Yesterday, the nice folks at Readers' Entertainment ran a feature on my office/laundry room. It was the cleanest this room has ever been, including the day we moved in. Usually there are piles o'stuff in here -- general laundry, clothes that need mending, papers that need filing, bags for Goodwill, and many, many, MANY empty coffee mugs. It's so clean in here, in fact, that the combination of white walls + white cabinetry/counters + white blinds + snow outside is making me feel like I'm in an operating room.
Don't worry. I give it another three days before it's a complete disaster area again.
Before that happens, I thought you might like to see some of the shots that didn't make it into yesterday's post. As I mentioned, our old place was miniscule, and finding space to write was challenging. When we started looking at houses, our realtor was adamant that I needed something -- a room, a niche, even a decent-sized closet -- that could function as my office. I liked the idea, but it seemed impossible and a little selfish to demand that kind of space for myself. But every time I said, "It's okay. I can write in the living room/our bedroom/the dining room table," Paul The Realtor insisted we keep looking. And then we found this house, and took one look at the giant laundry room with its counters and its big windows, and he said, "You can write here. No one will bother you. This is the house for you. Buy it."
He had hated every single house we'd looked at. Paul The Realtor was a hard man to please. We bought the house.
When I think back on it, I'm a little bit blown away at how determined he was to find us the perfect home. He wouldn't settle -- and he wouldn't let ME settle -- for something that didn't fit the life we had and the life we were hoping to have. Which makes him, in my book, the World's Finest Realtor. It is a wonderful thing when the people you love believe in you. It is no less wondrous when people who barely know you do the same.
So. Let us move on to proof that I will never be a lifestyle blogger.
Yesterday you saw the sign my oldest daughter made, but it was pretty small and the glare was fierce. Here's a closeup.
Yes, she did spell my name wrong. Yes, it's her last name too. And yes, it was TORN, not TANGLED, that won the GH. But I still melt every time I see it. She wore her favorite metallic gold colored pencil down to a nub coloring those hearts. One of these days, I'll have it framed.
My mom and dad gave me the old manual Olympia typewriter, which doesn't work but looks cool. Every book gets its own box for all my hard-copy versions -- that box is for BOUND. The blue box on the very end holds notes for future projects.
I have a nice deep ledge running along this wall. From left to right:
:: Fingerless mitts, because it is COLD in my office.
:: One of my favorite mugs -- the image was wearing off, so I repurposed it to hold writing utensils.
:: A sweet olive-scented candle from the French Market in New Orleans. My favorite. (Sweet olive shows up in TANGLED, by the way.)
:: Honeydukes candy jar, from Harry Potter World. Time for a refill!
Until I manage to hang some shelves in here, the ledge also holds my essential books. The rest are in my bedroom or living room.
:: Baby name books, to name characters and to freak out my husband.
:: TORN and TANGLED, so I can check continuity details while I'm writing.
:: Travel guides for fun and research.
:: Craft and reference books.
Told you it was a laundry room! We have three girls. Hence, a LOT of pink laundry. You also see the corner of my whiteboard. I don't use it as much as I should -- I prefer to outline in a big sketchbook or using the notecard function in Scrivener. But it's there if needed, which is nice.
More desk essentials:
Hair elastic, spare flash drive, Swiss Army knife, and a pretty blue stone I play with when I'm stumped about a plot point. Usually there's a mug of cold coffee over here, and some wadded up kleenexes, and a candy wrapper or twelve, and some post-it notes that say things like "TIMELINE" and "Check timeline" and "JESUS. TIMELINE." And hand lotion. Where did my hand lotion go???
Anyway. On to the giveaway!
This is the room where TANGLED was written, and I'm curious: where do you work? Whether it's writing/drawing/household management/your favorite hobby, where is the place you go when you need to focus and Get Stuff Done? Answer below, and you'll be entered into a drawing for both TORN AND TANGLED! Contest will close on Sunday at 9 CST; I'll post the winners Monday morning.
And...if you're so inclined, take a picture of your space, post it somewhere (blog, tumblr, twitter, FB, wherever) and link to it in your comments. I'll post a roundup when I announce the winner. (It doesn't earn you an extra entry, or anything like that. I just like to peek inside people's houses. Legally.)
