Jane Green
The Official Home of New York Times Bestselling Author

New Year, New Space

February 12th, 2017

When I first started writing novels, I managed to write at home. It was at the very beginning of the internet, and distractions were few and far between. No-one really knew what to do with the internet, and I managed to while away the days in my tiny home office, writing my books.

Then technology took off, and I had children, and suddenly the home office was a place filled with distractions. I would sit down to write a chapter, but mistakenly spend the next six hours playing computer solitaire. Or I would be checking email every two paragraphs. Or hunting down the perfect pair of shoes, which sometimes took all week.

I decided I needed a routine, that it was important to break the solitude of working from home. I needed to be around people, to leave my house with a computer and “go to work”. For a few years I wrote at the local library, but the library is no longer a quiet place, so I kept searching.

Next I found a writer’s room that was quaint and cozy, and after a couple of years there I was offered a tiny windowless office in the basement of our local theater. It was perfect, but now that they have staffed up, I am on the hunt again for another office.

I have spent the last few weeks looking at large spaces, and small. All of them either need vast amounts of work, or are dingy and depressing. Two days ago I finally found a small room that is perfect. It is light, bright and airy. I can fit two, or possibly three desks in there, a lamp, a chair, and a shelf of books. I can fit two, or possibly three fellow writers to break up the solitude. It will not fit children, dogs, cats, chickens, fish, bearded dragons, or rabbits.

I have taken the office for a year, with two friends now joining me. I have a feeling that soon we may need a bigger space, because there is a definite need for a creative co-working space in my town. So many of us are attempting to work from home, none of us anticipating the loneliness which comes with that. I can’t think of anything lovelier than creating a place for us creative types to go.

I will be starting my next book just as soon as my flat pack furniture for the new office arrives. And just as soon as I can figure out how to put it all together. Which means I may have a few more week’s grace after all.

(First published in The Lady magazine in the UK)

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