RobArt Penguin

Daily writing prompt

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

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I’m tuned to my surroundings and the right space is important. For reading, my best reading space is a memory from childhood, where I would read in bed at night, with the windows open so that I could hear the sounds of a summer night and feel a cool breeze. For, writing I had visions of turning my tool shed into a writing shack, with heat and electricity piped in. The shed is about 40 feet from the house, and it would be like Salinger’s bunker. Right now, I have an office in the house. It was my son’s room before he moved out. I have bookshelves, a pin-up wall where I post pictures and notes to help me build my stories. The light is good and I have room to work. Unfortunately, I share the room with one of my cat’s. There’s also a piano in it that no one plays. (It’s hard getting rid of pianos.) I have this fantasy that I need isolated and dedicated writing space to really be productive, like my Salinger writing shack, but then I think of Rob Petrie (The Dick Van Dyke Show) who went to a remote cabin to write his great novel and ended up playing with every distraction he could find. Writer’s block is immune to the perfect writing space. For now, I write in my office when the cat lets me.