My cave isn't a cave at all; it's a lovely, light spare bedroom, complete with a sleeper sofa for extra overnight guests. It's also the only room we moved intact from Minnesota to California. I majored in Art History, with a minor concentration in Asian Art, so I chose an Asian theme for my work space. I have a fabulous dragon rug on the floor, an antique Japanese kimono on one wall, and a statue of a Chinese scholar at work atop one bookcase.
Here's my desk with my daughter's college graduation photo, my kitty-of-the-day calendar, and a lovely garden-of-the-day book that was a Christmas present from my sister.
My main bookcase holds my writing reference books, copies of my own books, some of my "keepers", and some essential stuffed animals (gifts from OG and my daughter). On top are two commemorative plates of the covers of my first two books. They were Secret Santa gifts from one of sales guys at my old office. His wife worked in a gift shop that sold custom plates, and he secretly downloaded my covers from my website and had them specially made. I was incredibly touched. How many men would think of something like that?
Books can be written anywhere. Danielle Steel wrote her first books either at the dining room table or on top of the washing machine. However, I'm happy and blessed to have such a lovely place to write. Now if only I had the self-discipline to match. . .
Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com
22 comments:
Beautiful room, Alison! Can you say THRILLED! Sorry, my reaction to seeing my books in your case. LOL I write on one end of the dining room table in our open living area. Yes, we have an office upstairs, but this is closer to the washing machine, the dirty dishes in the kitchen, the kids who want something from mom, etc. etc. I can squeeze in writing around the edges of real life when closing myself off from it doesn't seem to work! Oh, love those plates!
What a lovely room for writing! The plates showing off your book covers, are so clever...and what a nice gift. I see out a window when I write, which may be a distraction...oh look, there's the bunny, now! Sigh. We're all proof that we write best surrounded by things we love.
That is a beautiful office. Must be very inspiring. Love the plush couch. Though I have an official office with bookcases, file cabinets and the like, the actual writing I do takes place in the living room, family room, car. (I'll also have to do a little picking up and dusting before I can show off mine. LOL)
Jannine, of COURSE your books are on my shelf! I'm almost as proud of them as you are. LOL.
Rolynn, I have a big window to my right with a view of my front garden, bird feeder, and bird bath. There's always plenty of activity to distract me.
Margo, I've never been able to work well with distraction. Even in college, I shut myself in my room to write all my papers. I couldn't even work in the library.
Wow, your space is super neat. My space is filled with piles of papers and notebooks, a bookcase overflowing with research books, post-it notes and whiteboards, stacks of red and white boxes from Staples, an overstuffed file drawer, two printers, two monitors, my desktop, the freezer, the dog dish, my vacuum cleaner and a rack of coats. Organized chaos. But I have three windows and an awesome view.
Kathy, yours sounds like the space of a real working writer!
A wonderful space. I'm right there with you on the self-discipline. The older I get, the less I got! :-)
I couldn't resist. It's so neat and clean, and pretty and colorful. Oh, I wish I had a writing cave. I have a corner in our master bedroom. My husband has one bedroom for his "office"--and I could use the third bedroom...but it's on the other side of the house. Why is this bad? Because the laundry room, kitchen, our bathroom with my make-up area, and extra tv are on this side. I often tend to some chore inbetween writing.
I love seeing other people's writing spaces! I have a wonderful writing space too, but didn't for many years.
Lovely room. Looks comfy. :)
Liz, I think we used up a lot of our self-discipline getting up and going to work all those years. Now I only feel a little guilty about playing hookey.
Celia, sometimes those chores are a good excuse to get up and move around!
Susabelle, thanks for stopping by! Like you, it took me several years to work up to a nice, dedicated writing space.
Thanks, Angelina. It is comfy!
Fantastic cave, Alison! I have an office, but right now it's over-crammed with my son's stuff and a futon we can't seem to fold back up into itself. :-) I'm camping out at the dining room table, like Jannine. (We haven't eaten on it since Thanksgiving.) :-) Enjoy!
Your writing "cave" is a lot neater than mine. However, I do look out on a lovely lake from my writer's loft. A distraction? You bet. Nice post.
Leah, one day you'll reclaim your office. In the meantime, you're in good company at the dining room table.
Susan, I've got a great view, too. My only saving grace is that it's not right in front of my desk. I don't get nearly enough done as it is.
What a lovely room. I didn't know about Danielle Steele writing on top of the washer. That's where I did my homework in h.s. Only quiet place in the house.
I always enjoy seeing where other authors work. Thanks. I feel very spoiled by my office, which we remodeled five years ago. But it's so messy right now I'd be horrified to share pictures!
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