From the Residency …
Yesterday I said that I “might” have some photos of my writers-in-residence office to share with you—and here they are, just a couple because I am only just getting settled in.
But here’s the door (with apologies for crookedness!)—& although I haven’t got a name plate yet, just the generic writer-in-residence address, there’s that cover flat of The Heir of Night to personalise things a bit, even though it’s very early days. 😉
And here’s a ‘wide’ shot of the office, with various desks, the very nice couch donated by my immediate predecessor, the very talented Eleanor Catton, and—as mentioned yesterday—the Thornspell cover banner on the wall. I think that adds a nice touch! 🙂
Most importantly though, there’s the laptop on which Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three is even now being written. And yesterday I felt the first benefit of the ‘dedicated writing environment’ that is such an important part of the residency for me: having the dedicated space and time hours to really sit down and concentrate in on the book. This involved unravelling a new sequence that wasn’t working particularly well, which ended with me deleting 1200 words—always a gulp—but then writing 2300 “on track” words new. All that took me 6 hours and at the end of that I was “had it” (how does Brandon Sanderson do his 10 hours a day?)—I knew where the story had to go, but there were no more words in me to go there at that time. Always the very best place to stop for the day!
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Guest Spots:
I have my usual ‘US-first-of-the month’ post up on the Supernatural Underground today, featuring the UK cover and the Catherine Asaro quote for The Gathering of the Lost—as well as the backcover blurb for the UK edition, which hasn’t been public before, so check out the Supernatural Underground, here, if you want to have a read.
And yesterday Nicole Murphy published her Writing Process interview with me, here. This follows on from the Writing Habits interview on Monday, here.
Exciting stuff, Helen! It’s intriguing to see where different people write. So nice to have a couch in your office or perhaps a little distracting? Afternoon naps and all that…
I think Eleanor wrote on the couch, but I am more of a write-at-the-desk kind of gal! But I thought it might be fun to try when I’m doing the hand written. ‘working the story out’ scribbling …
I must say that the couch looks comfy.
And I am sure that as the students start to arrive back there will be plenty of local colour!
The couch is comfy! And I think the first students are due next week.
Oh, very nice! It looks like you have a pretty view too 🙂 Andrew’s right, that couch DOES look comfy 🙂
Yes, the view is nice, although when the trees lose their leaves it will be more ‘just buildings’, whereas the offices on the other side of the hall see far more greenery and fewer buildings. But I shall get to see more of the world go by as well!
Only one thing the office is lacking – a cat.
Well some of the English Department folk have dogs, but I fear Iggy would not enjoy their company so very much … 😉
That’s a gorgeous writing space. May you produce many gorgeous words there!
Fingers crossed!