WRITER'S DREAM; Cosy Lock-Down Study Days

Virginia Woolf said that every writer should have 'a room of one's own' and I have to say, that I have never felt more grateful for my study than I have during lock-down.  It's such a cosy room to retreat to. No clocks, no phones - just books, desks, writing slopes and me.  It's always the quietest room in the house. Outside noise rarely disturbs me in here. The walls lined with books are very insulating.  

When I planned this room over fifteen years ago, I knew I wanted it to be as much like a traditional study as I could manage.  I'm an old fashioned girl at heart and while I might be writing this post on my laptop, the laptop is sat on my beautiful escritoire desk, which is one of the best purchases I have ever made.  I've written so many of my books, columns and features at this desk that it must have paid for itself a hundred times over!

Working from home means that I simply have to have a lovely space in which to work.  It's non-negotiable.  Like many people (mostly women probably!) I have had a massive decluttering session during lock-down.  Every cupboard, drawer, wardrobe and nook in the house has been turned out, cleaned, items sifted, discarded, re-organised and put away neatly. 

My study was the biggest task of all.  Decades of self-employment makes for massive amounts of paperwork which I have had to sort through and decide what needs to be kept for tax purposes - a full seven years worth - and what can safely go through the shredder.  My shredder has done serious overtime these past few days, diminishing my outdated work records and rendering them down to a pile of confetti!  But now, I have everything neatly filed away in two boxes and the rest of the space is lovely and clear. It makes my head feel refreshed too - tidy space, tidy mind.

My escritoire has had a bit of a makeover as well.  It had become too cluttered, which made me not want to work here. I found myself working at my writer's bureau instead, which is a nice space to work at but it's not as big.  When I'm studying I have a lot of text books out, so I really needed to get my main desk decluttered and tidied up a bit.   

Then I decided to give the desk a Lord of the Rings makeover.  I put two of my Lord of the Rings goblets on the top part of the desk, above the pigeon holes, so now I have Glorfindel and Gimli gazing down at me as I write.  

One side of the desk still holds my fairy Tiffany style lamp, but on the other side I put my Lothlorian candle holder, which is huge!  It's so pretty.  It's designed to look like one of the elven houses built into the trees, so it has pewter branches and a beautiful elven staircase spiraling up the outside.  At the top sits a candle. I'm currently burning Yankee's Kitchen Spice and it fills the room with a warm fragrance that reminds me of autumn.  I also have a small pewter figurine of Arwen and my pewter pen and stand.  When the sunlight comes in, it glances off the pewter, making the desk area gleam.  

On the book lectern I've placed a copy of Tolkien's Beren and Luthien - an elven romance told in vast, epic poetry.  I love this space now.  I can't wait to come in and start work each day.  I wish I'd done it ages ago, as my study feels so much calmer now.  The Lord of the Rings theme makes it feel like an inspired space.  

Over the past couple of days I have been updating my Author CV.  Publishing, much like the rest of the world, is having to take an enforced hiatus and many editors are currently furloughed.  This means that, other than writing my psychotherapy column each month, there's not much else going on until the editors are back in place. 

I've made the most of this free time by updating my Author CV and organizing all my projects, getting everything filed away neatly, so that it's still accessible, but it's not out on the desk looking untidy.

I've done the same thing for my university work and assignments too, so now I have an updated filing system in place that keeps my writing work and my university work separate and tided away.  Being a writer involves a lot of paperwork and it can be overwhelming if you don't keep on top of it.  Of course, it's easier now that so much can be done online, but the paperwork still needs to be kept and filed away safely.  You just don't want to lose that amazing idea you wrote on the back of an envelope!

I've also been grateful to have my own library of books, not to mention my Kindle.  My tbr pile has gone down a bit these last few months and it's been wonderful to still be able to buy new books even though we can't go out.  Kindle has really proved it's worth to me during lock-down and I love being able to shop my own bookshelves for something new to read. 

So for me, lock-down hasn't been such a trial.  In fact, it's pretty much the normal life of a work from home writer and not much has changed.  I am aware though that some people have found it really tough.  My heart goes out to them.  It's a reminder to us to make sure we appreciate the little things while we have them. 

As for me, when I am curled up with a book and a cup of tea, in the leather armchair in my cosy little study,  I just feel so grateful that I spent years working hard to build this life and this home for myself.   It has been an essential retreat when the world ran to chaos and pandemonium! I hope you have all fared just as well. 

Blessed Be

Marie x

BOOK NOOK; Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton

Please note: This novel was written by one of the faculty members of my university and I reviewed it for fellow students some time ago.  In light of current events however, it seems fitting to also share it here on my blog, though as I say in the review - it's not a happy read. 

“We collect bones and bundles long after the river seeps back and the mud dries.  We make up stories for each one.  Each piece is remembered.  Out of sweet cherry wood, we carve our very own book.  The hands bring us paper.  We stitch them together.  Stuff the newspapers, like bookmarks, in between.  Though neither one of us can read or write, each page holds a story.  We remember.”

Remembered is the award winning novel by Yvonne Battle-Felton.  It won the Northern Writer’s Fiction Award in 2017 and it is a work of historical fiction.  Reading it is like being taken back in time and sucked into the Deep South in the run up to the American Civil War.  I couldn’t help thinking as I read, that it reminded me somewhat of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, but with one significant difference – Remembered is a novel told entirely from the perspective of the slaves and their descendants.

It begins in 1910 with a young black man in hospital, after crashing a streetcar into a popular department store, injuring innocent bystanders and himself in the process. The police believe that this was a deliberate act and the newspapers report the story accordingly, referring to the driver as ‘the Negro’, rather than by his name, Edward.   This in itself is rather shocking to a modern reading audience. The fact that all the newspapers cuttings incorporated into the novel appear to be authentic, makes for a very discomforting reading experience at times.

Edwards mother, Spring, is called to the hospital and grilled by the police as to why her son has allegedly committed such an atrocity.  She defends her son valiantly, but that isn’t the story they want to hear.  It seems as if Edward has already been presumed guilty, due to the colour of his skin.  As Spring is informed that her son is very likely to die soon, she is visited by her sister Tempe.  Tempe died some years before the crash and so Remembered is also something of a ghost story, but it isn’t Tempe’s spirit that will leave you feeling haunted.  This is a ruthless novel of slavery, racism and savage injustice.

At Tempe’s insistence, Spring takes out a battered old book she made with her sister many years earlier.  It is a book of mementoes and pictures, of newspaper cuttings and memories.  Each page tells a part of their story, their family history and Edwards ancestry.  As her son lay dying, Spring uses the book to tell him the truth of his humble beginnings, of his father, his aunt and her own place in the story of their past, including how she got her name, Spring.   In this way, the novel beautifully illustrates that storytelling is not dependent on language and the written word, but is an age old form of verbal inheritance, as family stories are passed down from one generation to the next.  

Remembered is a novel rich in cultural idiosyncrasy and vernacular.  This adds to the depth of character and gives a solid sense of place.   It is visceral in tone and you feel the plight of these characters at a gut level.  Every instinct and fibre of compassion is revolted by the way in which the slaves are treated; a young girl abducted from the street and forced into a life of slavery; families torn apart as slaves are sold off; lashings, hangings, rapes and lynch mobs; the moral question of whether the death of a baby counts as infanticide if the mother is saving it from a life of enslavement and abuse; the innate yearning for freedom and the risks of trying to obtain it. 

But as Spring discovers for herself, freedom isn’t all that she hoped it would be and there is a sense of acute disappointment when she says “Most of the jobs I get, I get cuz I was a slave. People expect there ain’t nothing I can’t do, nothing I won’t do.”    And now her only son lies dying in a hospital bed, tucked out of sight in the Coloureds Only wing, accused of a crime she is sure he didn’t commit and already deemed guilty by many.  She knows that if he lives, they will hang him anyway.  So how much freedom do they have in reality?

This is not a happy novel.  It isn’t a book you can curl up with on a winter’s day and escape with, because the world it presents is harrowing and unsettling. I would say that it is a book designed to educate and enlighten the reader.   It shines a light on those dark aspects of the past that we think are long gone, but which still simmer beneath the surface of society.  It is a novel that makes you think, one that will stay with you long after you’ve closed the covers of the book, so it is certainly worth reading.  The main clue is in the title though - for this is a novel that has been written in order to be Remembered.

BB Marie x