This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
This is such a fab feature – and, I’ll be honest, I have probably peeked at hundreds of authors on the Novelicious website by looking at their writing rooms and wondering ‘is THAT what mine should look like?’
My writing ‘room’ is actually a sun room which we have converted into a study.
Now, that’s a great little ol’ idea in the actual summer – when the sun is out, when I can open the window and get some air, listen to birds, and sigh, ‘Oh my, this novel is coming along real well.’ Or something like that. That’s on one of the good days. On one the many bad days, I’ll have 477 cups of coffee and will still be on Facebook at school pick up time, or might just be hurling a few scrunched up bits of paper at the screen.
But in the winter there is a tiny flaw with this so-called ‘sun room’. In that there ain’t no sun, in that it is ab-so-lutely freezing. In that there ain’t no central heating in there. Which is why, first, the blanket will come out over my legs, then a small fan heater, then, (and this is true), some fingerless gloves. This all happens as a bit of a ritual every year as I can’t bare to say goodbye to summer; I cling on to the last vestiges of it, by defying the cold and staying in my SUN room.After a while, I have to admit defeat and I lug the huge Apple Mac through to the kitchen as icicles melt from my feet. What this means is that I would probably have more peace and quiet if I placed my computer on a District Line platform at 8am. In this house there are three boys and a LOT of eating going on. We have two fridges for this purpose, so as I sit and type, there will be constant opening of fridge doors and the popping of the toaster when they are back. During the day in term time is a lot quieter.
In the sun room, you’ll see that I have got fabulous natural light, lots of space, but what you can’t see is that behind the computer are my bookshelves which contain not only all the novels which have inspired me, but my ‘tools of the trade’, my books on writing; Sol Stein’s How to Grow a Novel, and Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint by the fab Nancy Kress, plus How to Write Your First Novel by Sophie King. All these books and more I dip into from time to time to help and inspire.
You might notice a drawing of sausage dogs on strings on my wall, that’s my youngest son’s picture. Next to it, and under the painting, are two rejection emails which I have printed out as they were so nice. One is from an agent and one is from one of the big publishers. I keep them up there, because, in a funny way, they were so complimentary that despite the fact that they were ‘no’s’ – they encouraged me to keep going! They were, as I just heard coined at the RNA Conference this weekend, a ‘better class’ of rejection letter!
Jacaranda Wife by Kendra Smith is out now.