Room at the Top

Every author needs a calm workspace, a place that he or she can relax and let the creative juices flow. For me this has been my dining room table, my front doorstep and even a lovely glade in the woods but as I’m moving more towards full-time writing I’ve realised that I need somewhere more permanent. Sharing a spare bedroom / office with my Beloved’s eBay business is becoming something of a problem now that I’m claiming more time in there, so I’ve been shunted off to the attic.

This isn’t as bad as it might seem as it’s bright and airy (but not as much as it was before I got the roof replaced) and absolutely huge up there. It’s by far the biggest room we have, running the entire length of the house. She hasn’t allowed me to have it all to myself of course, but if I face in a certain direction I can avoid seeing the jumble of Christmas ornaments, bags of old clothes and piles of eBay stock that won’t sell no matter how low she prices it.

Being so far from our main broadband hub is a little troublesome though. When I initially set the roof space up as my workplace, I found that the connection was intermittent. Sometimes it happily logged on. Sometimes it cruelly didn’t. And sometimes, out of pure malice, it waited until I was in the middle of sending some huge and important document before dropping out. But I soon developed a cunning work-around for this problem. If I picked my laptop up and leaned over the steep attic stairs, balancing the computer precariously in one hand and clinging on to the banister with the other, then the signal came through nice and strong. I could still claim to be totally within my own workspace but it was only on a technicality. I tried this a few times and it worked a treat, but one day last week I leaned a little further than usual and heard a nasty crack. I didn’t feel any pain, so either I’m a lot tougher than I look or the banister’s had it. To give you a clue I’ll say that one of us has suddenly developed a nasty wobble.

So it was time to move my desk setup. I’m now seated directly at the top of the stairwell, with only a thin sheet of plywood between me and a case of fatal plummety death. It’s not the best desk placement in the world, especially with the large dormer window directly at my back creating a huge glare on the screen with a Shaun-shaped shadow in the centre, but at least I have an excellent internet connection from here.

Which means that, on those occasions when writer’s block strikes, playing Angry Birds is a whole lot easier. 

© Shaun Finnie 2011