Here’s the thing about starting a new book. For me, it typically takes almost a year to write. And then, it takes another very long unspecified amount of time to revise. So the concept/topic/idea better be something I love, something I look forward to sitting down and writing, at least most days. I’ve been writing full time now since September, 2006. I’ve learned that unless I’m at my desk most days of the week, the book doesn’t get written.
For this very reason I’m constantly changing my home office. I have to love (L.O.V.E.) this room I sit in for all hours of the day. I have to want to spend time in it.
So I buy a new desk every couple of years (current one: stainless steel with wheels), or paint the walls, or put up wallpaper (my new favorite thing) or new art (Andy Davis or Wolfgang Bloch being my favorite artists, both are from southern California). I change the fabric on my chair, and place a different plant on the corner of my desk every few weeks. (Lately, I’m in to cactus). A couple of months ago, I had my contractor replace the old French doors. Now they’re one continuous pane of clear glass with modern silver handles. He also suspended an amazing Jonathan Adler contemporary chandelier to hang over the desk, and installed wood flooring, a white oak plank seven inches wide.
All this so I can sit and be inspired.
So when I turn my computer on each morning, and my dog, Holly, settles in her bed next to my desk, I can, hopefully, find the words that would have made my grandmother proud.
For this very reason I’m constantly changing my home office. I have to love (L.O.V.E.) this room I sit in for all hours of the day. I have to want to spend time in it.
So I buy a new desk every couple of years (current one: stainless steel with wheels), or paint the walls, or put up wallpaper (my new favorite thing) or new art (Andy Davis or Wolfgang Bloch being my favorite artists, both are from southern California). I change the fabric on my chair, and place a different plant on the corner of my desk every few weeks. (Lately, I’m in to cactus). A couple of months ago, I had my contractor replace the old French doors. Now they’re one continuous pane of clear glass with modern silver handles. He also suspended an amazing Jonathan Adler contemporary chandelier to hang over the desk, and installed wood flooring, a white oak plank seven inches wide.
All this so I can sit and be inspired.
So when I turn my computer on each morning, and my dog, Holly, settles in her bed next to my desk, I can, hopefully, find the words that would have made my grandmother proud.
