This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
This week Lucy Diamond shows us around her office. Her latest novel, Me and Mr Jones, is released on Thursday.
I have had many writing spaces over the years: a tiny folding table in our basement Brixton flat; up in the attic of our Brighton house (accessed only by a pull-down ladder, i.e. total health and safety nightmare) and now, at last, I have a proper office in our current home in Bath. A room of my own. I love it.
We live in a higgledy-piggledy Victorian house and my office is tucked away next to the kitchen (good one). It’s painted pale green (calming apparently) and one wall is lined with all my books. In the back corner there is a big red armchair where I sit to doze off, I mean, check proofs and important things like that.
On my desk are various bits and bobs from my travels: a model of Shiva from India, a painted cat from Indonesia, a paperweight from Venice. There are also special things my children have made me: a heart with ‘I love you for being my mum’ painted on it, a pot which says ‘Best Mum’ (if only it were true…), as well as lots of drawings and front covers pinned up on a noticeboard to my right. Also on my desk there is still, unbelievably, half a packet of Harvey Nicks lemon biscuits which my husband gave me, although by the time you read this they will probably be a distant memory…
There are French windows at the end of the room which look out onto the garden so on sunny days (ha) I fling them open and listen to the birds. Usually though I’m huddling against the little oil heater beside my desk or putting on an extra jumper. One of my prize possessions is a framed photo of me and Jo Brand, taken when I was nominated for the Melissa Nathan Award a few years ago. I see it every time I walk into my office and it makes me feel really happy.