My Writing Room by Jessica Soffer

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Much of Tomorrow There Will be Apricots was written at my desk in New York City. The table was my father’s drafting table. He was an artist and it’s covered in paint splatter. My boyfriend varnished it, paint splatter and all, for my use.

All around there are reminders of how to write (Ernest Hemingway On Writing and Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary), why I write (photographs, the big bookcase just out of view) and to edit. Always edit. The swing is where I slept as a baby. The painting on the left is my father’s self-portrait. The black and white photograph on the wall is of my grandfather, a scribe in Baghdad who died before I was born. Soffer means scribe. The photo in the black frame is of me and my mother and we are both completely joyful. The chair is very grownup. It has lumbar support. I learned too late that the key to a successful writing career is a good chair. No one tells you about that. They should.  

The truth is, however, I do my best writing not at my New York City desk but at The East Hampton Library on Long Island. I grew up summering just near there, in Amagansett. My mother took me to read there every afternoon. It’s beautiful: designed by Robert Stern, cozy and majestic at the same time. We’ve just moved from New York City to Amagansett full-time. Part of the draw was the library. The other draw was the beach. And the clean air. And and and and. I’ve been trying to be very diligent lately – going early, staying late. I’m between touring and teaching and if I can’t get writing done now blah blah blah. This is the view from my favorite spot, which I like even more when it rains. The library always smells like rain. In a good way. The sole drawback is the chair situation. I can’t bring my own yet. I’ve been discussing it with the staff. Secretly, I hope they don’t concede because then I’ll have no excuse for my poor writing lately. It’s easy to blame a bad back. And lately, I’ve been blaming right and left.  

Tomorrow There Will be Apricots by Jessica Soffer is out now.