Category Archives: Home Life

November 9, 2013

Random Dialogue, The Hulk, And a NanoThon

Someone recently said (and I’m really sorry I can’t remember who it was) that a writer’s brain is like a junk drawer.

It’s true. We’ve got character flotsam and setting jetsam floating around in there like nobody’s business, waiting for the day when they’ll find a home in a story. Ideas just rattle around until the day when two or more crash together to make something new, and we can pull out the tangled ball of string and paper-clips out and go, “Yeah, I can McGuyver something out of that.”

It’s stuff that many people would throw away, but we train ourselves to remember.

And there’s the dialogue. I know I’m not the only one who finds myself in a situation where suddenly comments from unknown characters are floating in my head, talking about what’s happening. I don’t usually know exactly where they’ll fit into a story, but they hang out, filling the junk drawer, waiting.

This one is re-surfacing for me today:

Him: “I don’t get why you girls make such a big deal about it. Cramps can’t be that bad.”

Her: “No? Imagine that the Incredible Hulk is grabbing your uterus and wringing it out like a damp dish rag, and you’ll have some idea of what it feels like.”

Him: *snort* “I don’t have a uterus.”

Her: “That’s right, you don’t. So just shut up about it.”

Something tells me she’s the one with the cramps. 😉

In any case, here I sit on the morning of the November 9 NaNoThon (or whatever they’re calling it), chugging a hot tea and Advil cocktail, about to start on my to-do list. It’s like I’m the protagonist in a story where my goal is to write, and the author just glommed on to the whole “throw obstacles at your protagonist” thing.

We’re going to visit the in-laws around supper time. AJ is working, so I have kids to keep busy all day (and I should probably feed them, too). I have laundry to do, suitcases to pack, birthday cards to fill out, cat litter to change, scenes to plan, and various aches and pains making me want to say “screw the world” and crawl back in bed.

Are we going to place bets on how much writing I get done today?

*cracks knuckles*

*finishes tea*

Let’s do this.

13 Comments | tags: chores, cramps, dialogue, headache, incredible hulk, NaNoThon, NaNoWriMo, obstacles, writing | posted in domestic goddess stuff, Health, Home Life, NaNoWriMo, writing

November 1, 2013

Writer’s Guilt

By Kate Sparkes

(Dedicated, with love, to all of my passionate, creative friends, and my NaNoWriMo buddies who will be neglecting… well, everything this month)

I wonder…

If I weren’t a writer, would my children have fresh-baked cookies and beautifully decorated cupcakes to take to school on holidays, instead of whatever I could throw together at the last minute?

Would the laundry always be done, folded, and actually put away? Would the floors shine? Would every meal be made from scratch, would they be planned three weeks in advance and would nothing come from the freezer except for the lasagna I made and thoughtfully socked away for busy nights?

Would I have time to exercise for an hour a day, pilates and yoga and cardio, oh my?

Would I be more involved at the kids’ school?

Perhaps.

It’s quite distracting having these characters and random bits of dialogue floating around in my head. This thing that I do, that hurts me when I do it and hurts worse when I don’t, but that brings such joy when it all goes right… well, it takes up a lot of time, doesn’t it?

Time I could use for cleaning, for brushing, for scrubbing, for running, for ironing, for cooking, for planning and organizing and being the perfect wife and mom.

I must be a selfish person to want this time for my work. I must be a waste of space. I must not care, or want to give all of myself to my family.

But here’s the thing:

If I weren’t a writer, I would be a mess inside.

I would have dreams left untended, worlds left uncreated, voices left unheard and choices unmade.

I would do my best to look happy on the outside, but the world inside of me would die. Without this perfect space for my imagination to play, it would wither, and crumble.

And all of that extra time? I’d probably use it to stretch out on the couch and watch daytime TV. I might take up drinking as a hobby to quiet those voices. You never know.

I would resent every cupcake I baked, instead of taking on classroom challenges with joy when I actually manage to remember them. I’m not the type who sees housework as a blessing, who feels fulfilled by a clean home. When I write, I can do these things without hating them, because they’re not my job.

If I weren’t a writer, I would feel like a servant.

And if things got really bad, I’d go back to what I used to be before I started writing, before I let my imagination soar, before I discovered a community of people who share my dream, before I was able to cut back on the antidepressants.

Before I started walking the dog every day, because damn it, I’m worth taking care of.

I would be less than what I am. Less happy. Less confident in my skills and what I can accomplish. Less fulfilled. Less balanced. Less friendly and cheerful and encouraging. There would be less of me, and less to give to my family and my world.

I am a better wife and a better mom for having something in my life that lifts me up and challenges me, even if it hurts and disappoints and distracts and frustrates me sometimes.

So yes, there are dirty dishes in the sink once in a while. Maybe my kids take peanut-free candy to school on Halloween instead of prettily-decorated, Pinterest-inspired bags of home-baked goodies.

When I feel like I’m being selfish for taking this time, for writing these words and imagining these worlds, I will remember:

This is who I am. This is what makes me whole, and this is how I give my family more of myself.

I’m not being selfish. I’m being the best possible version of me.

—–

(PS- I feel like I should add that there is nothing wrong with being a person, male or female, who feels fulfilled by keeping a clean home, who finds creative outlets in decorating and cooking, who takes pride in sending those cupcakes to school. I admire that. Most days, I wish I could be like you. It’s just not me, and I’m done feeling guilty for not being perfect according to standards that don’t fit me. Much love to you all, whether you agree with these words or not. <3)

11 Comments | tags: cleaning, desires, destiny, family, fulfillment, guilt, housework, writing | posted in about me, Depression, domestic goddess stuff, Family, Home Life, Hows & Whys, the kids, writing

October 31, 2013

The Office. Er, Fort. Fortroffice?

By Kate Sparkes

I needed a writing space. Stephen King told me I did, and I do not disobey Mr King without good reason.

The space can be humble (probably should be, as I think I have already suggested), and it really needs only one thing: a door which you are willing to shut. The closed door is your way of telling the world and yourself that you mean business; you have made a serious commitment to write and intend to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

-Stephen King, On Writing

Until a few days ago, my writing space was in the living room. I didn’t have the whole room to myself, just my desk in the corner. That was fine when AJ was working nights and I was alone in a silent house… except that it wasn’t. There was always a mess on the coffee table to be cleaned, dishes in the sink suddenly screaming to be washed as soon as I sat down to write, unmade beds chanting horrible and ominous things in the bedrooms.

You see, there was no door I could close. I needed my own writing space, I just didn’t know where to find it.

Cassandra Page posted last week about her new writing space– an actual study, if you can believe that. I said there was nowhere for me to have writing space, except for the stinky basement. True, we have a small bedroom that houses the desktop computer and the assorted geekery (read: toys) that AJ and I collect, but it’s not my space, and there’s no room for my desk.

And then I started thinking about that stinky basement…

I couldn’t take the only enclosed room. That’s the playroom, and AJ would go insane if that mess moved out into the open. I couldn’t take the TV area beside the stairs. That’s the “boy cave.” So where to put my girl cave?

Hello, storage area!

Holy carp, it’s even worse than I remembered. O.o

Fine, so it didn’t look like much. Fortunately, I’ve spent a bit of time over the last few years developing my imagination and learning to see possibilities.

I was going to make this WORK.

Now, obviously I couldn’t just move things and stick my desk in the corner; that would leave me no better off than I was in the living room. No, I needed walls, but my traditional construction skills are somewhat lacking.

Good thing I double-majored in box-stacking and blanket fort-building in kindergarten. I knew that would come in handy some day!

So I stacked me some boxes, unpacked and threw out some basement-smelling cardboard boxes, put everything back into the bins, and built a wall. I stacked the Christmas decorations in one easily-accessible corner, and covered the inside of my wall with the prettiest vintage bedsheets I had lying around. I stole an icky rug from the cats’ eating area, vacuumed the hair out of it, and laid it down. I set up the dog’s old kennel in the corner to make a table to spread my papers out on.

Eew. Needs a tablecloth or something.

I took a space heater from upstairs, brought down a Scentsy burner, put up a picture, and stole my glider-rocker back from the boy cave, because they don’t appreciate it like I do.

I ~~stole~~ borrowed a bookshelf AJ wasn’t using for much in his workout area, and brought another down from my space in the living room.

All I needed was… The Desk.

Yeah, I capitalized it. It’s not the biggest desk out there, but it’s 2×4 feet of heavy wood, handmade by AJ’s grandfather, plus a rolltop. Oh, and AJ was away this week, so I had to empty it, flip it, get it down the stairs and into my room all by myself.

Cue scary music

Nooooo problem. *flexes pathetic muscles*

And there we have it. An office built out of storage bins, blankets, and my own stuff from around the house (though I did treat myself to a new lamp, white board, and corkboard, because DAMMIT, I HAVE WALL SPACE!)

I’m so proud of my blanket/box walls. 🙂

Only one problem remains:

I still have no door.

Anybody have some extra, pretty sheets lying around? No? Looks like I’m off to the thrift store…

16 Comments | tags: blanket fort, office, writing space | posted in about me, Craftiness, Home Life, Photos, writing

September 12, 2013

Total Twitter Turkey Time!

By Kate Sparkes

So, I’m planning to make a turkey dinner today. I wouldn’t say with all of the trimmings (which here in Newfoundland often includes salt meat and a side of turnips), but I’ll mash some potatoes, do stuffing (stovetop) and attempt gravy. Why am I telling you this? Because I find cooking boring, so I’m going to tweet the whole thing, starting now. If this turns out to be a disaster, at least there will be entertainment value in it, right?

Feel free to follow along, tweet back with advice or snarky-yet-good-natured comments, and enjoy what will almost certainly devolve into a prime opportunity for schaudenfreude. Someone might as well enjoy this…

(No, this is not my first turkey, but it’s like a wedding. SOMETHING always goes wrong.)

I’m @kate_sparkes, and I’ll use the hashtag #turkeydinner, unless someone has a better suggestion, and only when I remember to use it.

TO THE COOKATORIUM!

5 Comments | tags: cooking, disaster, roast, turkey, turkey dinner | posted in domestic goddess stuff, Food, Home Life

September 11, 2013

WIPpet Wednesday: Lucky You

By Kate Sparkes

Well HELLOOOOOOOO. (Feel free to read that in a Jerry Seinfeld voice, if that’s your thing. It’s not mine, but I won’t judge.) Welcome again to WIPpet Wendesday, which I will be participating in again this week. Things aren’t back to normal, exactly; I seem to have lost my will to write. I’ll get back to it. In the meantime, have eleven sentences from the next chapter of… um… well, I don’t know what to call it. The Thingy That I Shared From Those Other Times seems sort of inappropriate as a title, but that’s what it is.

This doesn’t pick up exactly where we left off last time (Part one here, part two here); I’m skipping a few introductions and the first part of the “Where the heck are we” conversation, simply because these eleven sentences are more interesting on their own, and I can do that, because this is my blog. OH, THE POWER.

—

I walked a few paces behind her and tried not to stumble in the road as I took in the world around me. It looked so much like the land I was familiar with— the moss-covered boulders rising from the ground, the birches and pines and aspens. A red squirrel nattered at us as we passed by, and a startled grouse darted out of the road as we came around a bend. But it was like there was another world laid over the one I was familiar with, with strange birds and plants I’d never seen in my summers exploring the woods around Brightdale. I reached out to touch a blue, magnolia-like flower. “Don’t worry,” Genessa said. “Nothing along this road is magic. Kind of like where you come from, right?”

“We don’t have magic or dragons, if that’s what you mean. Except in stories.”

“Lucky you.”

—

If you do want to read the whole story, and assuming that I can go back in time and rescue my writing mojo from Dr Evil (who OBVIOUSLY has stolen it, because what else could it be?), I’m thinking about using this one to try out Wattpad. This is a little side-story (probably novella-length) set in the same world as the novels I’m working on, so that might be a fun project, and it’s no big loss if it doesn’t work out. Not for promotion, just for fun.

Want more WIPpet fun? Check out the linkie here to see what the other WIPpeteers are up to, and feel free to join in. The more the merrier! Thanks as always to the fantabulotronic K.L. Schwengel for hosting.

What else do we need to do today? My ROW80 update, of course!

Obviously I haven’t been getting much writing done, but I’ve got some revision planning on the go, so that kind of counts toward writing, even if I’m nowhere near hitting a thousand words a day. Or 500. Or three. My other goals are going well, though. I said I was going to do meal-planning, and I’m kind of sticking with that. I finished that pony for that secret… thing, and she turned out really pretty. I don’t have a picture of her yet, but I can show you the bonus pony I did; I don’t think the person who’s getting these reads my posts, anyway.

The problem is, I did this one as a last-minute extra, and I’m having a hard time thinking about sending her away. LOOK HOW ADORABLE!

Freaking Baby Bubbles. Stop it. Don’t look at me like that. STAHP!

Ugh.

Anyway, I finished my son’s Beothuk Barbie doll in time for his birthday, which was another goal. She turned out OK. I researched clothes, and then realized how difficult that was going to be, but I think I did a decent job with it. I re-did her face, but left her hair. I didn’t have the time, energy, or skill to do a re-root (it’s much harder on dolls than on ponies), so she has some lovely and inauthentic sun-kissed highlights going on. In any case, he loved her, and that was the goal. If he wants to put ochre (or more likely, red chalk pastels) on her skin and clothes, we’ll make a project of that and talk about the culture. Learning time!

So there you go. Progress on some things, just not on what this challenge is really about (ie writing). We’ll see how the next week goes…

So tell me: Have you used Wattpad for reading or writing all of the free things? What did you think? Would anyone be interested in seeing this one finished and posted? Do you have dragons where you live? Would you like to? Can I borrow your time machine? Do you want to use the word “fantabulotronic?” You totally can.

16 Comments | posted in Dragons, Home Life, ROW80, WIPpet Wednesday

August 9, 2013

What Have We Learned Today, Children?

By Kate Sparkes

My older son is into Lego now. Big time. He wants all of the big sets (especially all things Star Wars), but as these are horrendously expensive and I want him to create things on his own, we’re sticking with smaller sets that can be mixed up in the Bucket o’ Legos and made into new things.

His latest adventure is building every version of the DeLorean from the Back to the Future movies. It starts with a base from a tractor set, and has bits added from there. Steering wheel, dashboard computer, the bit where the garbage goes in… he does it all, and he’s very proud of his creations.

Until he drops them on the floor.

This is one disadvantage of Lego toys, and another reason we don’t buy the big sets. If you’re playing with the things you make, they’re going to break. Unless you glue them together, it’s pretty much inevitable.

My dear child is a sensitive sort, and he takes disappointment about as well as I do– that is, not well at all. On Wednesday he dropped the BTTF III DeLorean and the rear end shattered. And he cried. Of course he did. He’d spent a lot of time building that. Worse, he had convinced himself that he couldn’t do it again. This car, this thing that he’d created, had been perfect, the ultimate, the very best he could do, and it could never be replaced.

He was crushed.

I tried to reason with him. “The car you made was amazing,” I told him (not lying- given the limited supplies he had available, it was pretty awesome). “You’re upset about this, and that’s OK. I know it hurts to lose something you’ve worked so hard on.”

Yes, folks, I had my Good Mama panties on that day. It’s hard not to be frustrated with a “big” kid who’s wailing over something that seems insignificant in the larger scheme of things (“a LEGO car? Kid, I have BILLS to pay and I can’t figure out what’s making the fridge stink!”), but I really did understand. I’ve been there. I’ve written 55,000 words of a story and then lost it all in a computer glitch/crash/file transfer error. I’ve worked on customizing a pony, spent hours on it, and realized I was painting the wrong side. I know the pain of having to start over.

So I let him be upset, and I tried to reassure him. I told him that he’d done it once, he could do it again. I told him (again, from experience) that it would probably be even better the second time around. He would take what he learned the first time and build on it.

He didn’t believe me. He said he could never do it again. Finally I explained to him he had two options: he could set it aside until he calmed down and then try again, or he could give up.

“I don’t want to give up!” he wailed. He went to his room and closed out the whole cruel, Lego-breaking world for a while.

And then, when I wasn’t looking, he sneaked out and made a new Delorean.

It was better. He was happy.

Did he learn anything from that experience? I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but this was not our first time dealing with this exact same issue (hence the frustration on my part).

I did, though. It’s something I think most of us have been through: creation of something we love, loss of that creation, the temptation to say “Screw it, I didn’t want a DeLorean anyway.” But when we pick up the pieces (literally or figuratively speaking) and ask what we’ve learned from our past attempts, we find that we can make something just as good– or even better. Not a new lesson to me, but one I needed to be reminded of.

That’s not the only lesson I’ve learned in the past few days, but it’ll do for now. Maybe next week we’ll take a look at “Congratuations, You Can’t Win.” THAT’S a fun one!

So tell me: have you been there? What was your Lego DeLorean, and how did the next attempt turn out? Have you ever decided that something was just too broken to be fixed?

10 Comments | tags: creativity, lego, lessons, loss | posted in Family, the kids

July 28, 2013

Something Magical

By Kate Sparkes

I know, I haven’t been around much since we left for our vacation. I wasn’t planning to do a lot of non-challenge posts, but sometimes I just need to share things with you guys.

Tonight I saw a little winged unicorn prancing around under a rainbow, right in the middle of the city. It’s not something you see every day, so I took pictures.

4 Comments | tags: boy, child, playing, rainbow, Unicorn | posted in Family, Photos, the kids

June 30, 2013

Writing and Reading and ROWing, Oh My!

By Kate Sparkes

Hey, look at me, being ready to get in on something at the beginning!

Since I already have two posts scheduled for tomorrow (the actual start date for this round of “A Round of Words in 80 Days”), I’m going to post this today. It’s Sunday, right? Regular update day.

GOALS

Writing:

Bound: finish editing this draft and have it out to readers by August 1. This should leave time for the fine-toothed comb treatment if I use my time wisely, but will depend on what I can get done before we go on holidays at the end of the month.

Torn: finish a full draft by the end of this round. This is a challenge for me, as this is another thing that was lost when I my own computer broke, so I’ve been starting from scratch. Big changes were coming, anyway, but it would have been nice to have my road-map…

Super Secret Project: Remember when I had those vampires bouncing around in my head, and I used them to take a break from my fantasy world? I have the beginnings of another world rattling around in my brain, and it all started to come together when I was walking the dog yesterday. No promises or goals, except to say that if I need a break, I’ll be working on this, and possibly offering an opening scene some time for WIPpet Wednesday. It’s not a genre I’ve had anything to do with in the past, so this could be interesting…

Disregard the Prologue: Yes, blog goals! I’m going a 31 day challenge in July, to keep me going through vacation and to allow me to schedule posts (because everything else is just going to be going SO WELL that I won’t need the distraction of this blog. HA!). So for July, I’ll make it a goal to post every day. After that… Well, I’ll readjust, and stop bombarding y’all with myself.

Other Stuff:

Art: I need to do a couple of custom My Little Ponies by the end of the summer, so I’m throwing that goal in here, because they’ll never get done otherwise. Two by the end of August, for sure, and if I can find time, there’s a personal project I’ve been itching to get to. This is what happens when you have a friend who sells doll hair, and you can’t stop yourself from buying all the pretty colours.

Family: Throwing a few more personal goals in here. Meal planning every week, one big, fun outing with the kids every week of vacation, reading one book (or chapter of a book) with each of the kids every day. Yes, we’re sometimes bad about that, especially when they forget to remind be until it’s quarter-past bedtime.

Reading: A book a week. Shouldn’t be too hard, but sometimes I get off-track when nothing’s grabbing me. I’ve got a ton of books waiting, though, so it should be fine. I have one book I’m alpha reading for someone this summer (I didn’t even know that term until she asked me… I’ve only used beta readers. You learn something new every day, don’t you?), I have my new paperbacks, I have a few books to finish on my kobo, and a bunch stranded in the Kindle app on my computer… plus the library. This should be doable, especially if I sit outside and read when the kids are playing.

–

So that’s the big, overarching goals. As far as time spent/word count, those goals will have to be broken down as I go along. My word count goal for July’s Camp NaNoWriMo session is only 25,000 words, and I’m cheating (editing/partial rewrites), so my goal should be 1,000 words a day… unless you account for vacation… so still 2,000 words a day. After that, who knows? Maybe I’ll go easy on myself in August, or maybe I’ll have to write my poor little heart out to distract me from the torment of hearing back from beta readers (who I love. Have I mentioned that I love you all?).

Wish me luck… and let me know if you’re participating so I can be sure to stop by and offer encouragement as the round goes on! I don’t always get updates on the blogs I’ve signed up to follow…

4 Comments | tags: #ROW80, goals, reading, writing | posted in Art, books, Bound, domestic goddess stuff, Family, NaNoWriMo, ROW80, Torn, writing

June 2, 2013

Sunday #ROW80 Update: Writing, Reading, and… Cleaning?!

By Kate Sparkes

Hello! First Round of Words update since JuNoWriMo started yesterday, so I guess it’s time for those updated goals, isn’t it?

Yes, Kate. Yes it is.

50,000 words in a month breaks down to 1667 words a day, which isn’t so bad on good days. Sadly, they’re not all good days, so I set my goal at 2,000+ words a day so that there’s some wiggle room when family stuff comes up and I can’t write, depression decides to kick my ass into the corner, my personal muse decides to sit his own ass in the corner and pick the dirt from under his fingernails instead of doing his share of the work… whatever.

So here are my goals for June (which will take me past the end of this round of ROW80):

write 2,000 words a day on TORN
read one novel a week
continue edits on BOUND after writing is done for the day so I can get that out to my dear darling special reader friends and start looking for an editor (eep!)

We’ve had some not great news concerning my husband’s job. He’s not losing it, and I’m probably not supposed to share details, but it looks like he’s going to be having a very stressful summer. Not pleased. So in addition to my writing goals, I’m making a set of goals focusing on making his home life easier and less stressful, since there’s bugger all I can do about his work life. He’s been my biggest supporter (and to be honest, my hero) through a lot of my tough times. Now it’s my turn to be at my best for him. It might affect my writing, but there’s not much I can do about that.

full menu plan for each week with healthy meals (eating out/getting pizza still allowed, but should be planned)
10-minute tidy (or 15 on bad days) with the kids every day before AJ comes home (clutter REALLY stresses him out) and before bed
get the basement in shape so the kids want to play down there more and keep the upstairs tidier
save extra money so when he does get days off we can get out of town and he can relax (I hope), and also to buy an elliptical for days when he can’t get out to exercise (and days when I can’t get out with Jack)

That’s all I’ve got for that so far. I know from experience that if I set my goals too high I’ll fail and give up, so I’ll leave it at that for now. If you have any suggestions, though, I’m open to them, and prayers and happy thoughts over the summer would be much appreciated. And no, he’s not a drinker, so I can’t greet him at the door with something alcoholic in hand when he gets home (and he’s going to be on-call anyway, so no drinking even if he did. Which he doesn’t. I, on the other hand, might take up drinking as a hobby. YAY!)

So what have I achieved since my last update?

Not much on Thursday or Friday, but yesterday was a good day. I woke up with a migraine (bloody weather), but I took a frightening amount of painkillers and cranked out 3800 words over the course of the day. Were they good words? Darned if I know. I think they were.
Started reading Fallen. It starts out with one of my least favourite set-ups (people who are DESTINED to fall in love and they JUST CAN’T HELP IT!), but I like the writing, and I’m going to keep going to see what happens. It might lose me if an IMPOSSIBLY GORGEOUS AND PERFECT BOY shows up, but I’m giving it a good chance. 🙂
Still struggling with reading fiction on the Kobo. I’m about 12 chapters in on First of Her Kind by K.L. Schwengel. I like the story, but the format makes me put it down a lot, and that makes me sad. Would be better if I was travelling. Great for reading in the bathtub, though (except that my husband thinks I’m nuts for having the Kobo near water)
Holy crap, how is the living room a mess again? Nobody is doing anything! Ugh, guess I should go round up the troops to take care of that…

I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and I’ll see you later (I’ve scheduled posts for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Will there be Engrish? Stay tuned to find out…)

6 Comments | tags: #ROW80, goals, home, JuNoWriMo, migraine, work | posted in books, Bound, domestic goddess stuff, Headaches, Home Life, JuNoWriMo, ROW80, Torn, writing

February 19, 2013

Workspace

By Kate Sparkes

Shannon Thompson posted a while back showing her impeccably neat workspace (which she admits she’d just finished cleaning- I like that honesty), and asking to see other people’s. Mine was a big ol’ mess at the time, but now it’s… well, it’s as good as it ever gets.

Fancy, eh? I love the roll-top desk; my husband’s grandfather made it, and it’s brilliant for hiding the mess that’s usually all over the flat bit. The shelves, in theory, keep my stuff organized. The drawers stick a bit, but I blame that on the amount of crap I keep in them.

It’s not perfect, but it works.

But it’s not the desk itself that’s important, is it? It’s the other stuff. I know a lot of people like a clear space, free of distractions. I am not those people (or even just one of them, for that matter). My desk is covered in things I need and things that make me happy- things that inspire me, gifts from friends, pictures of people I love. It works for me. Wanna see?

That’s my zombie woodchuck there. He has nothing to do with anything in my work (not until book three, at least*)- he’s just hanging out because he makes me smile (mostly because whoever designed him didn’t mean for him to be a zombie, but he so obviously is). That lunch box there holds stickers, valentines, and other fun stuff I can send to people in the mail. The little guy on top was an early birthday present- adorable AND makes me think of friends. That amazing pen-holder is a mug that my mom painted for me. Let’s ignore the bills on the shelf and move on…

The kingdom of Mid-Desk! Wondering about the ponies? They remind me of a couple of my characters. Don’t ask why, they just do. No, my stories are not about horses. Above them you’ll see a pile of tiny notebooks. They’re for notes. Also headphones, because we all need to block the world out sometimes. I can write with music; for reading I use the White Noise Ambience app. Hand creams, absolutely essential in the winter… oh, hey, and dental floss! I was wondering where that went.

To the left, to the left… Less relevant stuff, mostly- thisspace isn’t just for writing. A doll head in progress and pony bodies, insert evil laugh here. That huge book is a Literature textbook I borrowed from my mother-in-law; the glass doorknob is from our last apartment. I love it- I might start collecting glass doorknobs some day. Ever held one? They feel great. Um… Oh, notecards, going back to sending stuff to friends. Also some outgoing mail, and a rock that a friend who I miss very much decorated for me.

Wondering where the books are? They have their own shelf right next to the desk.

Books about writing, my four larger notebooks (we’ll look at those another day, why not?), novels I’ve read recently or will be reading soon- hey, there’s another whole post right there! Don’t mind the bottom shelf- that’s kids’ books and two Narnia DVDs… Which are totally for the kids. *ahem*

So there you go. No, I’m not opening the drawers for you; the contents have nothing to do with writing, and I’m afraid that if I open them they’ll never close. Also not going to show you my other workspaces- the kitchen table, my bed, and the couch- because they’re the next places I need to clean. Ugh.

*THERE WILL BE NO ZOMBIE WOODCHUCKS IN BOOK THREE.

5 Comments | tags: Desk, lala oopsies, my little pony, write, writing space, zombie woodchuck | posted in about me, domestic goddess stuff, linktastic, writing

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disregard the prologue

Category Archives: Home Life

Vines and Vices (All the Queen’s Knaves book one)

Urban Fantasy (writing as Tanith Frost)

Bound (Bound Trilogy Book One)

Torn (Bound Trilogy Book Two)

Into Elurien

At Any Cost (Bound Trilogy prequel novella)

The Binding (Short Story)

Follow via Email

Kate Sparkes

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