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| Miranda Seymour's bedroom and desk |
In a timely post, Apartment Therapy has a feature on writers' bedrooms. See where, among others, Plath, Hemingway, Victor Hugo and Flannery O'Connor slept and, sometimes wrote. See above for Miranda Seymour's desk in her (rather lovely) bedroom.
I have started a new novel and the combination of that, ripping out ugly built-in units, and the gorgeous light there has decided me to try to write the bulk of it in our bedroom. The corner of the dining room where I have my desk is decidedly dark and cluttered. Which on these bright days is unappealing.
Further inspiration came from a panel of commercial women fiction writers at the Waterford Writers' Weekend last Saturday. What a contented, happy tribe they are! I was struck by their confidence, their smiles, their positivity. Literary panels are often quite gloomy and doom-laden. I imagined each of these five sunny women writers in five sunny rooms, writing happily. And I wanted some of that.
So, yesterday - mostly because I was in an upside-down mood - rather than write, I took the train to Athlone to wander. I couldn't face my desk. First stop was, as usual, the antique shop. And there I spied a beautiful old pine table. A slim table. A desk-like table. I wasn't expecting to buy a desk so I hadn't measured the newly available space in my bedroom. But I bought the table on spec and my husband is going to nip up to Athlone on Saturday to bring it home and install it in our bedroom.
We have the four-poster bed but, other than that, our room is nothing like Miranda's. It is a work-in-progress that I am hoping will be finished soon. But the new desk - which will remain a minimalist, notebook-only haven (I hope!) - is one step towards a fresh approach to both our bedroom and my writing. I hope it all works out. I may even post a pic :)
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| Truman Capote's rather gorgeous bedroom |
