This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
For now (i.e. the next few weeks) my writing room is the study at the back of our Edwardian terraced house in Brighton. A friend with a considerably bigger house tactfully commented that we had made, ‘Very good use of our space.’ I think what she actually meant was ‘Blimey, how do you all fit in?’ With a teenage son and twin girls, let’s just say it’s cosy.
My study overlooks our tiny patio garden and the row of houses beyond. It’s a bit like the Hitchcock film Rear Window as I can look out and speculate about my neighbours. As yet no murders, but way too many BBQs… From March onwards it’s like being in a scene from The Birds as we are surrounded by sea gulls squawking, mating, nesting, above all squawking. These birds are seriously inconsiderate, don’t they realise I’m trying to write!
I try to keep my desk relatively clutter free with just my Macbook and notebook on it. I do have a thing about stationery. My chair is actually one of my daughter’s old high chairs! Apparently it’s a modern classic, though I can’t see it myself.
My recent novel is set on the Greek island of Zakynthos so I put up pictures of the beach that features in it to remind me of the blisteringly blue Ionian Sea. Above my desk hangs an Edward Hooper poster. He’s one of my favourite artists as I love how his pictures tell a story. To the left is a poster from a Rufus Wainwright concert, my all time favourite singer. The mug is on my desk because I drink tea all day long.
I’ve always known that occupying this study would be temporary so apart from my pictures, to say it’s not exactly a place of great beauty is an understatement. Behind me is my husband’s filming equipment and his wardrobe (I successfully squeezed him out of the one in our bedroom, oops) and his telescope (why?), plus piles of books, files and proofs that make me look like one of those people on Britain’s Biggest Hoarders. When I gave the room a bit of a tidy pre-photo and shifted all the rubbish out of the shot I found a pair of my son’s old socks (thanks Joe) but on the upside I also found a bracelet that my husband had bought me from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.
Sure enough now my daughters are ten they have put their collective foot down about sharing a room. Over the summer I will be re-locating to the back of our living room. Once there I will be forced to be brutally minimalist, it’s going to be clean lines, empty surfaces, no more piles of clutter, as if… And I’ve got a few suggestions about where my husband can stick his telescope…
Rebecca's latest novel, Swimming Pool Summer, has just been released.