This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Taking inspiration from The Guardian's 'Writers' Rooms', Sky Arts' 'The Write Place' and Book Chick City's excellent 'Where Stories Are Made'; My Writing Room is a fabulous fortnightly event, in which some of our favourite authors show us where the writerly magic happens, and tell us a little about their writing life.
This week we are super pleased to welcome Clodagh Murphy – author of The Disengagement Ring and the upcoming Girl in a Spin! Enjoy…
My Writing Room by Clodagh Murphy
Living in a one-bedroom apartment, I don't have the luxury of a writing room, but this is my writing corner. It's by the window in the living/dining room. The room faces south-west, so it's a lovely bright place to sit and on a nice day the sun streams in. Having a designated space for writing can help with getting into work mode, and most of my writing is done at this desk. But sometimes I move around with the laptop and if I'm blocked, I find sometimes a change of location can help to get things flowing again.
I work four days a week, so apart from my days off, most of my writing is done in the evenings. I'm better at staying up late than getting up early, and I drink a lot of coffee when I'm working flat out on a book so that I can work late into the night. I write directly onto the laptop. This one was bought in a hurry when my previous one went into meltdown at a crucial stage in the editing of my first book. They pick their moments!
I like to have things around my desk that inspire and motivate me. I bought the painting on the right over the desk with some of my advance when I got my book deal. It reminds me of what I've achieved so far. On the other wall are two silk paintings I bought in Vietnam. I love travelling, so having mementos of my travels or pictures of places I want to go is very motivating to me. A friend gave me the calendar, which is all beautiful photographs of islands, a different one for every day.
I'm not a very organised person and my desk is pretty messy. Every so often I try to impose order on it, but it doesn’t usually last long, and it gets worse the further I get into a book. Among the clutter on it at the moment is a lucky elephant that I bought for my new novel. I probably should have tidied up before taking the photo, but I decided to 'keep it real'. (That's right, I couldn't be bothered to tidy up.)