Finding Home
I wish I could just sit at home and write. Not only would Ravery's Daughters be complete by now, but so would the other two non-related books be out, plus some short stories. The problem though, has been home more so than my very necessary day job. One key reason the theme of Home is so prevalent in RMOS: I haven't really had one.
Here's a brief timeline: I left Colorado and returned to Chicago in 2010. While struggling to find a job, rather than wallow in guilt, I hunkered down and threw myself into finishing RMOS. I can't complain about that period in time very much. I was staying with family, my kids and I were safe, and RMOS was finally finally getting finished.
By the end of 2013, RMOS was in print! Just in time, too. I'd finally gotten myself a job that I enjoyed and one that remains, and was able to start house hunting.
2014 was a nightmare. I will NEVER rent again. Learned a whole lot about how Illinois regards its residents, and wanted out.
The beginning of 2015 saw my stuff back in storage, my kids and I back with family, and began my attempts at buying a house.
Took a year, three realtors, two mortgage companies, and two states (with a countless amount of towns and cities in between) until I found my house in August. It was everything I intended to avoid, style and location wise. The one I saw just before it had everything on my wish list in that regard, was updated, and I knew I should want it, but I didn't. I walked into this un-updated, 195o's-era ranch house, covered in wood paneling and wallpaper and horrible half walls with spindles, and knew immediately that it was home.
Put in the offer, and after sorting through several issues and govenmental crap that came up, finally closed December 30th, three months past the original close date. Oh well, yay me!
We finally officially moved in last week after weekends full of ripping out wood paneling, stripping wallpaper, then some painting. I still don't have one single room that's complete yet. Everything I began painting requires just one more coat of paint. But last weekend, I finally got my computer moved in and the desk put together. Very soon, I'll be able to get back to Book Two. That will be a tremendous relief and celebration, all in itself. How about some pictures?
Whether you're a reader or a writer, we're all curious as to where things get written. So this is what my 'office' started out as.
The Naked Lady room.
Yes. French, non-explicit naked girls sitting in ponds, reading on a tree swing. It was funny enough I really almost kept them. It made my youngest pre-teen boy queasy, which made it even funnier.
But I had my laugh and decided that of course they had to go.
And, of course. It wasn't that easy. My naked lady room did not want to be naked.
There was more wallpaper underneath. Probably just about as old as the house, double layered mostly as it wasn't placed seam to seam, but overlapped.
Covered in the Naked Lady wallpaper glue that was itself about 40 years old.
Under the wallpaper was some unforeseen water damage that completely halted my plans. Once the flaked paint was removed, I had a hole about a foot high and wide beneath this window.
The plan of course was to have this room painted before I moved everything in, but more time and people were spent in this room than any other. That oldest layer of wallpaper was so old that it just flaked in tiny little pieces when it did decide to come off. I finally rented a steamer which helped tremdously, but the walls are in really bad shape.
There's a lot of unplanned patching left, glue that needs to be sanded, then therefore primer, then paint.
It's really ugly at the moment, but I had to move things in. And the frog is in here with me until I get her set-up put back together, so it's a hodge-podge of dissorganization as my writing room is also my sewing/jewelry/painting/everything else room. But I now have my pretty desk and my beloved computer.
Then there's the fact that this room is intended as temporary, as my real office needs much more work and will wait until this summer!
That's where I've been and that's where I'm at now. But I'm so in love with this house, as uncomplete as it curently looks! It's the first time I can think of that I looked forward to coming home, that I had a home that was home and sanctuary. I sleep so soundly at night now.
I'll continue to share pictures at it completes, and I'll leave you with something all should appreciate: one of the first all-important things to get unpacked......
Would not be home without dragons!
Here's a brief timeline: I left Colorado and returned to Chicago in 2010. While struggling to find a job, rather than wallow in guilt, I hunkered down and threw myself into finishing RMOS. I can't complain about that period in time very much. I was staying with family, my kids and I were safe, and RMOS was finally finally getting finished.
By the end of 2013, RMOS was in print! Just in time, too. I'd finally gotten myself a job that I enjoyed and one that remains, and was able to start house hunting.
2014 was a nightmare. I will NEVER rent again. Learned a whole lot about how Illinois regards its residents, and wanted out.
The beginning of 2015 saw my stuff back in storage, my kids and I back with family, and began my attempts at buying a house.
Took a year, three realtors, two mortgage companies, and two states (with a countless amount of towns and cities in between) until I found my house in August. It was everything I intended to avoid, style and location wise. The one I saw just before it had everything on my wish list in that regard, was updated, and I knew I should want it, but I didn't. I walked into this un-updated, 195o's-era ranch house, covered in wood paneling and wallpaper and horrible half walls with spindles, and knew immediately that it was home.
Put in the offer, and after sorting through several issues and govenmental crap that came up, finally closed December 30th, three months past the original close date. Oh well, yay me!
We finally officially moved in last week after weekends full of ripping out wood paneling, stripping wallpaper, then some painting. I still don't have one single room that's complete yet. Everything I began painting requires just one more coat of paint. But last weekend, I finally got my computer moved in and the desk put together. Very soon, I'll be able to get back to Book Two. That will be a tremendous relief and celebration, all in itself. How about some pictures?
Whether you're a reader or a writer, we're all curious as to where things get written. So this is what my 'office' started out as.
The Naked Lady room.
Yes. French, non-explicit naked girls sitting in ponds, reading on a tree swing. It was funny enough I really almost kept them. It made my youngest pre-teen boy queasy, which made it even funnier.
But I had my laugh and decided that of course they had to go.
And, of course. It wasn't that easy. My naked lady room did not want to be naked.
There was more wallpaper underneath. Probably just about as old as the house, double layered mostly as it wasn't placed seam to seam, but overlapped.
Covered in the Naked Lady wallpaper glue that was itself about 40 years old.
Under the wallpaper was some unforeseen water damage that completely halted my plans. Once the flaked paint was removed, I had a hole about a foot high and wide beneath this window.The plan of course was to have this room painted before I moved everything in, but more time and people were spent in this room than any other. That oldest layer of wallpaper was so old that it just flaked in tiny little pieces when it did decide to come off. I finally rented a steamer which helped tremdously, but the walls are in really bad shape.
There's a lot of unplanned patching left, glue that needs to be sanded, then therefore primer, then paint. It's really ugly at the moment, but I had to move things in. And the frog is in here with me until I get her set-up put back together, so it's a hodge-podge of dissorganization as my writing room is also my sewing/jewelry/painting/everything else room. But I now have my pretty desk and my beloved computer.
Then there's the fact that this room is intended as temporary, as my real office needs much more work and will wait until this summer!
That's where I've been and that's where I'm at now. But I'm so in love with this house, as uncomplete as it curently looks! It's the first time I can think of that I looked forward to coming home, that I had a home that was home and sanctuary. I sleep so soundly at night now.
I'll continue to share pictures at it completes, and I'll leave you with something all should appreciate: one of the first all-important things to get unpacked......
Would not be home without dragons!
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