This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Today we take a peek inside the writing room of Amanda Brooke, whose second book, Another Way To Fall is out next week. Amanda's debut novel, Yesterday's Sun, was selected for the Richard and Judy Spring Book Club 2012. Over to you Amanda…
The place I’ve set aside for writing is a very special room and one that I’ve spent the last six years trying to get just right. It has a desk and chair, a large window to watch the world go by and lots of bookshelves and yet despite my best efforts it’s still a place where I rarely sit down and actually write. It’s too quiet I suppose and I’d much rather balance my laptop on my knee while I’m either propped up in bed or curled up on the sofa and always with the TV on in the background. It’s not as distracting as playing music and it’s easier than listening to the silence.
But I really do want to settle into my writing room and if you’ve read how I became a writer then you’ll understand why it’s utterly and completely the right place to be. My writing room was my young son’s bedroom and after he died in 2006 I didn’t want it to be left untouched as some sort of shrine. I wanted to go in there and be reminded of the legacy Nathan left behind and not my loss. And there are plenty of reminders in there including a copy of Yesterday’s Sun, which was my first published novel written in an attempt to fill the void that Nathan left behind and drawn from emotions that came from the heart. There are also his Thomas the Tank Engine books lined up on the bookshelf, plenty of photos of course, a display cabinet full of his beloved Thomas the Tank Engine trains and his Buzz Lightyear propped up in the corner with a good view over my shoulder when I’m ready to sit down at the desk and write and I will…one day.