We live in an old house, and my husband and I turned a small room off the kitchen into an office.  His computer is set up at one end and mine at the other.

On my desk, I keep a dictionary, a grammar book, books of photographs, a field guide of animals and plants, and other reference books, as well as objects and pictures from my settings.

On top of my computer monitor, I keep one object from each book I’ve worked on:  a doll’s teacup for RULES, a toy lobsterboat for TOUCH BLUE, and a moose for the book I’m working on now.

Stuck to the front of my monitor is a fortune from a fortune cookie.  “Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.”  I taped it to my monitor as a joke, but then I sold my first book right afterward, and now I’m afraid to take it off! 

I also have a quote by Aristotle,

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” 

That reminds me to keep writing everyday, even when I don’t really feel motivated.  In fact, sometimes my best writing comes on days I’m not feeling especially inspired. 

Also decorating my monitor, I have two of the “Sign here” and “Initial here” tabs from my first contract, and a few POST-IT notes.  Some of the notes are from my family (they leave me notes stuck to my monitor since I get up before everyone else) and I have a note that tells the themes of the book I’m currently working on.  Every chapter, I look up at that note and make sure I am writing about those themes. 

On the wall above my computer, is a beautiful art print of a painting by my favorite artist, Jamie Wyeth.  It’s called “Iris at Sea,” and it shows a Maine lighthouse not far from where I live. 

Out my computer-room window is a garden full of purple lupine and pink and white sea roses.  There are also three huge lilac bushes, and an ever-changing supply of birds and squirrels. 

I think everyone needs a place of his or her own.  This is mine.