What's your #writing space like? @liviaquinn #MFRWauthor #romance #ASMSG

Welcome to my little retreat on the bayou, affectionately named the Quinn Den. For years I've struggled to spin my southern urban fantasy and contemporary romance stories while the TV blares TV's Funniest or Top Cops or Ax Men. No doors to close in this house, so when a friend gave me the building I jumped at the chance to turn it into my writing space and private retreat. 

This is the view out the window over my desk. Let me give you the tour... The bayou (pronounced bahh) runs east and west so we get some beautiful sunrises and sunsets and in the evening the water looks just like a mirror.  

Come inside. Many of the things that hold a special place in my heart are here. Before you even enter, there's the swing made from a tree, that my friend James the master carver made, and the Aboriginal lizard (he needs a name). He also made the giant quill on the front side of the building.

And he also built my porch and used trees to make the supports. 

He dug for the crystal on my desk and carved that beautiful natural bowl out of a burl of wood retrieved from the bayou near here. 

Oh, and that table by my chair he made to fit on the 100 yr. old piano pedestal and inlaid it with malachite.

There's a stuffed Highland coo I got on my trip, a tea cloth from Scotland a writer friend brought me, the poster from my RNC conference where I met Jimmy Thomas. My storyboard of the Destiny Paramortals sits behind my desk along with one of the last flower arrangements a dear friend of mine made me. She died of breast cancer at 54 and every time I look at it I think of her. If you look closely, next to it you can probably identify Tempe, my Tempestaerie. 

When I go home to DC my friend and I hit Annapolis and some of the thrift shops, so these things remind me of her - the handmade pen dish and holder and the odd looking turquoise lamp I got for $3. 

No retreat would be complete without my Outlander mouse pad which says, "I just want to go to Scotland, Fall through some stones, wake up in 1743, and find Jamie Fraser. Is that really too much to ask?"  which always gets the response from male friends of "Who's Jamie Fraser?"

So, surrounded by tokens which keep me close to my friends, I can settle in with my characters and write.

How about you? Do you have a special place, even a closet you can lock the noise and distractions out, so you can work? I'd love to hear about it.

Find out more about my world, both contemporary and urban fantasy at http://liviaquinn.com or check out my books here.

 

Your Creative Space

When I walked outside yesterday morning to " Mini sled dog wannabe" we stopped at the sound of a large whoosh and bubbling up of water about ten feet from the bayou bank. And up popped the seven foot gator DH had told me about the day before. Apparently he's been hanging around just beyond the brick steps that go down to the bayou.

Our business has been taking all of my time this year and I haven't had a chance to plant flowers around my little outside writing space. But the alligator sighting reminded me of the joy I got from my little creative space last year with the exception of the uneasy feelings when the alligators lay there and watch me write.

There are more creatures of all kinds on the bayou including mosquitoes. This has kept me from making the best use of my favorite spot most of the year. I don't know why it took me so long to thing about it but last year I bought a 10 by 10 screened in canopy which converted my problematic space because of these pests into a perfect spot on any non-rainy day between 60 and 85.





 Inside I'm safe from bugs but can enjoy the jumping fish, tall graceful herons, deer, birds - and keep an eye on the alligators, or the other way around.

We all have our favorite creative activities and the space that lends itself best to it. Where's yours? Is it a specially designed spot or the eeked out corner of the family kitchen? What do you do there? Write, scrapbook, paint?