DR: A Room of Her Own

Photo: Deb's Room

Men have always had studies—a den or office to which to retire at day’s end. A place to conduct the business of life, to read, write and reflect. A place to escape. Designer Chris Madden, in her book A Room of Her Own, explores the physical sanctuaries modern women have begun to create for themselves within their homes. But British author Virginia Woolf touted the need for “a room of one’s own”—especially for the novelist—as early as 1929 when she wrote these words in her book titled A Room of One’s Own: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction…”

While I agree the combination would certainly be nice, I must respectfully disagree with Woolf’s suggestion that these are necessities. I’ve written a dozen novels with a conspicuous lack of money. And as for that “room of her own,” my first ten books were written in various rooms of our house that were certainly not my own. My first novel took shape at a desk in the tiny eat-in kitchen of our cramped duplex. That was in the days before I was connected to the Internet, so the research books stacked around the desk (which also served as the telephone station) and overflowing onto the kitchen table (which was also the “dining room” table) were far more copious than you’ll find on my desk today. Worse, everything had to be put away before supper could be served.

Before I began my second novel, I moved my writing space to a corner of our bedroom—because we now had four children running around the duplex. I could close the door on the noise when I was at my desk, and close the door on the mess when I wasn’t writing. What I couldn’t do was kick my husband out of bed when the muse struck at 3 a.m., but the click-click of keys and the harsh light of the computer screen kept him tossing, turning and grumbling, “someof us have to go to work in the morning.”

So for my next eight novels, I settled my desk in a corner of our living room. It was a lovely space and I found I enjoyed being in the hub of family life. When the second of our children left for college, freeing up a bedroom that could have been a real, live office, I opted instead to turn it into a TV room, effectively getting the kids and their friends out of my writing space and out of my hair on a regular basis. It worked so well, that I started saying emphatically in interviews that even if we moved to a mansion, I’d still choose to write in the corner of our humble living room.

It’s a good thing it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. We moved into our present home last summer. It’s not a mansion by a long stretch, but it did give me another chance at that “room of her own” and I grabbed it. How wonderful to have my very own space—a place to write any time of the day or night; and even though now much of my research material is neatly catalogued in a Word file or at my fingertips simply by clicking on a bookmark in my browser, it’s nice to have a place to scatter my things and leave them for months on end until I finally type “the end.”

I write solely on a laptop now, and for a change of scenery I still often carry my computer to the living room, the kitchen table, or in springtime, out on the deck. Time will tell whether a dedicated office improves the quality of my writing one iota. But oh, I do relish the privilege of having my very own writing studio. A room of my own.

What does your writing space look like? Have you found a creative way to carve out a place of your own in which to write?

Deborah Raney is the author of Over the Waters and A Vow to Cherish.
http://www.deborahraney.com