Garden View Writing Desk Position a natural wood desk by large windows in your she shed to create an inspirational setting with a beautiful garden view. It’s the perfect spot for writing or getting lost in a book, surrounded by nature.
Check out these inspiring photos of famous authors & their writing desks. See where the greats wrote their famous books and stories.
Work spaces for writers take many forms. Update as of 19 March 2020: My workspace looks different now. We came back home from our big adventure, and I had my little home office back for a while. With all the COVID-19 stuff going on in the world, my husband was allowed to bring his work ... Read more
A few days ago, unable to write because of a head cold and feeling a bit blue because my son had just left on a trip to Asia, I decided to sort out and declutter my office. This was a well overdue project and I shared the process on my Instagram Stories. I received so many lovely messages about th
The room is the view. I spent quite a lot of my childhood happily looking out of windows: the coming and going of birds, and the weather seemed to be some kind of event, and now when I am not writing I look out of the window in much the same way
Being a writer is a funny thing. I always want to write, but when the opportune time does come along, I dig into my bag of excuses to do something else. One of my favorites is “I just don’t feel like writing.” This excuse often stems from lack of motivation, inspiration, muse, or whatever. Sometimes […]
The room is like a cave, and has books I love in it.
Jeanne Veillette Bowerman goes into the writing room with Doug Richardson to learn from his 30 years of screenwriting experience.
One of the rooms at Beamish open air Museum, Co Durham.
Anyone who owns more than a few books wants to display them in an attractive a way as possible. For those who have an extensive collection, a few book
The "American Gods" and "Good Omens" scribe and showrunner has two spaces in upstate New York at which he creates his content.
A few days ago, unable to write because of a head cold and feeling a bit blue because my son had just left on a trip to Asia, I decided to sort out and declutter my office. This was a well overdue project and I shared the process on my Instagram Stories. I received so many lovely messages about th
New writers have to handle a lot when they write their first novel. While you are writing, keep these 10 tips in mind to try to avoid or fix in your manuscript.
Baby finally got the antique writing desk of her dreams!!! I've been looking for a sacred writing space, a writing desk, for longer than you can imagine. When I saw this one, it was love at first sight. I knew it was mine. I told the owner of my favorite antique shop in town to put a SOLD sign on it. I slept on it for a few days and then walked into that shop and slapped some cash down on the counter. This desk is huge, ENORMOUS, and it is very tall. There is room for two at its writing surface. Heavy old oak. Brass knobs. A slanted writing surface which is SO comfortable to write on. I like it so well that it is easy to pen eight pages every morning right now. I hope this piece helps me cultivate my writers heart and mind. My writing time in the mornings has become such a sacred thing for me now that I have a holy little space to do it in. I hope I write my first book on this glorious wooden surface. I hope I write a thousand poems here. I'm thankful I was able to make it mine.
Do you have a house full of clutter? If you do, you might be experiencing some unexpected ill effects. You don’t have to suffer from full-blown hoarding disorders to suffer from the psychological side effects of having too much stuff in your life. Even a reasonable number of belongings, if not well organised, can be […]
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Create an inspiring writing space to support your writing practice. When you have a writing space you love you will be more productive.
This is a video where I share the five writing notebooks I am using this month.
When my mum called the other day to discuss the launch of my debut novel, Neverland, I assumed she wanted to talk cupcake logistics (I’ve been Pinteresting ideas; she’s been scalin…
Discover important ingredients, ideas, and tools to help you tell your stories even in situations that may not be the best places to write.
When I heard that Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, was visiting Denver, I actually gasped out loud. The Book Thief has been influential in my writing and reading life in more ways than I can name. Suffice it to say that I have about a million favorite books, but when forced to choose just one, I say The Book Thief. The characters don't let you go, the plot is so original, and to say the writing style is beautiful is an understatement. So of course I jumped at the chance to hear Zusak speak, and to get my copy of The Book Thief, as well as his new book, Bridge of Clay, signed. Zusak was a funny and charming speaker, and warm and welcoming when I met him in the signing line. I wish I could have just recorded the whole talk and posted it for you, but here are six things he said that stood out to me the most. Know the backstory Zusak said that the way he is able to tell if he'll be able to turn an idea into a novel is how much backstory comes to him. When you're planning your book, knowing the background of the characters is incredibly important. Even if most of it doesn't end up in the book, pieces of it will, and that's what will give your characters life and make the story memorable to readers. The more your characters seem like real people you know, not just one-sided figures you write about, the more they'll come alive in the reader's mind. Having a deep backstory is the best way to accomplish this. Incorporate details Zusak used this simple metaphor to convey the importance of details: Once he was at an airport, and forgot his jacket in the security line. When he returned to claim it, the guard asked him what it looked like. He didn't just describe the color, but also the logo, and how there was a piece of folded-up paper in the pocket. With these precise details, the guard had no trouble believing he was telling the truth and the jacket was his. Likewise, when we incorporate specific, unique details into our stories, the reader is able to believe that we are telling the truth, even while knowing it's fiction. Details are what make your story jump off the page and lodge itself in the reader's mind. They're what make a reader stop and think, Yes! That's exactly how that feels/sounds/looks. How did they know?! If you don't feel something, neither will the reader Robert Frost once said, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. Zusak modeled this when writing both The Book Thief and Bridge of Clay. During the Q&A session after his talk, a young reader asked him if he cried when writing the end of The Book Thief. He confessed that he had ugly cried as he wrote the ending--like many of us as we read it--and had actually cried even harder when writing the end of Bridge of Clay (causing many of us in the audience to groan with grim but eager anticipation). If you have laid out the backstory of your characters and incorporated details that bring them to life, you as the writer will end up caring deeply about them, so that whatever you feel when writing their fate, the readers will also feel. Keep writing, no matter what During the Q&A session, someone asked him who had encouraged him to keep writing when he was young. With a laugh, he responded, Absolutely no one. He spoke of how he had never won a contest, never had a short story published, how his parents and his English teachers never thought he would publish a book--but something in him knew that's what he wanted to do, so he kept trying. When I met him in the signing line, I mentioned how I was a writer and The Book Thief had been so inspirational to me. To my delight, he asked about my writing, and when I said I was writing an adult contemporary fiction novel and had just sent it to people to read, he reminded me that even if I got negative feedback, I was still a writer and I needed to just keep writing. It is easy to be discouraged when we don't get glowing responses to our work, but imagine if Markus Zusak had listened to those around him and given up. Know that you are a writer, and so you must keep writing. Write the book only you can write This might have been my favorite thing Zusak said all night. He doesn't try to write books that are better than other writers or that win all the awards; his focus is on trying to write stories that only he is capable of writing. No matter how you feel about The Book Thief or Bridge of Clay, I know that they're books only I could write, he said. Don't compare how good your book is to other books or other writers. Focus on the story that only you can write. Writing takes a bit of luck Throughout his talk, Zusak mentioned several instances of luck that contributed to his success. Not just in terms of finding an agent or publishing, but in the actual writing of his stories. Before writing The Book Thief, he was visiting a school and leading an activity in which students choose a color and write from its perspective. He ended up writing from Death's perspective, and thought, Hey, maybe I should use this in that book I'm planning set in Nazi Germany. He also had another page-long piece about a girl in modern-day Sydney stealing a book and had the same thought of incorporating it into the Holocaust story he was planning. Of course, these two ideas are crucial to making The Book Thief into what it is. Likewise, with Bridge of Clay, when he first came up with the idea for the book, he chose the character name 'Clayton' at random. It was only later in the process of planning and writing that he shortened it to Clay, and realized it fit perfectly with the idea of building a bridge. Writing takes a lot of skill, and you have to know how to use those strokes of inspiration in your stories, but it's also helpful to know that a bit of luck is always involved. A huge thanks to Markus Zusak, both for his incredible stories and for a wonderful evening. Denver's Tattered Cover bookstore also has my undying love for bringing amazing authors to visit. To buy Zusak's newest book, Bridge of Clay, click here. You can also read more about Zusak and his books on his website. (FYI–This post includes affiliate links. I promise to never recommend anything that I haven’t loved and think you should try!) Have you read The Book Thief or any of Markus Zusak's books? What's your favorite? Who is the author you would most love to meet? Who is someone you've already met and loved? Let me know in the comments!
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E. B. White and his dog Minnie. If it happens that your parents concern themselves so little with the workings of boys’ minds as to christen you Elwyn Brooks White, no doubt you decide as early as possible to identify yourself as E.B. White. If it also happens that you attend Cornell,...
Located on the first floor of the castle tower, this room is where Vita did most of her writing at night, after spending her day working in the gardens surrounding the tower. Vita allowed very few people into her "sacrosanct space". The portrait on the easel is of Vita's lover, Violet Trefusis. Vita and Violet eloped to France 3 times from 1918 to 1921 before ending their affair. Both Vita and her husband had homosexual love affairs throughout their long, and apparently contented, marriage. The room remains much as she left it when she died in 1962. She brought fresh flowers into the room each day and the NT has kept up that habit.
Dylan Thomas' writing hut, The Boathouse, in Laugharne, Wales As I dig into my writing schedule again, this post (from April 2014) seems worth re-visit. My own answer to the question above is simple: Any day that I am strong...
Inspired by Matt Jones (via Warren Ellis), I whipped this up for my own use. Crude, but effective.
