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 what I'm looking at when we're zooming. There are lots of reference books and London photos!
Viewers only see the little bookcase next to the stained glass bathroom door.
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!
DeleteThank you, 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!
DeleteYes, that sounds very cool, Kim. Have you always had that set-up?
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...
DeleteHaha...I totally understand that. My better half likes to fill every available draw space up with scraps of paper, expired sales receipts, pens and miscellaneous junk and even though he has carved out a generous amount of space in the basement for his office and photography equipment he has somehow managed to expand that part of his life into our library/media room filling the spare closet with tripods, various lenses for his cameras and paperwork as well spreading spare laptops and photography magazines on furniture meant to used for seating. That's a battle that I think I am winning at times but there's never been a formal peace treaty. :-)
DeleteWhen we downsized to our condo 7 months ago, we shifted into a pattern I find odd, yet somehow it works for us. Both of us routinely work sitting at the dining table. It doesn't get completely overtaken by junk, but sometimes one end of the table does become a repository for short periods. We just move our laptops away from our eating spaces at the end of the day and voila, we have a dining room.
DeleteWe do have one desk, located in our office -- it's the one that had been in my previous office -- and mostly, it only gets used when one of us is doing a Zoom call, including our weekly Zoom with our son in Japan, as having one of us in there with the door closed tends to limit the weird feedback loop of two of us being heard on each other's sound.
Oh Lucy our dining table is completely covered with base ball making materials and balls in various stages of completion. I hope they are going to be finished and soon shipped out to the 19th Century teams who have ordered them.
DeleteMy husband and I started out in this house sharing an office. I had really nice custom furniture on one side, with filing cabinets and a computer space. He had his doctor father's desk on the other. Oh, we had bookcases made, too! Alas, he generates mess and projects, so when our daughter moved out, I took over her bedroom as my office, but I had a little rolling table that I used with my laptop in the sunporch. On nice days I'd pull it and my writing chair outside. Then one day I spotted the library table at a yard sale and the rest is history. Everything in the original office is now so covered with Rick's stuff that there is only a little pathway through the room and I can't even get to those filing cabinets. Thank goodness we have so much less paper than we used to.
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.
DeleteEdith, I think I spend too much time staring out the windows when I'm thinking to use a standing desk, lol. Seriously, the little rolling table I mentioned above will convert to standing, and I've used it that way when my back was unhappy with sitting.
DeleteOMG, sensitive topic around here! Oy. Irwin and I share a desk and a computer and he mostly uses my email which causes confusion with vendors and doctors and some airlines. The space we use is as messy as imaginable. We argue over my clutter. I have taken over our dining room with my mail and my brother's papers and boxes of photographs that no one will really want to have to remember him by. It is out of hand! Every week I promise myself that I will address the mess in our dining room. Every time, something will take my attention away from the growing task. So, storage is no longer the solution. I can't put anything else in drawers or closets or cabinets. It's high time to call trash "Trash" and clean up. Lastly, I must stay out of the local library and read my personal TBR stack, write those reviews and give those books away. The stack of books in my living room is also growing and I will be mailing many of them to my friend in Florida when I have filled a box.
ReplyDeleteOh so you're the messy one Judy!:) Tackling the dining room table will feel so good--once it's finished. I like your mantra--trash is trash...
DeleteJudy, I had the same problem with boxes and boxes (and boxes and boxes and more boxes ugh!) of family memorabilia. After gawd knows how many years of attempting to take care of it and finding I had more pressing matters, like washing the dishes, or going out for coffee - I finally decided to hire a professional organizer. It was the best money I've ever spent.
DeleteJudy, if I had to share a desk, much less a computer--arghhh!--with Rick, we'd kill each other in a day. I admire your fortitude but think you should have your own computer and email!
DeleteAnd what a great suggestion from anon on the professional organizer!
Thanks Debs. The peace of mind that I don't constantly have that on my to do list anymore is a great feeling.
DeleteI write at the kitchen table, able to swivel around in my new desk chair to let the poodles in and out the deck door. I'm emptying and repurposing the small bedroom for zoom calls, books, and work in progress charts and notes. And in May, I'll be able to work on the screened porch in the embrace of a river birch tree and bird activity.
ReplyDeleteI will work on our deck in spring and early summer mornings, but I'm very distracted by the birds. I just want to watch them and admire the flowers.
DeleteI love seeing these pictures of where the magic happens! I will try to hold them in my head as I read your next books. Thank you for letting us peek into your 'labs.' A few years ago I saw the ocean view outside the window where Barbara O'Neal writes. I doubt I would get anything done with such wonderful sights in front of me. I would want to spend all day enjoying the scenery in front of me!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know Barbara O'Neal has an ocean view! But I think I would do nothing but watch the waves and the sea birds.
DeleteFun to see everyone's writing desks. I have had an office in every space I've ever had as an adult. Even if it was a closet, I am the family CFO, CEO, and keeper of lists and files; my writing and teaching selves added their own copious paperwork; and I needed a space with a door that closed. (I also kept an extra set of hearing protectors on a peg on the back of each door, to wear to muffle family noise.) When I built this farmhouse, I designated an 8'x12' north-facing area on the first floor near the kitchen as this space. In this relatively small room I have floor to ceiling bookshelves behind me and desk and five filing cabinets before me. (Last year I added a 18"x48" birch top to a rolling table to squeeze in behind me, to lay heavy reference volumes open while I'm working. This means I have to be careful turning in my chair.) My actual desk is a heavy birch door on top of low filing cabinets facing the window. The window looks out on the wrap-around front porch and beyond it, the north pasture and an old apple tree. I have looked up from my work to see deer, coyotes, birds of all kinds, and once even a young bear. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteYou are so resourceful, Selden, and I would love your view.
DeleteWhen we lived just outside the city of Boston my "office" was a small space carved out of a corner of the front second floor porch of our two-family house. It was one of those odd architectural set-ups that was not uncommon in these homes that were built in the 1920's where the third living room window did not look outside to the street below but instead into the second floor porch. An outside window that became an inside window because of the house design...very odd as it was designed that way when it was originally built. We had a finished carpenter turn that window into an open bookshelf; the books could then be seen from either the living room side or the office side. The "best" side of the books were seen from the office/porch area so I could easily identify and retrieve what I needed and their open sides were camouflaged by a wood shutter with its slats left partially open on the living room side. It was not ideal but it was functional and the window was large enough that it had three generous size shelves for my books. A miniature library. :-) The window, however, caused that side of the indoor porch to take on an odd diagonal shape and so the carpenter then had to construct a built- in desk top to fit that space. The left side was useless because of the diagonal cut but the right side was flush to a porch wall so I could easily put a small wooden file cabinet under the desk top. But there was never enough space to file everything so a spare room closet became my storage area and I always felt disorganized. However my little office space was surrounded by porch windows that looked out over neighboring rooftops to the park at the end of the street which was lovely. When we moved to our present south shore condo my office space became even smaller consisting of a tiny Ethan Allen writing desk that was a beautiful design but had only one top draw in the middle of it to hold office accessories such as pens, scissors and letter opener, etc. Once again filing space was at a minimum and this little desk had to fit into a corner of the kitchen that was barely 48" across and 36" deep. An open space with 3 small walls and alas...no windows and it could not be hidden by closing a door. So I knew I had to keep it neat all the time but how to organize it to be also functional was a head scratcher. It meant using the wall space of which now has a magnetic stainless steel reference board in front of me, a white board for our monthly calendar appointments to the right of me and wall files to the left of me. I "warmed" up the space by ordering the desk in a soft yellow, a sweet little Vietri desk lamp in the same color and my favorite Wrendale "hare brained" illustration of a frazzled rabbit framed above the white board. Thanks to Levenger's cubi modular wood desk organizers I was also able to build what I call a desk within a desk and organize everything as needed to keep myself and our household functional. Two modular wood cubes with the shelves tipped sideways became a bookcase to hold my calendar desk diaries , cookbooks and reference books, another modular organizer placed on top of the cubes holds items to be filed, address book, a journal and a few current magazines and two storage units on wheels fit neatly under the desk. Filing is still a bit of a challenge but with so many paperless systems in place it is at a minimum. Plus the modular units in cherry match our kitchen cabinets and drawers. It took me 45 years to finally fully organize myself but better late than never and now I love my little corner "office". :-)
ReplyDeleteEvelyn, I wish Blogger allowed commenters to post photos! I'd love to see your little office! You are more organized than I will ever be. And doesn't Levenger have some amazing things? They also make some of my favorite inks.
DeleteDeborah ~ I especially love your porch office. It has such warmth to it and invites you in with its beautiful ferns, lovely porch windows and a comfy couch. And au contraire :-) you underestimate yourself in terms of being organized. Whether in the formal or informal spaces it appears you can get your hands on everything you need. You are also seem to be a creature of comfort and sentimentality which I love ~ the coffee mug and coaster are proof of that. The sparkly pens ~ a sure sign of creativity and fun and oh boy...I covet that Smith-Corona typewriter! The nostalgic sound of those keys ~ click-e-ty clack, click-e-ty clack and the "zipping" sound of the carriage return. I'm a tad jealous...but in a good way. I bet you have some lovely memories attached to that portable typewriter! And truth be told I was forced to become organized because of limited space and after ten years of living in this location I am finally sorting, purging and trying to address my "to do" projects; namely, reorganizing the master closet, donating clothes still in their moving company cardboard closets (!) in the basement and restructuring a mish mash of gardening tools, planters and seasonal decor that is now taking up a third of our garage space. Still a lot to do as I am, at the tender age of 75, finally realizing that I have collected way too much "stuff." And Yes, I agree that Levenger has some wonderful and creative office items. I miss their Copley Place store in Boston; it was a great place to browse. They are also super fast in responding to online orders, pack their items carefully and ship out pronto. I built up my desk within a desk within 2 weeks time ordering on 3 different occasions. I still have my Levenger tape and stamp dispensers from 20 years ago which still look brand new. I am definitely a fan.
DeleteI have tried and tried again over the years to de-clutter my desk and office. I swear, in ten minutes, it's a mess again. I hope it's not a reflection of the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, Kensi has no interest in being on my desk, which is good. Because there is no training her to stay off of something when she's determined to claim it.
I'd say that clutter must be your creative happy space, Annette!
DeleteApparently, Debs!
DeleteIt's great to see all the work areas and imagine you each crafting your wonderful books. My old desk top Mac is on my childhood desk (the style and vintage could be called '60s cheap) next to a dining room window. My view is the neighbor's driveway and house. When I Zoom, my background is my dining room table, which is easy to keep tidy. When I work on projects, there are usually piles of stuff on the table and around my computer.
ReplyDelete"60s cheap!" I love that and can see it perfectly. And I will admit to having piles of notebooks and papers on the floor when I am really deep into a book...
DeleteBeing retired for 9 years now, I really don't have an office desk at home.
ReplyDeleteI usually type my JRW comments with my Samsung tablet while sitting on the living room couch.
The laptop takes up a small portion of the dining room table.
One reason I don't like spending much time there is that I face the wall/cookbook bookcase. My back is to the windows. That is the only setup that works and I don't like it.
Q for RHYS: How did you write/work in your AZ office when all your reference material is in CA?
I'm glad typing on the tablet works for you, Grace! Does your living room couch face your balcony?
DeleteYES, the couch faces the balcony. Rare blue sky day today.
DeleteSo many things – first Debs – I have no idea how your chapters can be just sitting what looks like loose on top of the Smith-corona and have not been cat-skidded, thus given you a chance to spend some language as you play 52-pick-up.
ReplyDeleteRhys, where is space for your daughter, and how do you access the library in California when you are in Arizona?
Interesting at how many of us have cats on our desks!
My desk was specially created to be situated on the half-wall of the dining room overlooking the living room to the tv, and able to talk with the people sitting there – usually only Jack who is reading a paper and not listening. It also faces on the right to the kitchen, should a kitchen event be required. The desk itself has a printer to the left, which is cluttered with recipes that I may make ‘soon’. Soon, right now means that they need to be sorted through and decided to either make, or ignore. Seed packets are everywhere! There is a camera too close to falling off from which I downloaded a picture of a frog. The main area, in a state of jumbo includes a blood pressure thingy, a large monitor, seed packets, tax bill, strips for my glucose meter, meter, rubber rings to install the hoses, a movie from the library, scissors, old receipts to file, a spool of thread and a clothespin. Of course, a keyboard and a mouse and a mouse pad. Yes, I know where everything is! The drawer to the left is filled not with pencils but with cat kibble, so there is usually a cat having a snack as well. They tend to flick bits so there may be cat crumbs everywhere. We will not even discuss the top of the dining room table (more seed packets)…
Margo. My daughter works from her office. We rarely write in the same space. We will talk the book ahead, she will write then I will tweak or the other way around. She does the research for those books. Usually in Arizona I’m working on a stand alone. Either I’ve done the major research ( visiting the setting. Going to the library there etc) or I bring books with me
DeleteAre the seeds waiting to go in the ground when it's warm enough, Margo?
DeleteSome are - won't plant outdoors for another month. Some are pre-seeds that so far have not been sown. I suspect that this growing season, I will be spending more money on less 'unique' varieties from the garden center. Life has just been too hectic. As every gardener always says - there is always next year. Meanwhile we have just discovered a lot of carefully planted small daffodils coming up at the rock face. About 4" tall, and perfect! Obviously I bought them and planted them last fall - and didn't make any notes!
DeleteI am reminded of my desk when I was an operations assistant at a petroleum terminal. It seemed as if I was the keeper of any paper they couldn't find a place for. I developed a very detailed filing system and was recognized as having a mastery of organization within the corporation. There weren't very many of us. That being said, my office always looked like it was a disaster in the making. I may be a master of organization but that doesn't mean I enjoy filing. There would be piles all over my desk awaiting filing. It looked grossly unorganized, but I could tell you which pile and how far down in the pile, the item you needed was located. Made folks crazy, but they loved the system so much they dealt with my "messy" office. -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteFun to see everyone’s writing desk. I use a lap desk, which I got while at university. I wrote my homework with paper and pencil/pen. Now I write ✍🏻 on index cards while researching history. If I’m writing on my laptop 💻 then I use the dining table.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone write ✍🏻 on their lap desk like Jane Austen did? She had a portable desk, which was like a lap desk.
When I was recovering from my back surgery, Paula Munier sent me a lap desk, which was a godsend. Not that I'm back sitting in my office chair (yay, foam cushion!) I've moved the lap desk upstairs to the bedroom. I often make notes on the day's work before I go to sleep and the lap desk is great for that.
DeleteLove that Paula Munier gave you a lap desk. I am currently reading her novel from the library. Thank you for sharing your lap desk story.
DeleteMy desk is currently in a corner of the living room, near the front window and with a view out the patio doors into the backyard. Right now it is exceptionally tidy, but piles have a way of growing. Notes for the novella I'm writing are confined to one pile, notes for all the other projects are out of sight in a notebook. There is usually anywhere from 1-3 cats vying for space and attention, even though the living room offers multiple prime snoozing spots.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, all of your desks/workspaces reflect your creativity--whatever fuels that, I say just keep doing it, because it is working!!
Thank you, Flora! And I love that so many of us share our workspaces with cats!
DeleteWow how fun to see everyone's desks. I am more like Jenn, even though I am not a professional writer. I set up in all different places like my husband's desk upstairs where we have a desk top computer. Or I might join him at the dining room table where he has two computers and tons of law book in a temporary bookcase - I take the other end. Or maybe the sofa...
ReplyDeleteWe do manage to keep all the papers (or I should say I DO!) in order. We also will pack up everything when we have family over for dinners - and store the stuff in the dining room closet used for such a purpose. So it works out well. I can't stand clutter and I try to keep things organized. But my husband who has clutter everywhere also knows where every single scrap of paper is and can find it in a flash.
I love the beautiful "objects" all around and on your desk Debs ESPECIALLY the sheep mug you got from England! So cute and I love seeing the fields filled with sheep in England.
Anon, I have a card with sheep painted by the same artist that I keep between the ink bottles and the books on the porch desk. They make me smile every day. That particular mug has VW buses on it and I picked it up for 3 pounds at the hardware store at Notting Hill Gate. I use it because it holds the most tea:-)
DeleteFor the first time ever, I have a personal designated-for-me office complete with built-in bookcases. Nothing fancey. Also windows on two walls, but my back is to one of them. My desk is an Amish built rolltop desk that has followed me from Ohio to Minnesota to Texas to Virginia. It is a beast! It is also always junked up, but that is how I ride.
ReplyDeleteBut at least you can pull down the roll top when needed, Pat!
DeleteI went back and added a photo of my upstairs desk to the blog, so that everyone could see where I am when we do our LIVE events!
ReplyDeleteI think your desks do reflect personality and I am not the least surprised that Hank's is so cluttered. You can be organized AND have stuff everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI used to keep my desk - which is custom-built by a friend, no drawers but high, sturdy, and plenty of space - in our sunroom. But at The Cottage (which we have named Cloudview), I'm in the second bedroom. That's where the day-job happens, as well as any Sisters in Crime webinars I have to host. I have my laptop, two monitors, my Marvin the Martian mug with my pens and a variety of critters I've picked up (Sherman the sloth, who is a microwavable heating buddy; a little dinosaur The Boy made with a 3-D printer in high school; my collection from Misty Simon, which expanded over the weekend with Machete Yeti the muse for editing; and a wooden bookmark with a quote from Raymond Chandler: "If in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns."
Yet the creative writing tends to happen at the kitchen island - near the microwave, the fridge, and the stove for tea. Since The Hubby is gone most of the day, it's fairly quiet.
Oh, also on the work desk are things like the checkbook, stamps, and my Ember mug and coaster/charge plate.
DeleteLucy you didn't mention a desk or work space at your Key West home. So I wondered if you write when you're there, because you mention the many things you are engaged with that I assume take up a great deal of time like the library, writing a local cookbook with a women's group, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo fun to see where the magic happens for all of you!
ReplyDeleteNot to worry about clutter. The artist Charley Harper was a friend of the family, and he once told Steve that his incredibly disorganized-looking studio was where he got his creativity, that he was always discovering accidental flashes of inspiration from the chaos. That's either genius or the most creative excuse for being messy ever.
When Steve's aunt was moving to a nursing home she invited us to take any of her furniture and other belongings we wanted. I chose her gorgeous, but badly misused Stickley Mission-style desk with bookshelves on either side. It's not very big, and I had to really put some elbow grease into cleaning it up and taking the wheels off to make it work for writing/computer height, but I love the dark oak and clean, graceful lines. There's still one burn mark from someone's cigarette on the top, but my keyboard covers it.
There's only room for my big desktop computer/monitor on a riser, with paperclips and stuff beneath, a bin thing with compartments for pens, scissors, rulers, etc., and two filing systems. I try to keep the to-do pile to a single stack, and file things around once a month. The only cutesy thing is my quilted mug mat, a hostess gift from a friend.
I'm lucky to have a study to myself, and Steve has his own space far, far away. We are totally incompatible when it comes to working. I'm intermittently tidy, and he is a dedicated Pigpen slob with piles on the floor, and every other surface, plus he plays music all day, which is too distracting for me. Some married friends have a shared office space I am completely astonished at: Their desks face each other, and they both actually get work done. What sort of sorcery is that??
Ha, Karen, I so agree!
DeleteIf anyone wants to share photos of their desks, I've posted the blog link in our Reds & Readers FB group and you can add photos in the comments there!
ReplyDeleteI think those of us who have a lot of mind clutter, like me, need a more cleared away and organized space in order to work, whereas someone like Hank who has a very organized mind, can freely create amongst a lot of stuff. BTW, Hank sent me down the rabbit hole looking at "hunt tables." Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteOh, and Debs, it's not quite that I allow the cat to work with me, it's more that it's less disruptive than tossing her off 570 times before she gets the message to leave me alone...
ReplyDeleteWe just baby-sat a kitten for a week. She learned to fly...and like a boomerang came back!
DeleteAll the tongue-in-cheek cat comments are making me smile especially the use of the word "cat-skidded". I laughed out loud at that one. Makes me wish our two orange tabby cats were still with us. They filled our home with spunk and personality and gave us more than our share of their silly antics.
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