Monday, October 14, 2019

A Room of My Own

Q: Laptop, desktop, Underwood or pencil. Do you budget based on book sales, or do you just go for it? What’s your dream office look like?

- from Susan

If I had based my expenses on my advances or royalties… 

When I committed to a fiction writing future, I spent what it took to be all in. That meant squeezing a writing space into our second bedroom. It meant upgrading my home computer, buying a few highly-touted “how to” books on the craft, and spending the money on a writers’ conference (and then another). I had prepared for the new challenge by saving money from my other work life, so I was able to put out some funds. 


Now, in my new home, I have a real writer’s office. A desk, a reading chair, bookshelves that would be ample if I weren’t a book addict, my preferred laptop, a printer, a jar of pencils, a lifetime supply of file folders, a dedicated file cabinet. It’s hardly a dream since it’s always messy, but it works. It could use a major dusting, but that will have to wait until I send a finished manuscript off to my agent. Hmmm. Am I saying the reward for finishing a book is that I get to dust? I’m realizing as I write that that’s perverse. Chocolate first, then dusting?



4 comments:

  1. Yours looks much less cluttered than mine, and not as dusty, either! So you must be doing something right.

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  2. Frank, yeah, was careful which side of the office I chose to photograph! And not too close up.

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  3. I agree with Frank, Susan. You should see my office, it's a nightmarish mess...but I know where everything is :-) . That said, I envy people with spare, uncluttered offices.

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  4. Paul, nothing spare or uncluttered here. I'm on two non-profit boards and the material from one in particular is in piles that get so large they slither to the floor when a cat leaps on them (almost daily). And you're giant steps ahead of me if you know where to find things.

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