As I prepare a presentation for young readers and writers, I’m taking stock of my 'office'. Here’s a rough sketch. I like to refer my writing space with Virginia Woolf’s words, ‘a room of own’s own.’ It’s my happy place where I’m surrounded by books, maps, plants, rocks and photos. The room has plenty of natural light with a French door leading out to a garden. During the long winter, the garden turns white like a blank screen or an empty page. But in the summer, it turns green with growth.
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| sleeping garden featuring my pride and joy ... a linden tree |
Inside my room, the bulletin board hosts a scramble of notes … some might call it clutter … I call it my compost pile. Those bits and pieces are the raw materials for growing stories. Obits, postcards, lines of poetry, stickers, reminders, quotes, writing rules that I want to follow, etc. …
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| indoor compost board |
On my shelves, I have one wall devoted to history for my German side and on the other wall, the focus is on Soviet era research ... reflecting the two huge influences of my family's history and my stories.
I also have a shelf devoted to writing craft books that guide and support me on this lifelong journey.
In between the two walls, I have a shelves filled with the wonderful books by writer friends. It’s always growing because my friends have had incredible success and because my friendship circle grows bigger all the time.
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| books as portals to other times and places |
Scattered amongst the books, like garden art, I have stones, photos, candles and random artifacts that feed my imagination. And ... in a small corner ... I have my own little stack of published novels. Pinch me!
Cicero said, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." I totally agree!
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