A Fine Place for Writing

We live in a century home. It was built in 1903.

We knew the house needed work when we bought it, but other than necessary repairs, we haven’t yet been able to do the remodeling we originally planned. I don’t care. I love our old house with its two staircases and creepy basement.

I’ve claimed the dining room for my office and my used book business. This year it has also become a fine place for writing. Allow me to show you around my room: 1 – Crazy patterned wallpaper which was here when we bought the house. It has a “magic eye” effect. I can do the eye thingy and get the design to “pop out,” but there’s nothing in there.

2 – A really great wood desk weighing a million pounds. We paid $35 for it at a local thrift shop.

3 – Candy dish with m&m’s for editing.

4 – Sticky note left by 25-year-son. It reads, “I love you!” He left it on my desk one day when I wasn’t home, and I couldn’t make myself throw it away, so it’s taped to my computer.

5 – Pink mp3 player with pink earbuds. I truly am a pink girl at heart.

Yes, my vhs/dvd player is up on blocks. Hubby rigged it for me so the stupid cable box could have air flowing around it.

On the wall behind my desk are bookshelves holding what’s left of my used book business. It wasn’t too long ago, I had over 5,000 books in inventory, but I’ve downsized. I’d rather write than sell used children’s books, and I’m tired of carrying heavy boxes to the post office. The books in cloth bags on the floor are waiting to be processed. I might get around to them one day. To the right of my desk is the shipping department. It’s obvious my table is in front of the old fireplace, but we haven’t used it for many years. I cropped the picture because the ugly brown box of packing peanuts under the table made the whole thing look worse than it already does.

What you don’t see is the sofa along the bay window directly behind my chair. It was never for guests; it was always for dogs. There were days when all four of them would sleep on the sofa while I worked. Today, it seems silly to have a full-sized piece of furniture for just a beagle, but he does seem to enjoy it.

I like having this spacious room to work in every day. I can open the window beside my desk for lovely breezes and plenty of sunshine comes into the room. I can see into the kitchen while writing, and it’s easy to yammer at hubby when he’s out there foraging for a snack or taking a quick puff on a cigar.

Thank you for taking this little tour of my fine place for writing. It’s time to get back to that nifty notebook on my desk which is harping at me, because I’ve used the word “shocked” a dozen times in my current work in progress, and no one can be shocked that much in one book.

Let me know what your fine place for writing is like. Or better yet, do a blog post and show me.