I hope you didn’t expect a tidy and sleek office?
My office is a place full of paper, books, notes, pens, files, cup of coffee, lights, noticeboard, etc. Our super-tough birchwood work stations came over to France with us ten years ago, plus the IKEA office cupboards which used to adorn my UK office when I ran my translation business.
We converted part of the enormous basement into an office to fit the furniture, et voilà! My IT engineer husband fitted network cabling, wifi, regular routers, a second wireless access point and all those techie things you need. We have two HP printers, one colour, one black & white laser, all inherited from the UK business. We will never need to buy a paper clip, filing tray or ring binder ever again.
Behind all this material description runs a theme; having a properly equipped and comfortable workplace. It can be a ‘shed’, a spare bedroom, part of a living room or extension. Even if it’s a ‘portable’ office, you can organise it so it can be easily set up whenever you want. Multi-tiered trolleys are excellent mobile storage spaces for the latter. (IKEA does a great one.)
Sometimes, when my back misbehaves and it’s too painful to sit for hours, I have a stand made from on old occasional table – thank you, dear husband – which stands on my normal desk.
Each writer has their level of untidiness/tidyness – that’s a personality trait – but each of us must make our own, dedicated personalised space so that our muse feels comfortable enough to come out to play.
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Writing challenges so far:
Day 13: A funny family story. Or not
Day 12: Early bird or night owl?
Day 11: Favourite writing snacks/chocolate porn
Day 10: Post an old picture of yourself
Day 9: Post 5 random facts about you
Day 8: What’s your writing process?
Day 7: Introduce your ‘author friend’
Day 6: How the writing all began
Day 5: What inspired the book I’m working on
Day 4: The setting for the new Roma Nova book
Day 3: Introducing the main characters Julia and Apulius
Day 2: Introduce your work in progress
Day 1: Starting with revealing information
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, INSURRECTIO and RETALIO. CARINA, a novella, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories, are now available. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. NEXUS, an Aurelia Mitela novella, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines… Download ‘Welcome to Roma Nova’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be first to know about Roma Nova news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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