
Until next time.
Cheers,
Delilah Marvelle
www.DelilahMarvelle.com

What is currently happening in my writing life? I just finished my second book Lord of Pleasure for Kensington (yay!). Because it is the second in my 5 book School of Gallantry series, I am already gearing up for the third book which is tentatively titled, Moment of Pleasure.

Not so brave

I'm impressed The writers who've posted before me have included photos of their offices. Not me, no, not me. It's not that messy, I swear it isn't. Okay, truth is, my office is lean and mean because I have a "if it's not nailed down, throw it away" gene. The truth is, I didn't want to take the time to charge the battery in my digital, etc, etc. Another problem with snapping anything here this time of year is that my desk faces a large window and the sun glare is fast on its way to making me blind

My dh and I had this house built seven years ago, and the only thing I cared about was my office. Kitchen? If we have to have one. Bedroom? No a bad idea. Living room? Yeah, that's be god. But this place where the 'magic' takes place had to be everything I needed. Then I goofed. Yes, I have more electrical outlets than the Pentagon and I love my 4x4 window with a view of the hills. But I'm not kidding about the glare. Also, since my office is upstairs (where my dh seldom ventures), no way can I clean the outside of the window. Fortunately, I guess, most storm winds slam rain right at the glass which acts as nature's window-washer.

It's an L shaped room and we tucked a double bed in one corner for guests but hardly anyone ever uses it, thank goodness because I don't play well with others. There's a small window there and unfortunately, a street light just outside. Fortunately, its perfect for our dog who loves to stare out the window checking on the neighborhood. And the bed--let's just say it looks as if it was made by a Mixmaster. She loves to jump and pound and tear at the blankets to get her sitting places just right, and I gave up trying to make it.

Okay, enough about this place with a TV, stereo (absolutely necessary because I can't write without music), massive desk, bookshelf, and couch. (Oh, there's also a bathroom which is really cool). So what takes place up here?

Glad you asked.

I write erotica for Kensington Aphrodisia, Ellora's Cave, and Loose ID and here's the absolute kick. Roughing It is being released by EC today, as I write, yeah! On the 24th, Going Down by Aphrodisia will hit the stands. Then come July 1, LooseID will force Galen's Pet on an unsuspecting public. I'm not sure whether the stars are in perfect alignment or this is going to jump up and bite me, but I don't have a choice in the matter.

So here are the respective covers. I saw Galen's Pet for the first time yesterday because it's a rush release. I'd love to know what people think--and that said, keep in mind that I'm finishing another book for Aphrodisia today and am in a fragile state.

Vonna

http://www.vonnaharper.com/

Be Here Now- Suzanne Macpherson

Be Here Now.

I could have titled this “ode to the perfect chair,” because I once splurged a large portion of an advance check on the mesh wonder chair, which was worth every penny and has made my life happier than an obedient husband, but instead I chose to title it “Be Here Now.” For those of you who indulged in some self-help during the seventies, it’s a Ram Dass thing.

I am not a minimalist from any standpoint, and I have a great affinity for: smooth creamy white McCoy and Abingdon vases and bold lime green Royal Doulton vases (see photos) from the thirties and forties, I love heartwarming art with houses and fields and basically any shiny objects that catch my fancy—I’m a crow. Visual objects springboard me into inspirational thinking. That and music, which flows from my computer via Slacker- Vince Gauraldi and Dave Brubeck usually.

Lately I’ve read that having an attachment to things is a really stupid focus, and it is, truly. Ask my friend Hailey North who had her entire office swept away by Katrina. Here today, gone tomorrow. The essence of who we are is not contained in our things. Okay, I get that, but I still like my deskscape, and my nest of an office created in a spare room. Like many of my fellow authors I too work well with a sort of controlled chaos around me.

But BUT BUT~~~ over the last two years I’ve been on a quest and one of my quests is to clear out objects and things that don’t serve me anymore . Things that make more chaos than my mind can handle. Things that carry energy I don’t want to carry with me anymore. That’s the Be Here Now quest.

For an author to be in present time is no easy feat. For an author to keep anything clean is not an easy feat ! But once in a while life needs a purge- between books, between career changes, just---between. I’ve been on a “between” for a while now-which is another word for present time without projecting into the future or dwelling on the past. Recently I discovered a process of creating order with “intention.” The simple version is that while you’re going about the process of cleansing out the things that no longer serve you, it is done with an awareness of what you’re doing. Examples: throwing out the files from a closed business from twenty years ago. Getting rid of your ex-husband’s cd collection. (No, I didn’t get a divorce- this one is a keeper lol.) Purging the 1997 Home and Garden Magazine’s. (Okay I can’t get rid of Martha Stewart Magazines!) And ahem, lets not even talk about letting go of some books to make room for others! Recycling takes many forms.

Speaking of Martha Stewart, although it’s not about perfection, her favorite word, I have to admit that visually Martha is a goddess- she creates the concept of beauty and order and color that makes me strive in small ways to pull it together. But I don’t drive myself nuts about it because as my friend and I like to point out—she’s got staff.

For me it’s all about head space. It was getting a little crowded in there. And if I want to move forward in a different way, with bold strokes and exciting new adventures, I need to clear the path.

I’ll leave you with a photograph of a place I like to go to refill the well. It is my “larger” office, in a nearby nature reserve. Free of all thoughts of the box of bills behind me, or what I “should” be doing, I can truly Be Here Now in this lovely spot. I highly recommend a monthly pilgrimage to anywhere near you that has no wifi, just birds and trees. It is the best office of all. Picture me under that willow tree with my notebook and pillow.

Suzanne Macpherson writing on love and laughter~

www.suzmac.com

Writing Amid the Chaos — You Mean There's Another Way?

Alexis Harrington

Currently: Working on a sequel to a book I'm shopping around.

Mood: Overwhelmed

I suppose there are writers who have tidy offices and are as neatly organized as any displayed in a Martha Stewart Living magazine layout. I don't trust 'em. A working author might have some kind of system—for example, all of my reference and research books are grouped together. Mostly. This isn't the Dewey Decimal System. Cowboys and the West are in one group, Great Britain and Ireland in another, dictionaries and thesauri on their own shelf, etc.—but to the outside observer, a writer's work space looks lie a scaled-down version of the Collyer brothers' apartment.

My office, the only place I can really work, consists of piles of papers; books; miles of wiring for computers, printers, and stereo speakers; notes' strings or attached sticky notes that a friend compared to a Christmas tree; photos of assorted actors; CDs; any number of pets who pass through or drop in for a nap; calendars created to reflect time lines of 100 years ago . . . Well, you get the idea.

I so admire the story of J.K. rowling, who was able to craft a plan for seven or eight books in a Starbuck's kind of atmosphere. I'd never be able to do it. The distractions would bring me to a dead stop. That's also why I write at night, but that's another story.

This photo is a fair example of how things usually look:

And that's only one side of the room.  But for the most part, I know exactly where everything is. Unless I'm looking for a pen.

(Posted for Alexis by Lisa Hendrix due to computer issues.)

Look for today's post...

Under yesterday's! My post for Fri the 13th ended up under Thursday's and I have to leave for work so no time to figure Blogger out! Have a great day and stay safe out there!

Writing amid the Chaos

Some people thrive in the orderly, I thrive in chaos. When I'm in the throes of a book, my office looks like a tornado ravaged the room. My desktop is piled high with various layers of papers, anything from bills to research info to school stuff for my kids. And believe it or not I do have a catalog in my brain that tells me where any given paper that I am looking for is within the layers. I have books, The Synonym Finder, A Dictionary, The Plot Doctor and various other research books that pertain to what ever subject I'm writing about, stacked around, either on the desk top or on the floor with in grabbing distance. Pens and pencils lie haphazardly on the desktop for easy use, as do scissors and highlighters. A phone is close by and the printer is an arm's length away. Right now I have a tub of Trader Joe's Animal Crackers sitting next to the printer (in case I get the munchies) and a cup of tea. Behind me, I have a book case stuffed with books, some research and reference, some writing how to books, and lots of fun fiction. I also have a tall filing cabinet the top of which houses a pretty vase with my beautiful roses from Rose City Romance Writers, the chapter gives a rose every time an author sells a book. On the floor infront of the closet are tubs full of stuff, more books, things for reader baskets, papers that I don't need right now but may one day and a ton of notebooks full of story ideas. At my feet is a CD player; again that chaos thing, I can't work in silence.
I will confess that between deadlines, I do clean my office so that the chaos can be rebuilt with the next book.

Heather/Anh's writing space

Heather Hiestand

Currently: Finishing the first draft of a paranormal futuristic erotic novella and trying not to obsess over the agents I haven’t heard from regarding my middle grade paranormal. Also happy with two new releases: Link to In Flight
Link to my scifi anthology. Next up: Alter ego Anh Leod’s release in August.

Mood: Fueled by tea and chocolate!

A messy office indicates a creative mind, right? I certainly hope so. I considered cleaning before I took this picture for half a second, but let’s face it, it only looks better than this a couple of times a year because I’m lazy, er, creative. And, actually, it’s not that dusty because my monitor died last month so I had to pull and replace it with my sister’s boyfriend’s old monitor. I screamed with horror at the dust and cleaned up at least two layers of paperwork, I swear. Really!

My office:



The dining room table where I play The Sims, I mean, where I also work:



Where I would rather be working except it is currently 58 degrees in my office and probably even worse on the porch:



Have a great weekend, everyone!

Let's Be REALLY Honest

JENNA BAYLEY-BURKE

Currently: Keeping busy with the baby so as not to think about how I haven't heard from my editor about FIRST IMPRESSIONS or the MR. POSSIBLY...

Mood: Daydreaming of sleep...

--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~

I've seen these posts before, where authors show their 'cave' and explain why it works for them...but I've always hummed along, pretending I didn't get the email asking me to contribute a picture. You see, if I sent a picture I'd of course have to clean my work space...and since I work in my bedroom that woul dbe like cleaning twice and well, cleaning was never my favorite thing to do. Add to that a pregnancy with sciatica issues and now a month old baby girl, well...


You get the picture. I haven't slept through the night in months, so the idea of using what brain space I have to do something like organize my books...yeah. I'd rather write. Not that I have since she was born, but still...

So, this is my space. A desk tucked into a corner of the bedroom - recently moved so as not to put the baby crib under a vent - and two bookshelves. Plus the cabinet portion of the armoire (not shown). And the books I have downstairs.

Someday soon I will have an office with a door and three times as much bookshelf space. But that is a few more book contracts down the road...

My little cave...my corner of darkness...

Author: Minnette Meador
Currently Working On: The Breton & The General, historical romance

Ok, I admit it...this is where I live more than half of my life. It's my shrine, my altar...hell, it's my dinner table most of the time! My office. It is as personal as a well-worn bra and as public as a Bart Simpson balloon on Thanksgiving. Now, before I expose myself...my inner sanctum, I mean...I must warn you this is not for the faint of heart. Those of you with small children may want to leave the room. Paramedics are standing by with smelling salts.....

Ok...got you on this one...I wish!

Here's the reality...

As a fantasy writer, here is what it looks like while I'm writing...

...as a romance writer...
here is what I'd like it to look like...

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? A girl can dream...
Thanks for sharing my little corner of darkness...I mean heaven. Just a little nonsense between friends!

By Request: http://www.myspace.com/andreiclaude - Andrei Claude

Minnette Meador
http://www.minnettemeador.com/
http://minnettemeador.blogspot.com/
Newsletter - http://www.minnettemeador.com/minnette_home_new_002.htm

Home is where the book is

I don't know about anyone else, but Blogger is giving me fits today. It keeps crashing my browser every time I visit a Blogger blog. Very irritating.

Okay, this month's topic is about that sacred of all places, the Writer's Space. I can't offer much of anything different from what others have posted so far. I'm a mobile unit, the laptop and me connected at the hip, and I write wherever and whenever I can.

Though I have an office that's about a ten-foot square of space, I rarely write in there. Except maybe email. I have a desktop computer on a stationary desk, but it's got a wide screen that is more conducive to my graphic design business. I strive to keep my two creative businesses apart from each other. It makes me feel kind of schizo at times, but there you have it.

Here are pictures of my favorite writing spaces. The Skychair on the front porch is my summer space and is usually used at night when it's too hot to stay indoors (I live in Central Oregon and we don't have air conditioning in our house). Dark is best because the laptop screen is impossible to view in bright sunlight. The Skychair is awesome, very comfy, and it swings. The writing life doesn't get much better than this.

Most of the time, however, I write on this loveseat, usually with a cat in my lap. Sometimes two because, you know, you can never have too much cat hair stuck in your keyboard. It's a tight fit, but we manage. The cats sort of wobble as my fingers skitter over the laptop's keys. Having two cats lay across your arms as you're typing is a great workout for the forearms.

I have a friend who has two specially assigned writing chairs. One she sits in to write, and the other she sits in to edit. That's an interesting concept, but I doubt it would work for me. It' just too… I don't know. Compartmentalized.

Today will be spent on revisions to my latest manuscript. My agent sent me a list of suggestions and I'm right about halfway through, hoping to finish them all by tomorrow. I can hardly wait to get my new urban fantasy out making the rounds at the big publishing houses. It's the first book in a series, so we're hopeful it finds a home soon so that I can get started on the second book. I have the first couple of pages from chapter one posted on my blog if you'd like to take a look.

Karen Duvall, author of DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press)

The Incredible Moving Office

DELLE JACOBS
Currently: Writing chapters 16 and 17 of FAERIE
and getting ready to announce Royal Ascot Finalists
Mood: Greatly Relieved
***
Every author must have an office, right? No? Well at least a writing space. Right? Wrong again? Well, let's just say we need it. "Must-have" is a little strong.

The problem so many of us face is that as soon as we get reasonably settled into a workspace- especially if it's in our home- someone starts encroaching. Even those authors who have an actual room to call their own sometimes find family members want pieces of the room. Doors don't stay closed for stay-at-home authors. Hang out a sign on the doorknob that says "Warning! Goddess at work! Enter at risk of being struck by lightning." They'll laugh and say, "Hey Mom, got any Band-Aids and tourniquets?" Followed by "Just kidding, Mom. What're ya doing?"

Never mind. We still have to write. We'd write sitting on rocks, scratching our words into palm fronds if we had to. Palm fronds are a bit hard to convert to text to send to the printer, but we'd figure out a way.

My solution began to form a in 1996 with my first laptop. It was a Gateway with a 9-inch diagonal screen and a whole 256mgs of hard drive. But it meant freedom.

My office started to become mobile. It went with me to work, where I wrote on my lunch hour, and meant my evil supervisor could no longer accuse me of using state equipment and electricity. And at home, I could hide out in the bedroom in my favorite cross-legged position, far from the blaring TV and other distractions. It worked most of the time.

But lifestyles change. Suddenly hubby was home, sleeping in on non-work days-- in my office. I was up early, tip-toe-ing around. So my movable office kept on moving. Deck, living room, freezing cold family room, then back to bedroom. Never had a decent place to store stuff. Then the last grandson departed the guest room for his own apartment, and I took it over. It needs a lot of work yet, (note that flowered bag on the floor on the left. Recognize it? Yes, from the Readers Luncheon in April) but I've finally got great storage. See the baskets under the bed? Five of them. And I can sit cross-legged on the bed. That laptop stand will go back out to the deck for summer use with my favorite mesh lounger.

To have a really portable office, portable devices are important. The laptop is the cornerstone, of course, with an extra battery. Portable storage devices like thumb drives or external hard drives provide extra safety of files, especially important when shifting locations. Wireless routers or cards give internet access and mean printers can be located elsewhere, but I have a second printer in my new hide-out, and it's not wireless-yet. Research libraries aren't portable, but at least the books are. They're in bookcases all over the house anyway, so I'd still have to hunt down what I need.

Note all the frills. Very important. Lace, ruffles, flowery prints establish territory and are the best male repellent I've found yet. Now the guys can come and visit but they don't stay quite so long, and my guest room is actually a guest room. I just move out for a few days, back to one of my other writing spots.

Small necessities include a place to put that cup of coffee, a sprinkling of more primitive writing necessities like paper, pencils and date book (I still haven't successfully converted to a computer calendar). Outside on the deck, I write beneath a canopy with side shades (it's a myth perpetuated by hotel commercials that laptops can be used in bright sun) and keep a lap robe handy. Nice days can be chilly sometimes.

The requisite black writer's cat, also a portable device, is unfortunately still unreliable, especially when its favorite closet hiding spot has become threatened. But nothing can be done about that.

Anywhere

I don’t have a picture, but my “official” writing space is a bedroom turned into an office. Imagine if you will, a ten-by-ten room, one wall occupied by floor to ceiling, side-by-side desks. One for the husband. One for me. On the second wall is a cabinet and work table for his hobbies. On the back wall the window is covered up by file cabinets that sit on top of a dresser. The last wall is taken up by a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Two shelves are mine, with the bottom one filled to overflowing with my to-be-read stacks.

Unofficially, my writing space includes the dining room, living room, and occasionally, if I’m desperate, Barnes and Noble in Clackamas. I wrote my first book during the morning commute to work, when I rode the bus from home to downtown Portland.

I’m a restless writer, and always start out brainstorming characters and the outline of my story in a spiral notebook. Everything goes in there. The notebook goes everywhere with me, hence the rotating office between the dining room and the living room, and wherever.

When I write the first draft, it too goes in the notebook. From there, I transfer what I’ve written onto into the computer, which is a laptop I can dock in the office if I feel inspired to do so...and so on with the second draft, which is a printed, hard copy revision. I do two final revisions on the computer. I often need a change of scenery, and the laptop lets me get away with that. So, when I say, I working in my office, well...

A Growing Writing Space

My writing spaces have progressed along with my writing career. My first spot was a desk in the corner of the living room. My printer was behind the chair and the cord to the phone ran up the wall and was tacked along the ceiling, through the dining room and over to the phone jack in the kitchen. Then I went the laptop route, with the phone cord laying across the living room floor through dining… you get the picture. It got tripped on a lot.

Once I sold my book, we realized I needed to take my career to the next level. Since we had no room available for an office I did the next best thing— I preempted the dining room. Out went the old table that my children had colored all over. Out went the chairs—they needed a new paint job anyway. And with two busy teens, family dinners had become a thing of the past.

Check out my space:



Not huge, but my printer and fax machine are within arm’s reach and I now have wireless for my laptop. Welcome to the new era! If you look closely, you can see the cover flat of my debut book, Read My Lips. (Out in stores Tuesday!) My husband had it professionally mounted and framed for me.

So my writing space has grown as my career has grown…here’s to hoping it’ll soon grow into an addition with my own office, preferably with wall to wall windows, built in book cases and maybe a little soapstone woodstove in the corner. Maybe a little sink and counter area so I can make coffee… a patio so I write outside on nice days…

To that end, check out the trailer for my debut book!