Linda Light’s Writing Space

My writing space is rather like my life – crowded, messy, and often full of noise. 

I write at a funky, old veneered plywood desk of my Uncle Ebe’s. It’s too small for my needs but fits well into the too-full, multi-purpose living room/playroom/study in which it sits. It serves as a divider between what was supposed to be the living room and what was supposed to be the playroom, but which is, in reality, one big playroom for my grandchildren.

Since I look after some combination of my three grandchildren five days a week and often see them on weekends as well, I have learned to fit my writing in and around their lives – just as I did when my own kids were young. Luckily, I don’t need a long stretch of quiet time to sit down to write. As long as I have an idea – and better yet, some words – in my head, I can grab a few minutes here and there to sit at my computer and get them down on “paper”. Which is not to say that I don’t love to have hours at one go for writing. 

If I have to think something through or solve a writing challenge, then I do need more time and space for that. My writing space is my own in the evenings and for hours on the weekends, though, so I’ll often be at my desk during those times. But my thinking-about-writing space expands to the outdoors when I’m gardening, walking my 10,000 steps, or walking the dog. And to my bedroom when I’m sitting staring into space before I go to sleep. Often in the morning, the floor around my bed is littered with scraps of paper with notes scrawled on them!

Having my writing space and computer in the middle of the living/playroom can be a bit of a problem, though, when the kids have time on my computer. I find my papers which (contrary to appearance) do have a sort of order to them, and my computer files (which are occasionally, I admit, left open) can be alarmingly disrupted by even the most well-meaning little hands.