A Room of My Own: Eva Rieder

I had originally planned “A Room of My Own” as a limited run feature to showcase the writing spaces of a handful of writers I knew. This feature has been so popular, I have decided to extend into writers with whom I am less familiar. This week, I am showcasing Eva Rieder, (@evariederauthor on Twitter). According to Eva’s blog, this feature inspired Eva to clean her own creative space! So read it, to reward her for her trouble.

Q) Please describe your space, describing any features that make it extra special to you.

A) My space is a comfy corner in my office/guest room, and I painted it a light blue color several years ago to make the setting more tranquil. When the window is open the desk is lit just right, and I can enjoy a breeze while I immerse myself in writing. This desk is actually a table that I randomly saw at a side-of-the-road giveaway the week I moved in to my house (no kidding), so I snatched it up and made it my desk. It could definitely use some drawers, but I have a bookcase to the side and drawers in my printer table, so I’ve made do. I kept meaning to buy a bulletin board, but instead I just started irresponsibly pinning everything to the wall in the corner: pictures of my sister and niece, quotes and writing rules, and those delightful little postcards by Anne Taintor. The bookcase to the left is what I call my Writing Bookcase—as opposed to the other cases in the house filled with all sorts of books I have and haven’t  yet read, mostly fiction—and it is filled with writing guides, reference books, and various office supplies.

Q) What is your favorite/most inspiring object in this room?

A) There are actually three things in this room that inspire me. One is the illustration above the desk of a princess walking across a tightrope over a spider web, followed (led? chased?) by a cricket and a spider playing their instruments. It is by Arthur Rackham and you can see it here. My mother gave it to me when I was seven or eight, and it’s lived directly above my desk as fantasy inspiration ever since. (I always thought I was the princess when I was young!) The second thing is the word list by the window—I’ve been adding to it since the age of fourteen, a collection of words that I thought sounded pretty or that I just enjoyed saying because they rolled pleasantly off the tongue. Finally, there is a note on the board from my best friend of 19 years that she wrote in ’06, a response to an earlier version of my current WIP. She slipped it into the manuscript and I found it later, a note of encouragement and cheering that somehow only best friends can manage to pull off in a way that truly warms your heart.

Q) What rituals do you go through when you want to write in this space?

A) My ritual is pretty simple, actually: grab coffee/tea, kick cat out of chair, open file on computer. 🙂 I’m such a planner in my non-writing life that I try to fly more spontaneously when I write. Or, when I need to have a strategy, I sort it out the night before as I prepare for bed.

Q) Any other details you would like to share about your special room

A) First, yes, that is a Vampire Diaries calendar from 2011. My mother gave it to me as a Christmas gift because the show is a family obsession, and though I still haven’t read the books, I think the series is quite clever. We call each other each week to debrief! As for the calendar being outdated…vampires are immortal, remember? Who cares what year it’s from? 🙂

Second, there is a rainbow-painted bobble-head dog on my desk that I can’t seem to move away to save my life. My niece painted it when she was about to turn three, and whenever she comes to visit, she’s ecstatic that I still have it on my desk (she is now almost five). I tell her it’s because she did such a good job painting it that it makes me happy when I write. Though it originally just sat there, now it’s actually grown to serve that very purpose—I smile every time I look at it. Little ones can be so darn clever!

[P.S. I have included a picture of the mischievous Sienna, Eva’s naughty cat who looks very happy at the pile of papers now on the floor. -ed.]

Thanks to Eva for sharing her Room with us. Want to share your Room? Email me at annabbps AT gmail.com with a photo and answer the above questions.

Keep an eye on this space for more writers/artists and their inspirational spaces!

See the spaces of other creatives in “A Room of My Own”!

* Tracy McCusker

* Steven Watson

* Daniel Swensen

* Angela Goff

* Angie Richmond

* Ruth Long

* Lillie McFerrin  

A Room of My Own: Tracy McCusker

Today we are featuring writer, poet and artist Tracy McCusker (aka @dustyjournal on Twitter). Her first book of poems, Letters from Nowhere, is now available on Amazon (free through 6/27/12).

Q) Please describe your space, describing any features that make it extra special to you.
A) My creative space is a dual art and writing area. It is part of the living room/dining area in a tiny apartment (isn’t it fun to live in the city?) and takes up at least half of the room. My desk is half a card table, and my art area is a sheep skin throw where I can sprawl out and trip anyone heading to or from the bedroom. I use a Dell Studio XPS desktop with a fairly monstrous amount of RAM to run all of my digital art pizzazz.

In the morning, the sun beams directly onto my monitor and directly back into my eyes. In fits of pique, I will tape the blinds to the wall to keep the sun rays out. Both areas are usually scattered with ink-smeared paper towels to blot my fountain pens and clean ink spills (not pictured above). I keep several sets of books around my space, including a stack that forms at the foot of my computer chair. These books form a barrier that is physically hazardous to pass. I’m happiest when I’m surrounded by creative junk!

Q) What is your favorite/most inspiring object in this room?

A) The most inspiring object in the room is a piece of my own artwork in its specimen case, “Layer Mask”. It’s one of my illuminated journal pages that’s pinned up with insect pins to make a physical layer mask. It’s sitting next to a gaudy little neon London Underground sign which I never plug in. Looking at it reminds me that a little effort every day can result in incredibly beautiful, unplanned things.

Q) What rituals do you go through when you want to write in this space?

A) I will collect all of my writing pens together (not an easy feat, I have over fifty of them in the apartment), select three or four to line up my desk in a neat row. I’ll grab whatever journal I need for the task. I have a general journal, a poetry archive journal, and at least two active sketchbooks / Rhodia dot notepads.

When I feel comfortable with what I am writing, I will switch to typing on the computer. I open Notepad and type up what I’ve written, revising as I go along. Pens are still important at this stage, as I like to fiddle with one when I’m working on particularly difficult lines.

Q) Any other details you would like to share about your special room.

A) My space usually has a giant Wacom Cintiq sitting next to my monitor. It’s currently in its box because I discovered that I *like* having writing space next to my computer.

Thanks to Tracy for sharing her Room with us. Want to share your Room? Email me at annabbps AT gmail.com with a photo and answer the above questions.

Keep an eye on this space for more writers/artists and their inspirational spaces!

See the spaces of other creatives in “A Room of My Own”!

* Steven Watson

* Daniel Swensen

* Angela Goff

* Angie Richmond

* Ruth Long

* Lillie McFerrin 

A Room of My Own: Steven Watson

 
Today we are featuring flash fiction writer and general good guy, Steven Watson (@ashviper on Twitter). Steven was actually one of the winners of the Fairy Ring Contest. He has a blog called Stuck In My Own Mind – be sure to check it out!

Q: Please describe your space, describing any features that make it extra special to you.
A: Extra geeky with all the books, comics, statues, figures, autographs, art, etc. Most of the stuff that makes me, well me. One day I hope to have an actually office where I can fix it to display stuff of the sort instead of all grouped together in one place.

Q: What is your favorite/most inspiring object in this room?

A: Everything is inspiring in its own way, but the most important thing to me here is the shelf which you can’t see the contents of in the picture. Within is a notebook (one you get your senior year in high school that I never actually filled out) filled with cards, notes, pictures, etc. All stuff I’ve accumulated from I believe as far back as my freshman year in high school.

If it/someone is of some importance to me or made an impact in my life there is a chance there is something about them there. And greeting cards, not many, just the ones that mean something. Back up disks of writings, pictures, etc. And several notes given to me over the years and any little item of importance to me and my past. One day I may take and actually scrapbook all the stuff together.

Q: What rituals do you go thru when you want to write in this space?

A: Music. It motivates me and I’ve found with my head phones on I’m able to block out any distractions when I go to write (well, except facebook/twitter, they still get in).

Q: Any other details you would like to share about your special room.

A: Nothing really special about it. It’s just me.:)

Thanks to Steven for sharing his Room with us. Want to share your Room? Email me at annabbps AT gmail.com with a photo and answer the above questions.

Keep an eye on this space for more writers/artists and their inspirational spaces!

See the spaces of other creatives in “A Room of My Own”!

* Daniel Swensen

* Angela Goff

* Angie Richmond

* Ruth Long

* Lillie McFerrin