Wenches at Work

Writers are lucky. We get to work at home, which generally requires a room or a space set aside for the writing to be done, a space that allows for a desk, a chair, a computer, printer, shelves of books, tons of papers... and most importantly, a degree of privacy and comfort. Especially comfort, for if there's one thing about being a full-time writer working at home -- many, many hours per week are going to be spent in that office. So creating a work space that works on all levels is something the Wenches take very seriously. Desks, chairs, libraries, organization, feng shui and decor, all carefully arranged...

Until we get to work: papers, books, the natural debris that comes with research, brainstorming, notes, writing and revising takes over. Our office spaces can get buried under the chaos of creativity. We make no apologies for the state of our offices. If desk surfaces and floors are not always visible, books pile up on tables, if little things disappear under the avalanche, then so be it. The book is the important thing!

We invite you to virtually visit our offices, and see where some of your favorite books have been written, and where current books are being worked on right now... here's a glimpse into our work spaces, with comments from each Wench...

Anne Gracie

 I'm being extremely brave here and sending you a pic of my little office-under-deadline. It's an old photo as my current camera is broken, but it looks pretty much the same as now, except that I have a new Mac. When I finish each book I do a big clean up and nobody recognizes the room until it reverts to this again. ;)

I work in a room filled with books and filing cabinets and music cds, though I only write to the music without words. My desk is covered with bits and pieces -- notes on sticky notes, on the back of envelopes, on cards and in notebooks, small objects that help me recapture the scene in my mind -- for instance the small dish of stones from a French beach. I have a timer for when I'm finding it hard to start -- I set the time for 15 minutes and write like crazy and that breaks the initial resistance. Usually by the time the time goes off it gives me a fright, as I'm well into the book and have forgotten I'd even set it.
 
My desk is small, so sometimes I put a fold-up table beside it for the extra reference notes. I keep searching for new desks, but none work as well as this makeshift arrangement. Above and in front of the bookshelves I have the collages I've made for each book. The old collages sit on top of the 6ft shelves, the current one hangs at eye level. 

There's no view from my office, just a fence and the side of my neighbor's house, but the fence has a pretty Virginia Creeper growing over it. It faces west, so in the late afternoon sun streams in and reminds me it's time to take the dog for a walk.

Cara Elliott/Andrea Pickens

My writing space falls somewhere in the middle of clutter-free and chaos. I like having a neat, organized place, but also like having things that are meaningful to me around, as they provide cheer or inspiration. Books are, as you can see, an important part of my life.  So are all the odd little trinkets I tend to collect . . . old printing blocks, museum postcards, interesting stuff from flea markets (The antique pond yacht is one of my favorite finds.) The painting of the pelican is one of my late mother's watercolors-I've lots more around the house but this is one of my favorites. And my window looks out on a large grove of pines. I enjoy watching the sunlight play through the trees-it's constantly changing with the hour and the season. Wild turkeys and coyotes pass by occasionally, while the resident squirrels, morning doves, crows and deer are daily visitors.

Jo Beverly

The elements were custom made for my study in Victoria and they fit nicely here in Whitby. The desk is a few inches lower than normal for hand and arm comfort, and the chair's the Aeron.

Mary Jo Putney

I'm lucky to have quite a sizable office, but it doesn't matter that it's large--the books are still spilling out of the bookshelves, just as the desk is covered with papers.  Bits of research, things I plan to get to, Wenchly calendars to keep track of the dates.  There are also, of course, cats:  Here is Reggie the Rascal, lookingdangerous, followed by The Fluffster, looking languorous.  The cats are good company, but it's not surprising that I often have to clean the cat hair out of my keyboard. <G>

Nicola Cornick

My work area is almost completely surrounded by the bookshelves where I keep the reference books I use for my writing. The picture on the wall is of the parterre garden at Ashdown House. My desk looks out onto the village green and beyond that to the hills. It's an inspiring view but it can also be a distracting one. The cushion on the floor is meant for the cat but as you can see, she prefers my chair!

Patricia Rice

This is my mid-book office. The desk is covered in research books, hardcopy print-outs I've been scribbling on, and notes of things I need to remember to think about, change, or jump up and down and weep about because I didn't think of them before I wrote 100k words. Not the recliner--I can't write withaout my feet up, and I got tired of using desk drawers. (the clock facing the wrong way is compliments of my granddaughter)

Susan Fraser King

Here's a photo taken pre-book, or post-book = after the clean up effort, which doesn't last long. Out of the photo frame are bookcases crammed with books, and an antique hutch that belonged to my mother, also crammed with books. We built this office over the garage, and it's a great private space with a view of the backyard. The chair is an Aeron, which has saved my back untold grief (I special ordered a size A, for those around 5 ft. tall, best thing I ever bought for my office!) and the desk has been lowered a few inches to fit as well. My husband and sons are too tall to use my desk and chair. This is good, because they Stay Out. The blanket over the chair is a memento of one of my trips to Scotland, and all the little doohickeys and knickynoos around are wonderful distractions that are eventually swallowed up in the natural chaos as the writing continues ... I would have taken a photo of the desk in its most current state (see photo at the top of the blog, also my desk) but I can't find the camera in the midst of the mess!

Sherrie Holmes

This is a composite of five pictures stitched together in Photoshop. My office is one large open room, with the office at one end, and the kitchen at the other end. I converted the huge recliner to a desk chair by bolting it to a plywood platform and attaching wheels to it. Best office chair ever!

And here -- just to make us all greeeeen with lit'ry envy -- is Sir Walter Scott's study at Abbotsford. I was once blissfully, meditatively alone here for twenty minutes ... this would be my dream office, though I'd definitely replace that old, sagging, worn leather chair with an Aeron, size A!

Now that we've shared our at-home work spaces with you all -- tell us something about yours. If you've set aside a space at home to work or to write, how have you solved some of the issues of finding the perfect comfortable place to concentrate and to work?  Have you conquered the essentials and welcomed in the luxuries?

~~Susan, wishing all a wonderful holiday season, as well as a comfy chair and desk when you need them!

Comments

[Cynthia Owens]

Hi Susan, and happy holidays to you too. I'm lucky, as my husband recently moved out of his home office and into an office 10 minutes away, and I've taken his old office and turned it into what I call my "Creative Corner."
Like most writers, I'm surrounded by books and papers and notebooks. I have my music CDs for inspiration, and - most special of all - a collage of photos taken during our trip to England and Ireland this past summer. I just have to look at some of those wonderful landscapes to get inspired! I also have a few treasures from my late father - he was always one of my staunchest supporters, and having some things that remind me of him - like the pair of antique sleigh bells that belonged to my grandfather - gives me an amazing sense of security.

[Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe]

I feel like the best kind of voyeur! Thanks for sharing your creative spaces.

I just got a new desk. We had it put together by the store and they went through three boxed sets before they got everything screwed in straight, but I love it (and I especially love that we didn't have to put it together ourselves, even if it is a kind of Frankenstein desk right now, LOL. If the pros had such trouble, my husband and I would have wound up in divorce court.). There's a shelf for my precious reclaimed library discards and my inspiration bulletin board sits atop the hutch. My writing/dressing/spare room is tiny, but there's a twin bed in it if I have a sinking spell or want to read in a quiet spot.

[Carla Kelly]

Great article, dearies. I wrote my first novel in the furnace room, and at least one other - Marian's Christmas Wish, I think - on the kitchen table. We're remodeling, and now my small space will go in the bedroom. (Small house, too)Eventually, there will be an office built on the expanded, four-season porch. I never have a view either, except of current-manuscript clutter and books on the floor around the desk.
Carla Kelly

[Susan/DC]

I'm not a writer but am a reader, and I'm extremely jealous of all of you who have floor to ceiling bookcases. When we renovated our house 3 years ago we opened up a number of walls to bring more light into the house, but I didn't stop to think that this would reduce the available wall space for bookcases! Now far too many of my beloved books sit in copier paper boxes, where they are safe but hard to access (pull down stack of boxes, search for book, put others back in box, stack boxes again, repeat as necessary). One positive result of the remodel was that my husband got a lovely office overlooking the garden at the back of the house, but he uses it for his books, papers, filing cabinets, etc because he works from home almost every evening and weekend (the 40-hr work week is a myth), so I can't fill it up with my books. I'm just waiting for my sons to be fully fledged so I can make them take their books out of the remaining bookcases.

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh Susan, I covet Sir Walter Scott's study very much. Fascinating to see other Wenches' work space as well!

[theo]

Wow! Some of you are so...neat. 'Tis scary. :P But fun to see what each of you likes for atmosphere.

I have a 10X12 office. In it I have a corner desk (which I'm trying to get rid of) one wall that's floor to ceiling bookcases, another wall that's half height bookcases, a bookcase next to my desk that doubles as an extra table top, a filing cabinet and a baby grand piano which I play when I'm in a slum (which lately seems like most of the time!) Everything's oak and huge so it makes the room look mouse sized. At least I have a view.

And I don't think it matters how many bookcases you have. I have boxes and boxes of books that I can't put out because I just don't have the space for them.

[theo]

Um...that should be *slump*, not slum...not enough coffee...

[Jo Beverley]

Great article, Susan. I think work spaces develop a patina as we use them, and it's there in all the pictures.

A great writing space is lovely, but I think we can write in just about any space with the right tools.

Jo :)

[Sherrie Holmes]

Susan, this was so fun getting to see Wench work spaces and seeing how each fit the personality of its owner.

I could have placed my office in any of my 3 bedrooms, but I hated being cut off from the heartbeat of the house, which centers in the kitchen/family room area. So I claimed the family room as my office, and since the kitchen and family room are one big, open space, where I spent most of my time anyway, I feel more grounded.

[maryjoputney]

I don't want to claim that any of the Wenches are lying about being neat, but consider: if you were going to take a picture of your office to post in a place where a billion people might potentially look at it, might you do a little clean up first? Just sayin'. *G*

Mary Jo

[Susan King]

LOL, Mary Jo! I had taken a photo of my office not long ago, simply because it WAS clean, wonder of wonders. There's not much reason to take a photo of it in its usual chaotic state! And as I said in the article...er, I can't find my camera, which is currently lost somewhere in here...

Susan

[Andrea Penrose]

Susan, this was SUCH an inspired idea . . . what fun to see where the other Wench toil. ((Um, Mary Jo, I noticed you took a close-up so can virtuously chide the rest of us about clutter! I, on the other hand was smart enough to set the black plastic trash bag behind the lens.)

It's nice to have a special space set aside for working, with books and references at hand. But I echo the others in saying I'd write anywhere there was enough space to plunk my behind down. (Carla, I love the furnace room image!)

That said, I am still drooling over Sir Walter Scott's writing room. Sigh. Do you think Santa could fit it down the chimney?

[Patricia Rice]

Susan/DC, I hear ya about shelf space! We like open plan homes and finding room for books is a challenge. I just had my husband build an entire wall of them in the living room. Who needs TVs anyway?

The shelves in my office are 3/4 of the wall height, which gives ample room on top to collect...everything that doesn't go somewhere else. Mary Jo really doesn't want to see that part of the room!

[maryjoputney]

Just to clarify--I never claimed to be neat myself. Rather the contrary. See above. *g* The advantage of cat close-ups is that they don't show much of the moveable clutter feast that is my desk. (Custom built a couple of inches lower than standard for ergomic reasons, as several of the other wenches have done.)

And I have an Aeron chair, inspired by Jo's raptures about hers. So Jo inspired two more Aeron sales to Wenches. I think the Aeron company owes her a commission. *g*

Mary Jo

[Lyn S]

My house has tons of windows and French doors which of course eliminate wall space. I turned the formal dining room into the library and made the former formal living room the dining room. The couches and TV are in the great room (big 2 story family room thing attached to the 1 story kitchen). I have an entire wall of semi-builtin bookcases. They are prefab ones from an office supply store. 5 2/3 fit the wall. I took the 6th bookcase to our shop teacher. She gladly cut them down and drilled all the holes for those odd little metal peg connectors. My husband and I wanted a library balcony in the 2nd story part of the great room. The builder couldn't get the concept. I wish I had Walter Scott's room to show. Thank you for showing us where all your hard work takes place.

[Anne Gracie]

Oh, dear, I can see I'm not at all in the right company here. So many of you wenches have shelves that are visible! Empty, even (which just between you and me I think is unnatural! LOL)

Oh well, I don't suppose I'll ever achieve an empty shelf, but am making note to self, "must do better."
After I've finished this book, of course...

[Office Chair Recliner]

My office is a lot like Anne Gracie's.. Small deski, intimate atmosphere.. I understand why it's so cozy for her. :)

Matt