Office update: writing side, pictures

Hm, I thought it might be fun to post work-in-progress pics every day—I’m having so much fun setting up the office, and later this week we’ll start stripping the paint from the downstairs office, and I know I want to document that as we go.

Here’s what the writing side of the office looks like right now:

Items of note, from left to right:

• On the desk, proof copies of Written on the Coast (fantasy collection) and Give In (BDSM erotica collection), which arrived today! Can’t wait to dive into them and clean up the final errors so I can put these lovely books on sale!
• Next to those, my desktop labyrinth, a Yule gift from Morgana and Brian. I’ve been wanting one for ages, and it’ll be a perfect meditative tool when I need to focus. (Hey, focus, one of my words for the year!)
• On the bulletin board, the top sheet is my production schedule (broken out by weeks) and the bottom is the list of erotica stories published through Soul’s Road Press, noting which ones I have to re-do the covers for and which ones need to be uploaded to Kobo.
• Llyfr (“book” in Welsh), my laptop, with my current WIP on screen in Scrivener.
• New 27-inch monitor for book design (not yet hooked up)!
• Pre-Raphaelite “Soul of the Rose” mousepad. (By comparison, on the home side of the room, I use a Torchwood mousepad.)

Meanwhile, I hung this Goddess picture over my writing chair today, and re-hung another one piece of art with the same gold cord. Above that (only half-visible) is a fishing globe I bought during my very first Oregon Writers Network workshop almost 13 years ago.

I want to buy a small (ideally antique) round wooden table for between the chair and the door, for my cuppa tea when I’m working.

Ideally I’d like to move the yearbooks and photo albums at the top of the bookshelf somewhere else, but that’s the only place they currently fit. The bottom two and a half shelves are children’s and YA books; not sure what’s going to go on the remaining shelf and a half. Maybe mysteries, because I don’t actually have many of those.

That’s it for today!

This is why I should not be allowed on the Internet

As I’ve mentioned, this month (since we’re home the entire month) our big project is to swap offices. My sweet little study downstairs, full of fiction books and an original built-in desk, just isn’t big enough when I add the publishing portion of my job into the mix. Upstairs, half of the large office was Ken’s office and half was our home office—which was really my home office, since I deal with the bills and paperwork and whatnot.

The project is going well so far. Ken’s completely cleaned out of the upstairs office (with things he doesn’t need immediately, and all the history and travel books, packed up and stored in the sewing room), and I’ve moved the home office stuff to his former side and moved all my writing stuff to the former home office side. I haven’t moved all the fiction books up yet because the shelves upstairs have open sides, which are fine for big books, but paperbacks fall through. Ken’s going to get some thin plywood, cut it up, and stain it. I’ve gone through most of the fiction and weeded out a fair amount, which will make it easier to fit everything in upstairs.

writing books, ego shelves, and magazines to be moved

Then we’ll tackle the downstairs office: strip the wood and stain it, paint the walls a dark red called Luscious, and hang the medieval-tapestry Roman blinds I found at a charity shop for $7 each (there were three, and Morgana grabbed the third). It’ll be the study I always wanted…but I’m glad we’re getting it done. It’ll really change the energy of the first floor and inspire us to work on more!

Meanwhile, I’m slowly arranging things upstairs. It’s slow because I want to get things right the first time, and I want to find a mix between efficiency and a good workspace, and the details and things I love to make the space inspiring and beautiful. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time/energy/money to have taken everything out (the desk is an enormous U-shaped one), stripped wood, painted, etc. And as much as I love this wallpaper, it wouldn’t work as a border above the picture rail (the sizing and half drop simply don’t fit). So I have to be creative with the rest of the décor.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been going through the archives of the Catty-Corner Cottage blog…. The woman decorates almost exactly how I’d like to, but she’s so utterly and immensely artistic that I don’t know if I could ever do a fraction of what she does. It’s inspiring, yes, but also frustrating!

What’s been happening is this: Ken will come upstairs to find me sitting in one of the two office chairs (because the comfy writing chair will have been taken over by a cat*), staring around the room. Thinking. Plotting. Pondering. Dreaming.

Just now, I found myself staring at the big filing cabinet. The house files are in the top two drawers, and they’ll be moving over to the smaller two-drawer filing cabinet next to me, so I can take over the full four-drawer cabinet for writing stuff (the two bottom drawers are bursting at the seams). It’s simply an ugly grey filing cabinet. Atop it are boxes of manuscript files, atop those are my bodhrán and a mask of my face, and in front of the boxes are a water dispenser and pretty metal tree tea light holder from which is dangling an Amy Brown faerie my friend Thomasina gave me for Yule. The bodhrán will probably have to move, because I don’t think it’ll say in place when open and close the filing cabinet. But anyway. My point sit that it’s an ugly grey filing cabinet, and I’m sitting here thinking, Hey, maybe I can spray paint it! But what color?** And then maybe I could stencil it! Or take all those magnets I’ve collected and finally cover them with something pretty, and…***

And when, exactly, am I suppose to be getting writing done?  ;-)

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*Although right now Grimoire has crawled into my writing office chair and fallen asleep, which is probably good because I need to write, so I can just grab my laptop and move over to the comfy chair once I finish this.

**The bulletin board that’s part of the desk next to it is a teal color, but I don’t want that as the primary color in here. So it’ll have to be something that doesn’t clash. Maybe the plummy purple from the comfy writing chair? Do they make spray paint in plummy purple? This is why I should not be allowed on the Internet!!!

***And get prettier handles for it, natch. 

Kaboom! Go the nasties

The cats are getting their comprehensive vet exams today, which includes getting their teeth cleaned, so we’re using the opportunity while they’re out of the house to bug bomb the place, as they somehow seem to have acquired fleas (even though they never go outdoors).

Holy moly, what a PITA this is! All our dishes and food had to be removed from the house. Where did we get all these dishes? Why do we have so many serving platters. How old is that cereal?

I suppose it’s also a good opportunity to wipe down cabinets, etc., and re-organize everything (we seem to have party supplies – paper plates, plastic tableware, etc. – all over the place), but still. I’m exhausted already. And it looks like all the china teacups need to be cleaned anyway, so I’ll be doing that in stages over the next few days.

We’re settled in our favorite restaurant/tea shop (Fresh & Fabulous) for a couple hours of computer work before we go back home and open all the windows and doors. I’m happily full of their stellar ham-and-cheese quiche and am sipping my favorite Queen Victoria tea, and trying to wake up….

Another exciting Day in the Life!

Edited to add: Funny side story: We'd already taken out all the glasses and the water dispenser, so I went in the cabinet to see if we had a bottle of water (we mostly use stainless steel water bottles, but we have a few disposables as well). I grabbed one that was half full, opened it, too a slug…and then ran to the bathroom to spit it out, because someone had apparently filled it with vodka. I don't know who did this!! And I like vodka as much as the next girl, it was not what I wanted at 9 o'clock on the morning. Fuck no.

Office wallpaper

This. THIS is the wallpaper I want as a frieze around the top of the room (above the picture rail) in my office once I move upstairs.

M. P. Verneuil c. 1897, Bat and Poppy
http://trustworth.com/wallpaper.shtml#this exotic pattern

(And then the walls in a slightly darker purple, which will also pull out the purple in my writing chair…. Ooooh yeahhh! Or, or, or maybe that scrummy slate blue!)

Many things make a post

Note: I wrote this a good three days ago, and then got so busy I forgot to post it. I’ll add an update at the end.

I’ve been terribly busy since I got back from Oregon, coupled with the fact that I fell into a funk because I missed Ken (who took almost a week longer than expected to return), and those two things (business and gloominess) are the main reasons why I stop posting here.

So, inspired by Cherie Priest’s latest post, in which she caught up by doing bullet points, here is my recent bullet-pointed news:

• I’ve been working on a proofreading job that turned out to be more difficult than I expected, both because of the dark subject matter and because the copyeditor, who I’m sure caught many things, didn’t quite have a grasp on commas after introductory phrases.
• I haven’t been writing. This is, no doubt, part of why I’ve been glum and crazy. Once this proofreading job is done, and now that Ken’s home, this should all change. (I do have a copyediting job to dive immediately into, but at least somebody will be here to help deal with the house and cats and errands and whatnot so I have a little more brainpower.)
• All that said, I got my first proof copy (for Waking the Witch), and the thrill of holding that book in my hands was immense and powerful. I’ve already found some errors (on my part), and once I finish this proofreading job, I can proofread the proof and make the changes and then I’ll have my first trade paperback available for sale! I’ve got another one (a collection) winging its way to me, and another collection almost ready to go. Whee! This is fun!
• I’ve been having some minor health issues, but I think they’re sorting themselves out. I hope. Two more doctor’s appointments this month, and then possibly a test after that….
• I have been hard at work on my 1911 dress for our 100^th Anniversary of Our House party (which is actually called 101 Years on the 101, because we didn’t have the party last year because someone almost died and someone else fell apart after nearly two years of stress). Morgana is a saint, and I’m so enjoying the time we’re spending together. I usually wander over there around 11:30, we go out to lunch, we come back and make a pot of tea, and then we get to sewing and getting me in and out of my waist cincher. The pattern is made and the lining is fitted, so next step is to cut out the good taffeta…
• My awesome waist cincher from Corset Story gives me a 35-inch waist, which makes my breasts look enormous, even to me.
• One day, we also rescued a pigeon covered in tar. I now know who to contact in Ventura for injured birds, which is a good thing. Cue Gowan’s “Pigeon” getting stuck in my head.
• Speaking of the party, I ran out of card stock for the invitations and had to order more, oh, and did I mention both of our printers have stopped functioning? Hopefully Ken will get one of them working today. So if you’re wondering why you haven’t received your invitations, blame technology. And save December 1.
• Halloween was a quiet affair this year. Morgana and Brian didn’t have many kids, so we wandered over to Lisa and David’s—they’re in the Historic District, which can get up to 2000 kids. I think they estimated about 800 this year.
• Brian told me he could see the definition in my upper arms, which made me so happy, because I’ve been working very hard on that in my workouts. Although on Friday, my trainer made me do so many squats, my ass is killing me right now and I’m making noises every time I have to stand up or bend over.
• Ken and I are signed up for the Turkey Trot 5K again on Thanksgiving morning. We first ran it last year, 5 months after his accident. We had planned to do more over the year, but things just got busy, so now we’re focusing back on that. My goal is to run the entire thing (no walking). Of course, if we don’t get out and start running three times a week, this isn’t going to happen…
• I’m doing another 6-week fitness challenge. This time, instead of doing through our trainer and health coach, I just announced it and encouraged some like-minded friends to join in. So far, so good.  :-) 

Update:

• The proofreading job is done, and I’m well into the next copyediting job, which I’d like to get done early so I can start the next copyediting job early, and get that one done before we go to NY in December to drive my mom to Myrtle Beach by way of Atlanta to visit my sister. ::deep breath::
• It rained! I was so, so happy. Morgana and I gloated together.
• My 1911 skirt has been cut out of the taffeta, and sewing will commence on the morrow. Also on the morrow, a friend is coming over so we can play with the infrared paint stripper, because I have this dream of refinishing one door in the house before the party.
• All but one party invitation is in the mail. If you haven’t gotten yours, ping me, please! And if you have gotten yours, please RSVP so we know what to tell the caterers.
• We still haven’t been running. Dammit.
• We saw Asia in concert last night, and they were tremendously good, but it was billed as them doing their entire first album from start to finish, and that’s not what they did. I’d been looking forward to that for months, so I was rather disappointed. But they were great.
• Split pea soup in the crockpot is good, and so is Thai soup, and burgers made with grass-fed hormone-free local beef, and fresh shrimp baked with feta.

There’s probably more, but I have to get back to copyediting….

Yule 2011 in pictures