Quality Time with the Desk

Friday night at the Supper Club, the WGH made the comment that as soon as I take the dog out in the morning I make a beeline for the study and my computer.

He's right, of course. (I won't make any cracks here about it being the only time because really, it's not.)

This (approximately) 10-by-12 room is my ... what word do I use? It's not my whole life, but it's close. It is, at times, my sanctuary. My hidey-hole. The place I come to get away from the non-stop three-ring circus that is my real life. (Really, I have witnesses to the fact that my day-timer is the scariest thing they've ever seen.)

This room is where I work, both at the job I actually get paid to do, and the one that someday I hope I'll get paid to do. It's where I balance my checkbook, write out cards to my friends. There are stacks of books everywhere in this room - atop the two bookcases, on the floor, on my desk - books that constitute my TBR pile as well as the ones I'm supposed to review. The CD player is tucked into one corner, in the space between my writing desk and my computer desk. And there are a few open spots here and there around the room where chances are good you'll find a cat - or three - curled up asleep.

Everything I need to do "my thing" is in this room. And I do venture out occasionally - the kitchen and bathroom are downstairs, after all. But the WGH is right in saying that this is where I head first thing in the morning. Where else would I go?

Today I need to spend some quality time with my writing desk. I know it's somewhere under this stack of papers and books. I just have to find it.

Most recent addition to the Reading Room list (see left): Susan McBride's The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club. The third Debutante Dropout installment has more emotional depth than we've been accustomed to seeing in this series - the focus is on the relationship between Andy and her mother, Cissy - and really qualifies this as a chick lit mystery, with more emphasis on the "chick lit". The best part about it is that the mystery element is rather subtly intertwined into the bigger picture, so that by the time you get to the end of the book and get what's going on, everything suddenly makes perfect sense. Envision a very pretty pink balloon that starts out small and gradually gets bigger and bigger until it pops, and then you discover it was filled with jigsaw puzzle pieces, and those pieces fall neatly into place right in front of you. Tres cool.

Music of the Moment: Le Damnation de Faust, Op. 24: Rakoczy March (Berlioz)

Coming Soon: More from the Critic's Corner, plus my interviews with authors Robin Burcell and Dana Cameron. Stay tuned!

Now, for that quality time I owe my desk ...

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB