Taking inspiration from The Guardian's 'Writers' Rooms', Sky Arts' 'The Write Place' and Book Chick City's excellent 'Where Stories Are Made'; My Writing Room is a fabulous fortnightly event, in which some of our favourite authors show us where the writerly magic happens, and tell us a little about their writing life.
This week we are very chuffed to be featuring the writing space of the best-selling Carole Matthews! Enjoy :)
My Writing Room by Carole Matthews
I hope you can tell from the photograph that I’m an inordinately tidy and organised writer! This wasn’t posed, this is how neat my desk really is. Er, sometimes. We have a three-storey house and my office is on the top floor – so I can shut the door at night and have some separation between work and home. Er, sometimes. Doing two books a year, I don’t have much time to sit and wait for the muse to arrive so my writing day is pretty structured. From eight o’clock to nine I attend to my emails and messages on Facebook from readers – this is not just idle gossiping, this is useful business networking. It is. Honestly. Then I have breakfast and catch up with latest book that I’m reading. After that Lovely Kev and I walk through the park outside our house for the paper. One of the difficulties of working from home is remembering to go outside. Unless I go for a regular walk, I can go for days without ever venturing out.
I write from ten till one, then have an hour for lunch, during which I browse the day’s news and jot down any notes from the newspaper that might prove useful for either the book I’m writing or future novels. I find the Daily Mail particularly wonderful for ideas! My afternoon starts at two o’clock and I write until 5-ish when – unless I’m in full flow - I try to stop and watch either Escape to the Country or Come Dine with Me while I run on my treadmill. As I write contemporary romantic comedy, I think it’s so important to keep up with popular culture!
I listen to Radio Two all day as company, but I can’t write anywhere with a view – I need a brick wall in front of me so there are no distractions. Some years ago, I did have a summer house built with visions that I’d sit in there in the afternoons and be inspired by the sunshine and the garden. All I did was fall asleep in there, so now I try to avoid going in there if I want to achieve anything.
I do admire people who can sit in coffee shops and write on laptops, or write on planes or trains between events. That’s so not me. If there’s anyone else around, I’m just too nosey and can’t concentrate on my work. I like to call it the essential writer’s skill of people watching.
Contact Carole atwww.carolematthews.com or chat to her on Facebook.
Cheers, Carole!
