My Space is Any Place

For anyone tuning in late, this week we’ve been writing about our work spaces. Maybe it is a reaction to my father who seemed to need a special place to write, but I decided I would be able to write anywhere. Or almost anywhere. I tried working on my computer in the car on the way to Vegas and that didn’t work out that well. It’s hard to type when you’re bouncing.

I am in Chicago now and the above is one of the places where I work here. Since I’m here alone, there was no one to take a picture of me with my computer, so the doll graciously agreed to stand in. I’m not sure of the quality of the photo either. I forgot my camera and had to use my BlackBerry.

Note the coffee cup. It’s porcelain, not paper and my favorite. The tangle of stuff on the other side is my local yarn stash. You probably can’t see them, but there are also menus for local restaurants and a phone to call in my order. Behind me on the bookcase are crocheted nursery rhyme characters. Little Boo Peep is there, along with her sheep and Humpty Dumpty, unless he fell down. I wish I could say I made them. My mother got them at various holiday bazaars.

The red chair is in perfect condition despite being a hand me down from one of our neighbor’s office in the 60s. He was the photographer for the Museum of Science & Industry (that’s where his office was). He did some other photography work too, and he sometimes used me as a model. Not a fashion model, more like pretending to be a kid being helped by a social worker. One time I had to sit at the soda fountain and eat a hot fudge sundae at the drugstore across the street. I’m not sure what that was for. It was also thanks to him that I got to go behind the scenes at the museum. Somewhere there’s a pictures of me holding a rabbit, standing on the inside of the fence at the farm exhibit.

I guess collecting dolls is in my genes. The doll model was my mother’s. It’s hand made and one of a kind, though I guess that’s pretty obvious. She’s so big, she has real little girl shoes on. There are other dolls all over the place including an old one of mine. My mother told me she had real hair. I thought that meant it would grow and gave her a hair cut.

But when I’m working – I’m here to finish my overdue book – everything fades in the background and I could be floating in a fog. That’s why I don’t worry if there are windows or birds chirping and trucks rumbling down the street and shaking everything. When I stop working, I feel like I need to rub my eyes and remind myself of where I am.

Do you find that you get lost in your work or a TV show or movie and forget about where you are?

Lastly, one of my friends, Kate Collins, had a family tragedy last week. She writes the Flower Shop Mystery Series and her next book, Dirty Rotten Tendrils, comes out on Tuesday. Some of her friends are trying to help promote her book. I decided to have a contest and the prize is a copy of Dirty Rotten Tendrils. So, leave a comment before 11:59 p.m. Saturday and I’ll do the whole thing with folded up papers and my husband randomly picking one of the entries. I will announce the winner next Saturday. Check out the book. If you like cozies and flowers, I’m sure you’ll love the it.