I first started trying to write a book when I was pregnant with my daughter, nearly 40 years ago. Handwritten in a lined spiral notebook, I had about 70 pages in a romance story when my now ex-husband found it and set it on fire, burning it into ash. That's another story for another time and I won't go into it here, but suffice to stay I didn't try again for years. 8 or 9 years, to be exact.
I'd always wanted to try writing a novel again so when I had six-eight weeks off work due to a hysterectomy, I knew that would be my time. By then I had an electric typewriter (no computers yet,) and I sat at my kitchen table and typed. I completed that book, single spaced (not knowing any better,) and roughly 140 pages. So proud, I sent it in to Harlequin Books and went back to my insurance job.
That book didn't sell, in fact it would be five more books and another 8-9 years before I finally sold a book. By now it was 1996 and Kensington Books (Precious Gems) purchased a book. My first sale! By now I had a computer and I used the advance to purchase a laptop. My own laptop, an open box IBM clunky thing that I was so happy to have!
I'd graduated from the kitchen table to a desk in our guest bedroom. I shared the space with a bed and dresser, but that was ok. When my daughter graduated high school in 1998 and went on to college, I turned her bedroom into a real office and I use that room today still. I collect stuffed dogs and books (obviously,) though I have really thinned out my paperback collection (and I still have more bookshelves full of books in another room!)
Many computers (and books) later, I now have both a desktop and a laptop. I do my writing business in the office (email, blogs, proofreading, line edits, etc.) but all my actual writing is done in my recliner in the den on my laptop. I usually share the seat with one of my dogs. If it's winter, I have a fire in the fireplace and a mug of hot tea or cocoa.
Sometimes if the weather is nice, I'll sit outside on a swing in the backyard and write, but more often than not, allergies and insects drive me inside. Writing makes me happy, and so do my writing spaces.
Recently, I put several more of my backlist books up on Amazon. Free in you're in Kindle Unlimited, and $3.99 otherwise.
Check out The Wolf Whisperer. I love the cover.
Buy Here on Amazon
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