Where I Write by Johanna Grassick

Many years ago when I started writing, I had a cupboard in a dark corner of the dining room with a slide-out shelf and a laptop which could be put away when I wasn’t working. Now, however, I’m lucky enough to have a room of my own.

It’s big (well, I think so) and there’s room for lots of books (good job, those top three shelves are my To Be Read pile), and it’s very pink (I live in a house full of boys so this is the only room where I can get away with it). 

The only downside is that because it’s my room, no one minds if it gets messy – and it does get very messy! I’m an old-fashioned girl and, despite sitting in front of the computer, I still handwrite a lot – to draft a scene, to edit a printed page, or to jot down notes as inspiration strikes. This means there are usually papers and notebooks strewn everywhere (usually - I tidied for this photo!), and those post-its you can see on the desk are individual scenes for the book I’m currently working on.

From my desk I have a beautiful view of the garden, and I’m sometimes distracted by squirrels chasing each other around the oak tree, foxes wandering through, or, this summer, a family of doves which nested in the tree outside my window.

The important thing, however, is that they’re not too distracting. Because when I write I retreat into my characters’ heads and become absorbed in their world. 

Any interruptions and that focus is lost, as I discovered a couple of years ago when we had builders in. To get away from the noise and the dust I tried working in cafés, as so many writers successfully do, but I found that other people’s conversations were just too loud and too interesting! And I can’t work with music on to drown the noise because, for me, a song is a story in itself, even if it doesn’t have any lyrics. In the end I resorted to driving round the corner and writing with a notebook in my car. 

And now, having my own space and solitude is a luxury I truly appreciate.


www.johannagrassick.com

Where I Write by Louise Marley

As I found out last month, I don’t need a room of my own in which to write. I can write anywhere. It doesn’t mean I have to like it though! I love having my own study – and it is definitely a study – ‘office’ sounds far too much like work. Writing can be very hard work but it’s also the best job in the world. Make stuff up for a living? What’s not to love?

So, welcome to my world! I’ve not written much here yet, as I’ve been too busy moving house. I don’t close the door, unless the writing is going badly. I’m incredibly nosy and I like to know what is going on elsewhere in the house. Having said that, I always listen to music while I work, to drown out background noise. I create playlists to help me get into the right (write?) frame of mind and I also have mood boards on Pinterest – but you can read more about my actual writing process here.

I write on a laptop. It enables me to work anywhere. I can touch-type as fast as I can talk – and believe me, I can talk very fast. If pushed, I can also write using paper and pen, although my handwriting is appalling – even I have trouble reading it back.

The box on the left of my desk contains recent issues of trade magazines – Writing Magazine, The Author, Romance Matters and The Bookseller. The red box is my ‘pending’ tray. The action figure perched on the edge of the pending tray is Reno, my good luck charm. Reno is a character from a video game called Final Fantasy but he’s also a character in one of my favourite books, Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart. I won him in one of her competitions.

I am a terrible hoarder and hate throwing anything away. I collect mugs, and when they get broken I reuse them to store my pens. The white one with the crest on it is from Hampshire Constabulary, where I used to work as a civilian admin officer – this is why my characters are often police officers.

Unfortunately I don’t have room in my study for all my books – they live in plastic crates elsewhere in the house. This is probably a good thing; I’m the kind of person who can’t be trusted to be left alone with a book. The only books on my study shelves are there for reference.

I also rely heavily on my Kindle Fire for work. I edit on it when I’m out and about, and I use it for catching up with emails, social networking and blogging. It also contains over 1,000 books. I know because I counted them – and yes, I have read most of them! So if I should suddenly go quiet, I’m sure you’ll be able to guess what I’m up to …

Read More:

A Room of One’s Own

My Writing Process

Keeping it (Un)real
Writers Write (What I Really Do All Day)

Where I Write by Beth Francis

Once upon a time…

Over fifty years ago, my first short story was published in the Brownie Magazine. I’d scribbled it in a lined notebook, and typed it on a borrowed typewriter on the living room table, surrounded by my bemused and skeptical family.

Years later, married with young children, I graduated to a typewriter of my own, electric it was, I loved it, but I still wrote my stories on the living room table, surrounded by my family.

            Now I have my own computer, my own room and my own desk.

  

The characters I write about are still created wherever I happen to be: 

On buses, trains, cafés anywhere where people strike up impromptu conversations and tell amazing stories.

At the swimming pool, swimming length after length, ideal for thinking, no phone calls, no texts.

In the garden, my characters often end up working in their gardens and I’m currently writing a Pocket Novel set on an allotment.

Walking along the coast, the inspiration for Safe Harbour came when I was watching a yacht sailing into a bay.

The list is endless, but when the real work starts, getting those ideas from my head into print, I return to my desk.

The ever-changing view from the window can have me staring at the mountains instead of the computer, but to be honest, after years of writing surrounded by distractions, I’ve no excuse not to simply get on with it!

  

Except…this morning the mountains are covered with a layer of sparkling white snow, so beautiful it would be a crime not to pause for a while...

Where I Write by Juliet Greenwood

The place where I write is my crog loft.

If you don’t happen to live in a traditional quarryman’s cottage halfway up a Welsh mountain, I should explain that a crog loft is a tiny room tucked under the eves where the children would have been packed off to sleep. Fortunately mine has been extended at some point, plus I’m short, so I can just about stand up in it, and there’s a window looking over my garden with some pretty glorious sunsets over Anglesey.

Originally you’d have clambered up a ladder. I’ve now got stairs, but they are very steep and not for the faint hearted. As the rest of the cottage is all on the ground floor, it means that my little crog loft is a world into itself. I have my computer, shelves of files and a few books, and pictures and bits of research and information pinned onto the wooden cladding (necessary insulation!) of the walls. I love it. It means I can leave my work behind up there when I go back down into the living part of the house. There’s usually a cat sitting on my lap, and Phoebe the dog has her bed in one corner (when not commandeered by the cat, that is), and I work each morning to her gentle post-dog-walk snores.

The windowsill is very wide (a legacy of thick stone walls) so Phoebe also can sit there and supervise proceedings, with half an eye on the sheep in the fields around us and any goings-on in the garden next door. Plus she can watch for any visitors coming up my path and rush down to greet them through the cat flap.  

Juliet's garden

I love my little crog loft. It’s where my imagination is free to roam, and when I leave I can leave it just as it is, so my characters are there, waiting for me when I return. My thinking time is when I’m in my garden, or dog walking, but I always return to my crog loft to focus the mind and get on with the real business of the day. It is, without doubt, a room of my own.

Where I Write by Cheryl Lang

This is my space. My office, to make it sound formal.  It’s painted a soft green that I love. I have a comfortable green swivel chair to sit on and I’m surrounded by pictures and photos I’ve taken in various countries. When I’m stuck for inspiration I just gaze at the pictures and I can almost feel the heat. (In reality, the heating probably needs turning down.) 

At the top are a couple of small baskets for holding millions of ballpoint pens, spare cartridges and other bits and pieces collected over time. I tend to use my laptop more than the PC these days as the PC is rather slow. I often take it out to the conservatory and work there. I can watch the birds, in idle moments and am easily distracted to  track planes on the computer. I find it fascinating to know where they are all going or returning from. 

In my ‘office’ I play CDs because it sometimes helps fix the mood I’m trying to create. I need to get up and walk about every now and then, so that often calls for my purple cafetiere to be filled. Sometimes, if things aren’t flowing I’ll go outside and do some gardening. It sometimes works.

I also have a tall book shelf which is packed with books on how to plot, or write a best seller, (I’ll let you know when that happens!) dictionaries, maps, guides to places, and books I’ve particularly liked. Those three folders in the middle are the print-outs of novels. One, The Sun in her Hair, is currently short-listed in The Write Time competition. Another is a work in progress and the third is one I need to revisit. I tend to keep a hard copy as well as keeping copies on memory sticks and on clouds. 

The other folders further down are my stamp collection. Unusual, maybe, but I started collecting when I was seven and every so often I feel compelled to add more.

Thanks Cheryl, and best of luck with the competition!

Where I Write by June Francis

My Sacred Writing Space

When I first started writing I had dreams of one day having a room of my own. That was well over thirty years ago and I can still only lay claim to a corner of mine and my husband’s bedroom. The wallpaper might have changed but I have the same old desk my husband bought me when I blurted out that I wanted to have a go at making a career out of writing.

I’ve been grateful ever since that he didn’t laugh in my face. Instead he bought me a second hand desk in a sale of office furniture and it has proved its worth ever since. It is scratched and some of the veneer has worn off in places but it’s a decent size and has one of those trays than can be pulled out to hold a cup of tea and a plate of Jaffa cakes. I wouldn’t exchange my desk for a modern one if one was gifted to me. We’ve been through a lot of writing hours together.

What has changed is the old manual typewriters on which I wrote my first attempts at being published: articles that were eventually published in My Weekly, as well as my first five novels. Alas, the typewriters have gone and were replaced by an Amstrad on which I managed to write a 80,000 word historical romance in six weeks. A one off! On average it takes me six to nine months to write a novel. This was true even when I moved on to the Dell WP with internet access that Pooh bear likes to sit at and pretend to be a writer.

It was my son Tim who persuaded me that I deserved a flat screen Dell computer. I instantly fell in love with it. Not only because I can watch my favourite films, such as Enchanted April and Letters to Juliet in High Definition when I feel like escaping pages of typescript which I am convinced nobody will want to read, but because the flat screen means I’ve more room on my desk for those bits and bobs that I like to have around. A lovely homemade thank you card from a friend who has just read my latest book, It's Now or Never, a glass paperweight presented to me by Crosby Writers’ Club, and a shell and shiny stone from Anglesey, which I like to hold and stroke when I feel fraught. It goes without saying that there is a container of pens and pencils, and a couple of speakers for when I indulge myself listening to Russell Watson or some Gregorian chants.

I have various photographs too. The one of my parents always makes me smile because it was taken in the fifties while on a camping holiday in North Wales. Mam is wearing a wide belt which I remember being red patent leather. Happy Days.

The view through my six-sided little window is of a chimney pot on which seagulls, pigeons and magpies take turns to perch and view the scenery.

Under my desk is a plastic container full of writing memorabilia, such as Piatkus catalogues featuring my earlier sagas and a book containing old newspaper cuttings featuring book reviews and interviews with me. Last, but not least, are the files containing photographs and information to do with my ancestry research.

Much that is precious and sacred to me is held in this small space. It is also here that I have my quiet time where I meditate. There isn’t room for all my books but I haven’t quite given up hope yet of having a room of my own. One of my sons has gone travelling and his room is just across the landing…

Where I write by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

The bossy Novelista, Valerie-Anne Baglietto, is next up to show us where she works and to spill the beans on a few of her writing habits... 

Imagine the scene... 

It's 8.30 and the kids have been dispatched to school. I haven't completely emptied the dishwasher yet or put the washing machine on, but I have got dressed in my comfiest jogging pants and T-shirt. One of the things I love about being a writer is the fact I haven't got to slap on make-up, comb my frizz or squeeze into a power suit.

So first things first. Coffee to get my brain in gear. It might sound like a cliche, but it honestly does help me focus and gives my imagination a boost. It also keeps me awake because, after all, juggling the demands of three kids of fourteen and under can be a wee bit tiring. 

I thought it would be easier the older they got. 

Favourite mug!

Hahaha.... *feeble laughter* 

No. 

No, it isn't. That's a myth to keep parents going through the early years. 

So, where do I actually write? 

That's what you really want to know or you wouldn't be reading this. Well, the answer is 'all over the place'. When I'm being good and taking care of my poor neck, I'm upstairs at my desk with my ergonomic keyboard. Because of lack of space, though, this room is also my eldest son's den, so I can only use it when he's at school or out with his friends. Thankfully this is quite often. Here's a photo of it looking neat and organised. I have to tidy daily because my son is a) male and b) a teenager, and apparently not a control freak like me.

When I'm being naughty...

My good posture suffers and I take the laptop downstairs to the lounge. Sometimes I need a change of scene. I recently bought this coffee table on eBay from a local seller. I love a bargain and I wanted a nice solid oak table where I could slot in some large baskets for storage and also spread out my paraphernalia on top. (Disclaimer: I do not endorse this writing position, it will leave you with a stiff neck and aching shoulders and possibly harm your long-term writing career.)

I tend to make all my notes in long-hand but when I'm deep in writing mode I have to bash out everything electronically. I can touch type quickly, so it feels as if my thoughts flow automatically on to the screen. I also don't print anything out to edit these days. I change my work as I go along, as I can't do the first-draft-in-one-go thing. It just isn't the way I produce my best writing. When I'm on a second/third draft I transfer my story to my Kindle to read through it again. It truly is amazing, the errors and discrepancies that pop up when you change the font and the layout of your work. Also, it saves a fortune on ink and paper and stops my printer from blowing up. 

When I'm reading work through on my Kindle I like to curl up in the conservatory, but at the moment my conservatory looks something like this:

We've had to build a new one as the previous timber construction was rotting and leaking. My imagination is coming in handy right now, as I can see myself stretched out on a squashy sofa with my Kindle and mug of coffee, making editorial notes or watching wispy clouds drift across the sky through the glass roof... There are all sorts of fairy tales up there, waiting for me to grab them.

Oh, I love my job. I really, really do! Even on those days when my writing is rubbish and no one in their right mind will ever read it. 

Anyway, I think I've said enough, and I feel an urgent coffee break coming on. If anyone has any questions I'm happy to answer them, just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

(That's me being bossy, by the way. Apparently that's what I do best!) 

www.valerie-annebaglietto.com
Twitter: @VABaglietto
Facebook: Valerie-Anne Baglietto Author

Where I Write by Annie Burrows

Over the next few weeks the Novelistas are going to be giving us a sneak peek into their writing hovels spaces. First to spill the beans on where she writes is Annie Burrows:  

Not long since, I moved into a new house. I quickly purloined a small bedroom, filled it with bookshelves, and proclaimed it my "study" (doesn't that sound grand).

In one corner, I put one of those ergonomic chairs supposed to support your back while typing. I type on a laptop. On my lap. Though the chair came with a footstool, I only use the footstool for storing my laptop when I'm not typing. The chair is next to a shelf, on which I keep things I might need during the writing process handy: pens, paper clips, toffees, chewing gum, calculator (to work out if my word count is on target!) and a kitchen timer. After one too many trips to the chiropractor, it makes sure I get up every hour, and stretch. (For stretch, read make a cup of tea/load dishwasher/maybe even hoover something if writing is getting too hard).

You will also see lots of translations of my books. These give me the confidence to keep going when things get tough.  After all, people in all these countries enjoyed my stories (or at least, they bought the book).

On a table on my other side I keep the reference books I'm using for my current w.i.p. The books most frequently on this table are a dictionary (in case I use a word the computer queries, and I then wonder if it really means what I think it means) and a handy set of etymology of words and phrases.  I can't have Regency heroines using language that didn't come into common use until the 1940's, can I?

And on the floor you can see the printout of my latest draft, which I'm going through again, attempting to make it an enjoyable read.

Annie's latest release in paperback is with Harlequin Mills & Boon: 

"Lord Havelock's List" is available here

www.annie-burrows.co.uk

www.facebook.com/AnnieBurrowsUK

twitter: @NovelistaAnnie