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Ha
ha! I knew the title would get you reading. Well, where do
you do it? Write. Where do you write? Now, don't collapse
on me. This is not going to be one of those articles on Feng
Shuing your workspace. I think it has merits. My neighbor
does Feng Shui, but when she stepped into my office she cursed
like a Pittsburgh steel worker, shook her head and left. I
guess my workspace was a little too "Western Hemisphere" for
her. But it's mine and I write there. I write there a lot
because I like being there.
Do you have the
same sanctuary? Mine is in the basement of our fifties contemporary,
in the far corner, a little room all to myself. I have lots
of bookshelves with research books, romances, other works
of fiction, my vintage postcard collection, and toys. Don't
knock toys. I use a small collection of action figures as
characters in my book when I need to know where they're sitting
at a table, poised for battle, or walking through the forest.
John Smith (Disney) usually plays my hero, Sleeping Beauty
(again Disney) is my heroine, and a chicken from Chicken Run
or a purple Pokemon is my villain. My seven-year-old son takes
these toys from time to time. He knows I have too much fun
back here!
In my office I
have a TV and VCR (currently vying for my own DVD), because
I might want to put a travelogue tape on mute to get inspired
for my setting. Ah, the rolling emerald hills and whispering
pines... I also have a CD boombox, because as we all know
music is great for motivation, mood, and dancing or singing
badly when you get stuck in a scene. My current faves are
the Proclaimer's recent offering, the soundtrack from Plunkett
and MacLeane, anything by Barenaked Ladies, and "The Best
of Tom Jones" for those special moments, hmmm...sigh....
My walls are decorated
with a patchwork of movie posters (Braveheart, Rob Roy, Trainspotting,
and one large English subway poster of Joseph Fiennes from
Elizabeth with the caption "lover" above his fetching countenance).
I also have a huge Ordnance Survey map of Scotland behind
my chair. My husband, bless him, doesn't feel threatened (by
Joseph, not the map of Scotland). He knows that I need these
things to create, and one day after I've sold a million books
(I'd really like to start with one book at this point), he
hopes to retire early, do some salt water fishing, and eat
White Castle burgers until he bursts.
Well, that's the
ten-cent tour. I asked my Board at our first meeting where
they did it, and I received some interesting answers. One
of them said she uses the couch in her living room. I'm still
talking about writing here. She likes to know what's going
on in her house, and is not bothered by distractions, so she
sits with her laptop and writes away on her big comfy couch.
Another has a fairly new residence, and she claimed the front
room with glass French doors on the first floor. The fact
that she has yet to cover those doors with a fashionable fabric
has not deterred her from plowing out the books, although
she has become expert at ignoring the kids tapping on the
glass. Another board member shares a corner of her basement
with her husband. She has her book covers framed as proud
inspiration on the wall over her computer. She writes between
dryer cycles and late at night when she needs quiet for those
special parts of her books requiring concentration, although
I wonder if hubby is close at hand on the other side of the
basement.
These examples
are all fine and dandy, but they're just that: examples. You
need to be comfortable where you work. One of my favorite
shows is The Learning Channel's "Trading Spaces". Two couples
with an interior designer trade houses and redecorate a room
in their neighbor's house. If I walked into my house to find
an orange living room (which must be a big deal with designers
these days) I would cuss like a Pittsburgh steelworker. Most
of the couples are polite and in their shocked state utter
nothing more creative than an "oh, my Gawd!". I want my workspace
the way I like it, and that means it doesn't have to be tasteful
to be inspirational.
Your workspace
is just that, your's. Make it your Fortress of Solitude, your
Cone of Silence, or your Studio 54. Whatever it takes to get
you working. I would certainly hate to think that you're depriving
the reading world of that fantastic romance because you haven't
consulted the Feng Shui master.
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