Posts Tagged ‘home office’
Cindy on January 28th, 2010
Let her have a chair, her shadeless lamp, the table.” — Jane Hirshfield, “The Poet”
The place in which we work — an art studio, a home office, a spare bedroom, or the corner booth at the local diner — is essential to our creative lives.
I often hear would-be writers and artists complain that they can’t practice their craft because they don’t have a studio or a home office. But if we really want to write or paint, sculpt or sew, we’ll find a way to make a space for it. My friend Debbie, for instance, makes no apologies for keeping her sewing machine set up in the living room while she’s working on her projects. And nobody thinks she’s messing up the place. Her visitors are inspired by the cool things she’s creating.
An evocative portrait of an unknown poet’s writing room, this sweet poem, below, always tugs at my heart. It’s a universal image — the writing desk with a single lamp — but Jane Hirshfield makes it intensely personal. She also reminds us that the support of family and loved ones is just as essential as having a room of one’s own. -- CL
The Poet
By Jane Hirshfield
She is working now, in a room
not unlike this one,
the one where I write, or you read.
Her table is covered with paper.
The light of the lamp would be
tempered by a shade, where the bulb’s
single harshness might dissolve,
but it is not, she has taken it off.
Her poems? I will never know them,
though they are the ones I most need.
Even the alphabet she writes in
I cannot decipher. Her chair –
Let us imagine whether it is leather
or canvas, vinyl or wicker. Let her
have a chair, her shadeless lamp,
the table. Let one or two she loves
be in the next room. Let the door
be closed, the sleeping ones healthy.
Let her have time, and silence,
enough paper to make mistakes and go on.
—Reprinted from The Lives of the Heart, by Jane Hirshfield; HarperPerennial; 1997
This post is part of a new weekly series of poetry appreciation. To read more, please click on “Poems to inspire” in the CATEGORIES column at right. As always, I welcome your recommendations, too.
–Top photo “My Desk Chair” (copyrighted) by Cindy La Ferle–
Cindy on March 10th, 2009
Do you have a quiet place in which to work on your creative projects? Whether you sew, paint, keep a journal, or write poetry, you need a sacred space to summon your muse…
First published in 1929, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf has been reduced to a catchphrase for writers and architects who haven’t even read the book. Originally penned as two lectures, Woolf’s landmark essay asserts that every woman writer should have a substantial income and a room of her own if she is to produce literature worthy of publication and readership.
Furthermore, Woolf said, women who want to write ought to be given the freedom to travel — and they must have plenty of idle time for daydreaming and creating. That was very progressive talk for the 1920s. And while it isn’t exactly earth shattering today, A Room of One’s Own is still considered a major milestone for women writers. Whenever I’m asked to name 10 books that changed my life, this one never fails to top the list.
Not surprisingly, the subject of finding privacy and “the perfect writing space” always comes up in the workshops I teach. In fact, not having a room of one’s own is the most popular excuse for not writing anything. I’ve met a few self-described procrastinators who do have an extra guest room but insist they can’t work there because it’s poorly lit, uninspiring, too small, too cluttered, too close to the neighbor’s window, or cursed with bad feng shui.
But sooner or later, if they really want to write, they will do it anywhere – under trees, on the bus, in the bathroom, or in a booth at a noisy café. Serious writers need only a pen and a notebook to get started. And nothing – not even a bad view or ugly curtains – will stop them. That said, I believe Virginia Woolf made an excellent point about the need for peace and privacy, and she didn’t even have kids to distract her.
When my son was a toddler, I began freelancing in the damp basement of our 1920’s home. If you’re a younger parent who’s eager to combine writing with motherhood and housekeeping, setting up shop at a kid’s craft table next to the laundry room might sound convenient. But I quickly discovered that this was not what Virginia had in mind.
Working in a murky basement was actually a metaphor for the way I undervalued my career at the time. Aside from the fact that the ambiance was vaguely reminiscent of Freddy Krueger’s boiler room, my desk was frequently littered with construction paper or my preschooler’s early science experiments. Settling in to write, I’d find blue finger paint or Play-Doh oozing from my paper-clip container. My scissors and rolls of tape mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, the dryer kept buzzing.
A year later, I moved my office upstairs to a small den with windows overlooking the yard — and a door to help establish my boundaries. Ironically, even though my personal newspaper columns are read in public, I don’t like people looking over my shoulder while I work on my drafts. Regardless, ever since I moved upstairs I began taking myself, and my work, more seriously.
Every writer is different, so you’ll have to experiment until you find what works for you. Not long ago, I met a parenting columnist who’s also the brave mother of four little boys. She rented cheap office space just ten minutes from her house, which seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. But after three months of “commuting” back and forth to work and trying to coordinate an awkward breast-feeding schedule, the columnist admitted her new office wasn’t so ideal. The clamor of family life is what kept her energized and motivated.
If you don’t have the luxury of a spare bedroom or an attic with a desk, claim a corner of the house where you can focus on your work. Use the area just for writing (or your other creative projects) and keep supplies within easy reach. Put up a folding screen for privacy while you work; or use it to conceal your works-in-progress. Creating an official space for your creative life will dignify your goals and intentions. You’ll find it easier to establish a routine — and harder to keep making excuses.
If you don’t already have a room of your own, can you describe your ideal space — right down to the supplies you’d need? What would you have to do to make it a reality? – Cindy La Ferle
The photo above shows a detail from one of my altered art pieces inspired by Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. To view an album of my altered art pieces on Facebook, click here.
Cindy on June 29th, 2008
“If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but deteriorate the cat.” — Mark Twain, Notebook, 1894
Last fall, a very nice reporter from the Detroit Free Press called to interview me for a story he was writing about one of my programs at the Royal Oak Public Library. His first couple of questions skirted along the lines of, “Do you have any special writing rituals?” and “What things do you keep on your writing desk or in your office?”
I’m never quick on my feet during interviews, so the only thing I could remember to tell him was that I always brew a strong pot of coffee before I start working. Later, after the piece appeared in the paper, it hit me that I neglected to tell the reporter about Jack (pictured above) and Emma, the cats who keep me company in my home office.
Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to have cats because my mother was allergic to them. I had dogs as pets — and enjoyed them — but was always seriously drawn to the contemplative nature of the cat. Later, after I began writing professionally, I discovered that countless writers throughout history, including Ernest Hemingway, kept cats as muses. (Two years ago I visited Hemingway’s historic home in Key West, where descendants of his six-toed feline still roam freely.)
Over the years I’ve been owned by more cats than I can list here. So, speaking from experience, I can tell you that kittens can seem more like nuisances than muses. They’ll crash-land on your paperwork and send your favorite Cross pen flying across your desk. They do calm down and become more Zen-like as they mature — but some remain decidedly meddlesome. When I’m in the middle of repairing a badly tangled paragraph, for instance, Jack paces in front of my computer monitor to remind me that it’s time to crack open the Fancy Feast. For the most part, though, he and Emma are content to nap on the floor next to me, or stand vigil at the door to my office while I read my work aloud. Seriously, they’re the best coworkers, ever…. Got any good cat stories? Jack is all ears! — Cindy La Ferle
Cindy on June 21st, 2008
Yesterday I drove to a local printing press to speak to a Girl Scout troop on a field trip. I was one of several writers who’d been asked to talk to the girls about the writing life, to help fulfill their writing badge requirement. (I love kids and I’ll talk to them about anything.) I’ve spoken to several grade school classes about writing — often enough to know that at least one kid will wave a hand in the air and ask me to name my favorite assignment. Though I have lots of favorites, the time I interviewed Alan Gold, a premier “lion tamer” who was performing at the Shrine Circus, usually tops the list. This story tends to impress young kids more than, say, the time I interviewed Phil Donahue.
So, before the talk, I pulled out my yellowed copy of Gold’s story (published in 1985) and made 30 copies for the Girl Scouts. Re-reading the piece, which detailed how the animal trainer worked with “the big cats,” it suddenly hit me that there are some keen similarities between learning how to tame lions and learning how to deal with editors, agents, and publishers … and rejection letters.
Gold, who told me he enjoyed living on the edge, had been scratched, scarred, and mauled several times. Early in his career, for instance, he was “taken up in a tiger’s mouth.” The accident resulted in 300 stitches and confined him to a wheelchair for six months — but didn’t discourage his career plan.
“You get into this end of the business [working with lions] knowing that eventually you’re going to get hurt. But you realize what the risks are,” Gold said. “You have to be able to look at each cat and judge what its forte will be. If you try to teach an animal a trick that it’s not prone to do, it will take twice as much time to train it — and the animal won’t enjoy it.” Despite the risks, though, Gold said that his work was “a helluva rush.” Sort of like freelance writing. – Cindy La Ferle
Cindy on June 4th, 2008
Lately I’ve been hearing from a lot of readers who are new to my work. If you stumbled on something I wrote elsewhere and liked it enough to stop by, I’m happy you did!
I’m a card-carrying homebody and freelance writer who’s always on the lookout for the sacred in the suburban. I’ve traveled extensively in this country and abroad — only to find that my quirky hometown is the absolute coolest place to be. Last year, I was appointed to my local public library’s first honorary Writer-in-Residence position, which means I get to fulfill my longtime dream of sharing my favorite books and the craft of writing with others in my community.
Focusing primarily on home, family, and women’s issues, I specialize in personal essays and lifestyle columns. Early in my journalism career, I worked for a reference book publisher and freelanced for several publications. I also spent six years editing a small bed-and-breakfast travel magazine.
After writing a weekly “slice of life” column for 12 years for our local daily newspaper, I discovered that personal columns and essays were the perfect vehicle for reaching others who were also looking for the beauty in the ordinary; the truth in everyday experience. It was one of the best assignments I’ve ever had. For one thing, I could do most of the writing at home while my only child was in grade school. Secondly, the weekly deadlines challenged me to look beyond newsworthy events for small miracles and epiphanies in my daily efforts.
Weeding my perennial garden, for instance, I would suddenly unearth an early memory of my grandparents’ backyard in Detroit. Baking bread in my kitchen while U.S. military forces bombed Baghdad, I renewed my commitment to being a peacemaker in my own community. And while recovering from two major surgeries, I realized how many of life’s fundamental gifts and simple pleasures I had taken for granted.
I live in a 1920s Tudor-style home on a boulevard where the trees are as old as the houses, and the houses always need some renovation or repair. But everyone here appreciates character — in houses and people. I work in a small room — yes, a real home office — with a nice view of the neighborhood. And while I like to think of it as a room of my own, the truth is, I share it periodically with my husband, son, and two cats.
I’ve always believed that the personal is the political, and that what happens in our own homes has a ripple effect on the rest of our world. I write daily to discover what I believe, how I think. And I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to reach others who are also struggling to fit all the pieces together.
My essays and feature stories have appeared in over 50 different publications, from Catholic Digest to Reader’s Digest to Writer’s Digest. Through my inspirational writings, I’ve met a lot of wonderful people from many different faiths who cherish their families and boast an abiding respect for community. My goal is simple: To continue a dialogue with these people, adding what I hope will be a supportive voice on the journey. I post new essays at least once a week in addition to random blogs or updates on my Writer-in-Residence programs. So please come back often — and let me know what you think in the comment space, or send me an e-mail. – Cindy La Ferle
_____________
A favorite quote: “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” -- Annie Dillard
The place in which we work — an art studio, a home office, a spare bedroom, or the corner booth at the local diner — is essential to our creative lives.
