Recently, I've been attempting to find - well, make - a space for myself in our house where I can work. Somewhere I can retreat to, a comfortable, inspiring and atmospherically lit corner that provides a haven for productivity. As my touring job took me away from home so often, the room I had earmarked for transformation had been filled with boxes, a load of stuff gathering dust, and I would poke my head around the door, sigh and retreat quickly. It had become a place I retreated FROM, not TO, and that has had to change.
Above is a picture of a work-in-progress. It is sort of nicely lit, and my piano is now accessible and has an appropriately themed blanket on its stool. I even have a mood board, being filled with ideas for my novel, and I have a coaster for my tea mug. The rest of the room is still a disaster, but I'll get there, with some fresh paint, a fixed-up window (one of the panes is broken, and the frame is rotting; I daren't open it in case it falls out) and an old, squishy armchair, inherited from my mum and dad, which will eventually take pride of place as my reading/dreaming/inventing chair.
It got me thinking about other writers and their writing spaces. Where do they sit to come up with their fabulous ideas, their characters, their take on life? So I had a look for some answers.
I was thrilled to find some brilliant articles online. Apparently dear Jane Austen, when she was allowed 'private time' in the household, sat next to the barely-used front door as she had no room of her own, wrote on the tiniest twelve-sided table ever, and a creaking swing door would warn her of incoming visitors; Roald Dahl had a shed in his garden which he kitted out as a writing studio, an old wing-backed chair with part of the back burrowed out for comfort surrounded by memorabilia, and a sleeping bag for when he got cold; and Kate Mosse has a study with deep red walls, an old childhood bookcase and bits and pieces from her children in a bowl on the desk.
It appears that everyone has to find their own place to let their mind be free, and I love that.
What does your favourite space look like? I'd love to know.
(Ooh, and if you'd like to see the articles I found, go to portraits of the spaces where authors create).
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