tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post5571549219462997894..comments2024-03-29T10:25:17.813-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: The Inspirational SurroundJungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-49824089687309573112008-02-20T11:00:00.000-05:002008-02-20T11:00:00.000-05:00Hallie, I've got the same sun porch! My husband ga...Hallie, I've got the same sun porch! My husband gave me a polar fleece scarf with inserts on the back of the neck and inside pockets at the ends for those microwaveable buckwheat packs. Warm hands, warm neck and warm feet (thanks to polar fleece socks from REI and high-top slippers). I also have a little space heater for winter and fan for summer that I can never get adjusted quite right. Here's my theory of why New England and the South have produced so many great writers: It's the most productive thing you can do while huddled in blankets or sitting still, if you're lucky, in front of a fan.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately my porch is also over-run with stuff we moved "temporarily" while our upstairs dormer was being built. I'm slowly weeding out the old sports equipment and books I'll never read, the Goodwill donation bags, the old candles, flower baskets and gardening tools. I have a filing cabinet I can't fit anything in, one long bookcase and a stack of plastic drawers for office supplies.<BR/><BR/>I have a couple of FWQ's (favorite writing quotes), including the Mark Twain one on my blog. Here's another from Robert Heinlein, "The Notebook of Lazarus Long":<BR/><BR/>"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly."<BR/><BR/>I don't know of any one person who could do all that, but it's an interesting assortment to pick from for characters!<BR/><BR/>MoAliasMohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02215864597874551595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-92163153699383044342008-02-20T10:32:00.000-05:002008-02-20T10:32:00.000-05:00Hank, I wear the same slippers. Haflingers!My off...Hank, I wear the same slippers. Haflingers!<BR/><BR/>My office is the former law library of the judge who owned our house before we did. But it's in the basement & very dreary in teh cold months! So I take the laptop and sit in comfort in the living room--fewer steps to the cookies, unfortunately!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-21517195663141393572008-02-20T10:06:00.000-05:002008-02-20T10:06:00.000-05:00Becky,Your office view sounds beautiful!!! But I h...Becky,<BR/>Your office view sounds beautiful!!! But I have to admit, I'm envying your husband's remote location. Not so much now, but when the kids were younger, I would have done anything to be able to walk out of the house, and into a nearby, but isolated space!! <BR/><BR/>I had to think for a minute what you meant by mary-tyler-moore-window and then all of a sudden the picture flashed clearly!!! Guess I watched a few episodes!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-31699142399439175622008-02-19T15:54:00.000-05:002008-02-19T15:54:00.000-05:00When we bought our house many years ago, it had tw...When we bought our house many years ago, it had two spaces that could be used as offices. One had been a dining room (oh, please, instead of an office?), and it had hardwood floors and a big picture window. The other was, I think, one of those canning rooms--built in under the house, with concrete floors and some wooden shelves. To get to it, you had to walk outside, go around the house, down the stairs and in at another door. My husband who craves isolation and solitude when he works, looked at that one and said..."Ooh, can I have this one?" I thought about the hardwood floors, the nice indoor entry, and the nearby stove & fridge, and I made the ultimate sacrifice. Of course, dear, if it means that much to you!<BR/><BR/>We did drywall and put down some real floor and he built in a great desk and took the nice stereo downstairs. And he added a big window, so he, too, can look out at the trees and the deer that stroll by.<BR/><BR/>And we did get rid of the hidious yellow wallpaper & chandelier that adorned my "dining room" and closed up the Mary Tyler Moore window that went through to the kitchen, so I could have more bookshelf room.<BR/><BR/>My office is also the guest room, so on occasion, I have to vacant it for a little while. But I know so many women staying at home with the kids and trying to do their own work who have a little desk in the kitchen or in the hallway. I have tons of bookshelves, all stocked with my favorite books, and I have those windows that let me watch the trees and the birds and the occasional deer who wanders through the gate.<BR/><BR/>No bulletin board, but I do have a big whiteboard I found at used office supply place. I use it occasionally, but I'm so computer-based these days that I tend to do most of my brainstorming with the keyboard.<BR/><BR/>Virginia Woolf said it--a room one one's own. I feel very lucky to have mine!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-47478662014516367432008-02-18T17:14:00.000-05:002008-02-18T17:14:00.000-05:00Because my office is so cluttered I have three quo...Because my office is so cluttered I have three quotes..<BR/>"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on"...Havelock Ellis<BR/><BR/>"We must cultivate our garden." Voltaire<BR/><BR/>And this from the Roman poet Horace..<BR/>"This is what I prayed for...A piece of land not so very large, with a garden and near the house a spring of ever-flowing water, and up above these a bit of woodland."Rosemary Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08033747422699443024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-42633324892825068552008-02-18T13:58:00.000-05:002008-02-18T13:58:00.000-05:00Susannah - Thanks for sharing! You ispired me... a...Susannah - Thanks for sharing! You ispired me... and Jan,check on the BBoards. My office has none. No walls to put one one. See:<BR/>http://www.hallieephron.com/bio/images/MyOffice-sm.jpgHallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-17438091846705761792008-02-18T12:36:00.000-05:002008-02-18T12:36:00.000-05:00I actually lied. I don't have two bulletin boards,...I actually lied. I don't have two bulletin boards, I have three. The two right in front of my desk are work boards. They have those touristy-walking maps of both Providence and Newport (locations for new book), hand-drawn maps of Hallie's old apartment, her new condo, and the Chronicle newsroom, character sketches of the major characters, Mark Arsenault's great column on how to get through writing a book, and a quote I copied off the Internet that says Be PROFOUND, Be FUNNY or Be QUIET.<BR/><BR/>Bulletin with photos of family, friends, fanmail and my own second grade Father's Day card to my dad, is up over the fax.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-61054089119173319882008-02-18T11:19:00.000-05:002008-02-18T11:19:00.000-05:00Hallie -- those are some rockin' gloves. And how ...Hallie -- those are some rockin' gloves. And how nice to have your family metaphorically all around you while you work!<BR/><BR/>You know the classic image of the starving writer tapping away up in some garret room?<BR/>Well, that's my office, only I'm not starving. The fridge is exactly 22 steps away, if you count going down narrow stairs from the attic. I burn precisely 8 calories on the trip down to get cookies and 10 calories on the way back up.<BR/><BR/>It's not over-big, my office, but room enough for two bookcases, a leather club chair, and a small 1920s writing desk that somehow manages to bear my computer, keyboard, and monitor.<BR/><BR/>I also have a bulletin board, which functions for me somewhere in the grey area between gentle encouragement and boot camp abuse. It displays a few great quotes from Anne Lamott. A couple of old, old photographs of women with dogs. Puzzle's CrimeBake program cover! A photo of my best friend and her son. A funny little note from author Michael Perry, after one of my foster dogs ate an autographed copy of his book. And a photo of my agent from his own author site on the Internet. He looks encouraging and upbeat. Since the photo was taken, I believe, after publication of his own first book, it's an inspirational image of survivorship, too. See? The book has released--yet he is vertical, smiling, and appears to still be a sensible person who can count to ten and remember his own name.<BR/><BR/>A coaster on my desk is a cast of a pawprint made by a dog on the ship, <I>Mary Rose</I> (ca. 1512). Almost 500 years ago, he stepped on terra cotta that would form part of the ship's oven. There's something sweet about that enduring dog, whose pads must have burned a little when he crossed those still-cooling bricks.<BR/><BR/>I also have a toy on my desk -- an Indian figure astride a horse -- part of the <I>Spirit of the Cimarron</I> toy series that was offered by Burger King when that movie was out. That toy's whereabouts was a significant question in the first search I ever worked, for a missing 6-year-old boy. Though I need few reminders to think of that little one, the toy reminds me how important it is to think three-dimensionally in the search field and, it would seem, in the process of writing, too.<BR/><BR/>This would be the garret office:<BR/>http://iws.ccccd.edu/ccharleson/office.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com