A Room of Her Own
After writing my first three novels at our kitchen table and the next few books from a corner of the living room in the small duplex where we raised our four children, I was thrilled to get my first dedicated office when the kids started leaving for college and we bought our first home. I’ve now had three delightful offices in which to write, and each one holds special memories for the books I wrote there.
My current office in our home in Missouri features a daybed where I often nap…er, recline on a mountain of pillows to work on my novel-in-progress. This room also gives us an extra guest room when all the kids are home for a visit. Our oldest son slept there this Christmas and it was wonderful having him and the other kids there. But it was good to get my office back too, especially since I’m on deadline most of the winter with two different projects.
If the weather allows, I much prefer writing on the screened porch overlooking our beautiful wooded backyard. A little piece of heaven on earth! And thankfully, the weather seems to cooperate more often in Missouri than it did in Kansas. We were even able to sit out here several days in December when the kids were home!
After the kitchen table, this was my first “office”—a table in the corner of our living room (and you’ll see that farmhouse table served as my desk for many years to come until it made its way to the screened porch in our current house. That table is cracked, scarred, burned by an unattended candle, but it has such great memories for me. I’m glad we found a place for it here!)
I was surprised to note how many items from this photo are still in my current office!
My first dedicated office when we lived in the tiny town of Moundridge, Kansas, started out looking like this composite photo:
By the time we moved eight years later, the wallpaper had come down and the office had “grown up” into this:
I had the prettiest outdoor writing space at that house, thanks to the gorgeous native prairie garden Ken planted there. It was ever-changing through the seasons and offered so much inspiration. Alas, the deck wasn’t covered and was often too hot or cold or windy or wet.
This was the light-filled office in our house in Wichita, Kansas. My dream office. I loved this colorful space and wrote many a book there, including my five-book Chicory Inn Novels series.
This was my outdoor writing space at the Wichita house:
For me, where I write has such an influence on my concentration and creativity. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to carve out some wonderful spaces—both inside and out—from which to tell my stories.
What is your creative outlet? Do you have a special room or space where you like to create?
