Just stumbled across this. Is it just me or do other people's writing rooms/studies/offices look like this?

I think WS might be a little neater with with his Post-its than me though. They look very neatly spaced!

http://www.will-self.com/writing-room/index.php

Enjoy,

Nik.

They look like a disease! And doesn't he read any other books apart from his own?

Frances

They look like a disease! And doesn't he read any other books apart from his own?

Brava, Frances! My thoughts exactly.

Tiger

I know the photographer. WS's is very fascinating, but I wonder how he finds what he needs among all those post-its. Mind you, I'd kill for that much wallspace un-encumbered with bookcases!

One thing that Phil Grey did say that almost all the writers' desks he'd photographed - including mine - was that we had one desk for writing and another for admin. Do other WWers have things arranged like that?

Emma

doesn't he read any other books apart from his own?

I remember hearing Elisabeth Schwartzkopf on Desert Island Discs, and every single record was one of her own.

Emma

Wish I had the space for the luxury of two desks, Emma! I work at one which houses my computer, printer and phone. When I'm doing freehand work - proofing print-offs, making notes, reading for researching etc - I decamp to the bedroom and sit on the bed surrounded by paper.

Tiger

Afraid I'm similar to Tiger. My desk's just about big enough to write longhand when I slide my laptop back on its cradle, and rest my keyboard on top of it.

The Post-its do look like a disease, don't they? But I think I've got a (milder) dose. I can see about 20 stuck to my wall - all for editing purposes though!

I'm off to the pub. Hope y'all have a lovely weekend.

Nik.

I started writing on a horrible, collapsing computer desk in the corner of the kitchen with no space for the hard-copy-with-revisions I was working off. Deciding to move house and deciding to take my writing seriously happened simultaneously; in fact, they were interconnected. So one of the basic things I decided I would look for - along with an inside loo and mains electricity - was a room that could be my study and could just squeeze in two surfaces with their backs to each other. There are some advantages to being a single parent, and that's one of them: I didn't have to find a house which had two such grown-up spaces available.

Emma

The photo prompted me to tidy up my desk. Actually, it's not 'my' desk. I share it with my wife, whose in the middle of an MSc in speech and language therapy, so she has to hop onto the computer to do her essays and stuff fairly regularly. We recently invested in a laptop, so that helps.

Anyhow, I couldn't see any of the wood of my desk, so I've just made one huge pile of paper. That's about as far as my tidying up goes. It's all my crap, so I can't blame Rachel.

Don't they say 'A tidy desk is evidence of a sick mind'? By that token my mental health is excellent.

Best

Prosp

Wah! I don’t have a desk. I sit on the sofa with a laptop. My ‘office’ is a basket on the coffee table, stuffed with pens and notes and a shaving brush for getting the toast crumbs out of the keyboard and a piece of yellow calcite for when I can't think of the right word. (anyone else use that?)

When we move – I can't believe it’s 9 months since I started saying that – I’ll have a large desk and loads of bookshelves and space… bliss! If it ever happens.

But, yes, those post-its are way too neatly arranged. I would worry about that, if it was me.

Dee

Go on I'll bite. How do you use the yellow calcite?

Ooh I'm a poet
And I didn't know it

Prosp

Those post it notes are what my pal Rachel would call Crumpet-Worthy. It sounds a bit odd, but you know there are certain things that make yr skin crawl just to look at them? THose post it notes, like goldfish with dropsy, are most definitely crumpet worthy for me. yuck.
Maybe he keeps his books there for inspiration. Once you've written one book, there's a tremendous amount of pressure i expect to write another one. Perhaps it's a threat to himself. 'Get Typing! Or Else!'

Hi Prosp,

I got the tip about yellow calcite from another writer, and I've thought about mentioning it before, but I know most people would think I'm gaga (not you, though

When I'm editing or rewriting, and I'm struggling to find a more appropriate word, I hold the piece of yellow calcite in my hand and something comes to mind. It isn’t always the best word for the occasion, but it’s enough to lead you on to find it.

Weird, I know, but it works for me.

Dee

I wonder if Will Self's wife/partner/mother has to de-Post-it him before he leaves the house to make sure he's not got them stuck all over him.

Only the one desk in my study, no room for two. Remarkably tidy at the moment - I cleaned up yesterday during a particularly protracted bout of procrastination.

Of course, when I say tidy I mean everything was shoved into draws or pinned up on the notice board or dealt with in a "shit, I forgot about that" kind of way.