Thursday, March 15, 2012

Welcome to my world

I remember loving the series a couple of years back in a weekend newspaper on writers' rooms.

I was fascinated, I longed for a room of my own, one dedicated to writing and books and creativity, where you get to be a REAL writer.

Well guess what? I have my own now, and here it is...


This is where I go to "work".

And it both is, and isn't "work". I don't get paid by the hour. But I do make money over the year. Some bits I love, some bits are very tedious, or soul tearingly hard. But this is where I come, for two days a week and do my thing - with words, ideas, paints and the (intermittent) internet. And this is where the flow happens. Sometimes!

As you will see, my desk chair is an oversize deck-chair with big soft sofa cushions. The table is polished rough cut natural wood. It feels absolutely nothing like being "at work". Which is truly wonderful.

This is a Japanese style tea house - at the bottom of my Dad's garden, a fifteen minute walk from our house. Through the glazed sliding doors, there is a panoramic view of a little lake, the bog and the sea and woods all around me. I walk down a meandering path between bamboo to get to it, the same path I walked with my husband almost seven years ago to our homemade marriage ceremony here. The same path that we walked to bury all three placentas. The herons swoop down from the trees to fish in the lake. Migrating birds stop over in the bog.

The heating isn't working so it's flipping freezing, and whilst it has an open fire, I can never manage to get it going properly, so I work in three jumpers and a coat for as long as I can then race up to the cafe for tea and hot soup, before heading down to work once more.

You see my desk? Full of books. Books have always been my life and now they are my living in so many ways: writing them, selling them, reviewing them, reading them... So we have three piles. The tallest pile includes The Artist's Way, Creating a Life Worth Living and lots of other titles to reference (including, most satisfyingly, my own, Moon Time book - oh yeah!) in the Creative Rainbow Mama book which I am getting back to writing. The smallest pile is for the Feminine Power course I am creating with my dear friend Tracy in Cork in April and the pile further back is my review copies for JUNO - this is only some of them! The net couple of days are full of book reviewing.

And then we have my (not-so) trusty laptop with the dodgy power cable which beeps endlessly. I took this picture whilst I was finishing off my feature on Ina May Gaskin for the Examiner. I have so much good stuff that I won't be able to use there, or for JUNO that I am going to put together a blog exclusive of the best bits.

And beyond it you see my painting table, with a couple of paintings visible. This is where I go first thing in the morning - and just before I have to do some boring admin! The painting flow has slowed down a little - but did some more today.



And the big bongo drum and a stack of CDs for mad moments, because dancing, yoga and singing are "work" too... right?

Have you got your own creative workspace, or do you long for one? How would it be?

13 comments:

  1. What a great space! We have a tiny house - two bedrooms and not a spare room or bit of space in sight. We built an office in the back garden when our son was born, but my husband worked from home for the year I was on maternity leave and so that became his space during that year. I long for a similar space but I think that will have to wait for quite a while until we eventually move to a bigger house, assuming that ever happens! In the meantime, I do all my writing and any crafts in the sitting room. Not quite the same as a dedicated room!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful space with all that light. The setting sounds amazing too ...a real sanctuary. I too have my own creative space in a converted loft and I wouldn't want to be without it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, I'd go mad (with delight) to have those windows!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, so lovely... we're sleeping in the sitting room at the moment so you can imagine a work space is a little elusive right now. Mind you I did write a prize winning short story in the compost toilet a couple of years ago, the only quiet place.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Snap Henrietta! we sleep in the lounge after sacrificing our bedroom to two small children, 3 bedrooms, 6 people so yes a creative space is not an option at the moment. So i am slowly changing the whole downstairs into a place where I feel relaxed enough to create. Its going to be a long haul, first I have to put everything thats down here into some sort of order. I am getting the urge to throw almost everything out, regardless of its use or ownership! maybe thats just Spring cleaning, but grrrr, crazy woman wants space too. and treading on toys in her dancing space (yes dancing is part of working!) is not condusive to her being gentle. Under the stairs looks appealing if I was the height of a small elf!

    I need some energy to be able to do all this though, now where did i put it?

    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  6. oops forgot to comment on the Tea house! That is a lovely space Lucy, and it looks fabulous to work in. Hope the heating gets fixed soon! and cant wait to read your new book, so good luck with the writing xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have a corner in the roof of a converted barn, a space I share with Matthew, Rosalind and Jackie to create JUNO. My desk, like yours, has piles of books and "pending" piles of things that glare at me until I deal with them. Out of the window I can see more roofs, a magnolia tree that's coming into bud, and fields in the distance. Some days it's too noisy to think up here, today I'm alone and it's blissfully quiet so I'm enjoying preparing pages for summer JUNO...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love it Suzanne - elves and dancing Crazy Women - hurray!

    Love the compost toilet prize winning story, Henrietta.

    Saffia - what I love most about my space is that I don't have to share it and I have the space for thoughts. Too much space sometimes when I'm trying to review certain books that I find challenging - or um... boring ;)

    I am deeply envious of myself, I love my workspace, my light, my view so much, it makes my soul soar. And the silence. Heaven.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a gorgeous workspace, Lucy. I love all the natural wood around you, and the view out over the surrounding land.

    My workspace is my home office, which I love (although I sometimes wish I kept it a little less cluttered). But it's my own space and I love that I don't have to share it with anyone unless I choose to :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your "office" space. Lucy unplugged. . .

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your workspace is dreamy Lucy! I have my spaces set up throughout the house but keep coming back to my kitchen becasue of the large windows overlooking our back yard.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a wonderful space - I love all those windows!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Lucy. Thanks for visiting my humble blog and yes...apart from all the wonderful, colourful creativity going on here, it looks like we have a whole lot in common. You're blessed with a view and many talents...and we are blessed with your authentic blog. Have signed up...

    ReplyDelete

ShareThis

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...