Me, the Brick Wall, and My Computer

This is  another entry the Mystery Writer Blog Tours Ink.

This article is the third entry in a rolling blog tour on the topic of writer’s cave. The details on all the participants in today’s tour are at the bottom of this post, as well as a link to their websites.

The topic of  “writer’s cave” resonated with me because sometimes my tiny space of an office does remind me of a cave. But it’s been years in getting here. Finally, a half of a room to call my own.

For years, my desk sat in the dining room, then the living room, then back again. I  dreamed of my own quiet space to think and write. My husband and I decided to make our small sun room into a more livable room in which half would be his office space and half would be mine. This mean getting heat piped into the room, painting the walls, and adding the flooring. Now I can hardly remember it any other way.

Because of the way in which the room is situated, my computer screen faces the wall, which means the windows are behind me. The blinds are always down—otherwise the glare on my screen would bother my eyes. So, I face a brick wall that used to be the outer wall of my house. I sometimes turn around in my chair to glimpse the sky or my garden through the blinds. But mostly, it’s me, the brick wall and my computer. It’s worked out well—very few distractions, except the occasional song that will pull me away. But usually music inspires me, rather than distracts me.  I keep my computer playing Pandora music all day long. (If you don’t know Pandora, it’s an internet radio station. You should check it out.)

Several book cases line other parts of my walls, of course, and stacks of the magazines I’ve been published in or that I use for classes that I sometimes teach.

I like my space. But it is a work in progress. It’s messy—and to the untrained eye, a bit disorganized. but I know where everything is and how to get my hands on what I need. I think of it as a luxury, this tiny space of mine. Maybe some wouldn’t.

I don’t yet have a laptop so most of my writing takes place in this space, everyday, in front of my screen and my brick wall. But, as a young writer and editor I worked in open office in which I had to zone out all of the other noisy office activity. Perfect training ground for a young writer. Because, as I wrote earlier, it’s taken me years to get here. I’ve written everywhere you can imagine. On buses, trains, planes, beaches, at swimming pools, at lunch tables in schools and offices, and my favorite place was my bed, spread out on my stomach with a notebook in front of me. Now, just the thought of that hurts my back.

What’s your space like? What are some of your favorite places to write? Check out what the other Rolling Blog Tour Writers have to say about their writer’s cave.

The next stop on our roll today is:

Kathleen Kaska www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com

KT Wagner http://www.northernlightsgothic.com/blog

Ryder Islington http://ryderislington.wordpress.com/

I hope you have time today, or this week to visit all of these blogs and enjoy the articles on The Writer’s Cave.