The New Desk Declaration

Most Americans spent this weekend celebrating the 4th of July, when the Declaration of Independence was signed (still love you Britain, with your Doctor Who and your Sherlock...friends?). I, on the other hand, spent most of my weekend declaring my independence from my old desk.

Don't get me wrong--it was a lovely desk, and served me well for years. But its configuration really didn't work for the way I am writing these days. Most of the actual writing is done on the laptop, sitting in my magic red recliner (which is much easier on my back and the tendonitis in my arms). The main desktop and office is now primarily used for the business side of writing: emailing, organizing projects, and keeping track of obligations.

Samhain practicing thinking writerly thoughts.

The high profile of the desk also made the room seem smaller and more crowded. So I commissioned a new desk from one of the woodworkers at The Artisans' Guild (the shop I run). Naturally, since I had planned to spend the long weekend relaxing and working on the novel in progress, I got a call on Thursday saying that the desk was ready. Most of Friday was spent installing the new desk (with Glen, who made it) and the rest of the weekend was used for reorganization and perfecting the space. It was well worth it!

Here is the old desk being dismantled. (Mystic looks like he is saying, "What the heck is going on?")

Here is the new one:
Naturally, Magic the Cat had to claim it right away. We witches call that the "butt blessing." (Okay, I just made that up.) Isn't the wood beautiful? It is hickory, to match the counter top on the other side of the room (between the dining room/office and the living room) Glen built for me a number of years ago. The desk is actually two separate tables, in case I decide I don't want to use the whole thing somewhere down the road.

Here's the desk, all set up, with the wall boards reorganized (multiple times), plus an emergency run to Office Max to get new organizer thingies for the desk.

I finally got back to the writing and copy edits on Sunday night, but I'm pretty happy with the end results of how I spent my weekend. The room seems so much more open and airy, and for the next five minutes, anyway, everything is organized and neat.

How did you spend your weekend? And what is your work area like?