DEBORAH CROMBIE: I think we've talked about our desks before, but recently I ran across somewhere (a Substack suggestion? Ah, Substack, another post…) Olivia Muenter's Desk Tour substack, She regularly interviews creative people about their desks, real and ideal, and it's such fun to see how people's personalities are expressed in their work spaces. I especially like the ones that show both the tidied version and the regular working day version.
I actually have two desks, one upstairs in my "proper" office, and one downstairs in our sunporch, which is where I prefer to write if it's not too hot or too cold. The porch desk does not get points for practicality. It's an old library table I picked up at a yard sale, and because our porch floor slopes, we had to cut the front legs down to make it level. But! I love looking out into the garden, being able to let the dog and the indoor/outdoor cat out, and being close to the kitchen for easy cups of tea. The upstairs desk faces the wall (only configuration the room allows) so I tend to feel a bit claustrophobic there. It's very cozy, however, for things like our JRW LIVE events, and that's where all the video set up lives.
Here's my porch desk, with the Boston ferns that shed all over it. You can see that every surface is pretty much covered. That's a big art supply box under the scanner, and my vintage portable Smith-Corona beneath the stack of manuscript pages. (Yes, I print my chapters, as much for the feeling of accomplishment it gives me as for the ease in editing.)
And a close up of some of my favorite things: the leather journals, my sparkly pens in the glasses I found at an art fair, and my mug warmer. Oh, and my sheep coaster, a souvenir from Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds.
Tell us about your desks, fellow REDs, including the three favorite things on yours!
RHYS BOWEN: My desk in Arizona which I have just left for the summer is a simple glass and steel structure with a couple of shelves at one end, a white board with my notes and reminders on it, and Eliot, my wooden elephant who gives me advice when I am stuck with my plots (he usually suggests the body is in the trunk)
The best thing about my office in Arizona is the view. I can gaze and feel content as I work. Also it’s upstairs and far away from the rest of the house. A big benefit.
In California I work in a small room with all my research materials around me–shelves of books on New York history, European history, drawers of maps and tourist brochures, all within easy reach. I have various things like Edgar nominations and other achievements on the walls to encourage me. I also have a bigger room that is my media room since Covid, set up like a proper studio. However I choose to work upstairs on the sofa from time to time, which I know is bad for my neck, but it’s also comforting.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m showing you all the raw, unfiltered work space, complete with dust on top of my printer and dead leaves I need to pinch off my plant!
I’ve had this desk forever - it started out as a smaller surface, but Celia’s dear Victor cut me a new top that goes exactly from one side of the rectangular bay window to the other. Plenty of room for me and for my cat Neko, whose lashing tail is covering up my keyboard as I’m typing this! I tend to keep stacks on either end; the left is for Adj. Professor Hugo-Vidal and the right for novelist Julia Spencer-Fleming.
My favorite thing about my workspace is the view - I look out through a lush rhododendron to my front yard. Lots of greenery and daffodils this time of year, but it’s also beautiful in winter, with snow blowing across the road. And of course, so much natural light! I also Zoom from here, so if you come to the next Reds and Readers event, you can see the rest of my office!
HALLIE EPHRON: I love my tiny office. It’s maybe 12’x6’, with windows on 3 sides.
View?? My desk looks out over my neighbors’ driveway, within spitting distance of their living room windows. Squirrels dart across the top of the fence that separates the properties, and forsythia is blooming under the sill.
JENN McKINLAY: I have an office with a window that looks out on my birdfeeders–so fun, especially when the wild lovebirds show up–but I work everywhere, which is a habit I developed when I was chauffeuring Hooligans hither and yon.
The backseat of the minivan was my office when they were at karate, rock band, or whatever. I’m very good at working in busy places like coffee shops or airports. I work standing up at the kitchen counter a lot so I can plot and pace. Speaking of which, a friend recently gave me a treadmill that fits under a standing desk so I can walk and write at the same time. I haven’t tried it yet but I’ll report back! I think ultimately I’m a nomadic writer, if that’s a thing. LOL.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: My office is cluttered, yikes. This is about as cleaned up as it gets. 🙂 The desk itself is semi-circular, what they call a “hunt table.” It’s very old, and is supposed to face the other way, and has a cut out for the person using it so the desk wraps around them. But that configuration does work with a computer.
The bay window looks out over sugar maples, with birds and squirrels constantly at play.
On the desk is a bottle of congratulatory wine from Sue Grafton, and the back of the chair has name tags from all my events for the past 20 years.
The easel used to have a photograph, but now it has signing posters. And underneath are lots of notes.
You can see some of my Emmys on the shelves, and my Agatha teapots. This is very reassuring on bad writing days, seriously. The parts of the room you can't see--are stacks of books. The wall color is called "rhino tusk," which I know is bizarre, but I call it "lion."
LUCY BURDETTE: I'm showing you two desk shots, the first what it really looks like when I'm in the middle of a project, and the second, when straightened up for Zoom:). Tbone will pose on either version.
DEBS: Rhys, we are all envious of your view.
Hank, I find it very interesting that you are probably the most organized and efficient person I know and yet you manage that from a work space that would make me pull my hair out. Hallie's work space, on the other hand, is remarkably clutter free.
Also, Julia and Lucy, I love my cats and I love having them in the room with me when I'm working, but they are absolutely NOT allowed on either desk!
Readers, does your work space reflect your personality?
And do you think our work spaces reflect our personalities--or our books?
It always amazes me that folks seem to think that desks must be neat and tidy yet when you're working you have a tendency to spread out all those notes and papers and things you need to make your books come alive. No matter what your desks look like, I'm just grateful that you all keep writing your wonderful stories for us to read . . . .
ReplyDeletethanks Joan!
DeleteIt's great fun to see all these workspaces. The best thing about my desk is that I can convert it from sitting to standing at the touch of a button. When my writing isn't going well, I walk around the apartment a lot, but when I'm on a roll, I can sit working for hours, and afterward, my back hurts. So I try to remember to alternate once an hour between sitting and standing, which is very effective.
ReplyDeletethat sounds like the best desk!
DeleteIt is interesting to see your workspaces and to imagine you in them plotting away.
ReplyDeleteMy laptop currently adorns the nightstand next to my bed. I haven’t figured out if I want a desk, what type of desk, and where it would go. We have a computer desk which my husband occupies in the great room. Its location was a bone of contention. It has been in three different spots because I don’t even want it in that room, but I lost that battle. I uncovered a need for feng shui moving into a new place.
I get that Brenda! When he first retired, my hub began to spread all his junk across the dining room table. I had to nip that in the bud...
DeleteI love these. But Lucy, you have a RADIO instead of a computer? (Scratching my head...)
ReplyDeleteI like to plan ahead (which I suppose means I don't live in the moment), and my calendar and white board and short story Sub-and-Pub list (submissions, acceptances, rejections, and pub dates), all of which I face at my desk, reflect that. But the bank of windows overlooking the road correspond to my being a voyeur, as all authors are (aren't we?), and the standing desk lets me pace and move my body as I work. The slightly messy piles on either side are who I am, too, plus all the books.
haha Edith, I have a laptop of course, but it's buried under all those papers:). I think I wish I had a white board, but I don't really have any place to put it! Do you have only the standing desk, or a regular seat as well?
DeleteAha! I have only the standing desk. It lowers if needed, but I no longer have an office chair. I do have a lovely small upholstered rocker (that was my grandfather's and my mother's) in the room where I sometimes sit and brainstorm with pen and paper.
Delete