tour through blogland: a peek into my writing space

I've been seeing the Tour through Blogland for quite a bit now, and I was very excited to have the torch passed on to me by Jenna from A Savory Feast. You should go check her out. But do so when you have something really yummy planned to eat after, because she's got some recipes that will instantly make you hungry.
Some bloggers have been doing a full home tour, but this one is a bit different. We're talking about our writing spaces! Which is good for me because my home is in the midst of a major editing/cleaning/rearranging process that involves lots of bags intended for Goodwill sitting around. Also I only have small detail shots because apparently I lost the 1300 pictures I just imported last week that included the full shots of my space.

This is part of my desk, which has a lot of little things that inspire me sitting on top. The glasses print I picked up in Decatur, GA, because I love the color and because I wear glasses almost every day. The Keys to Success print is from Kirklands. The shells are from many beaches. I bring them home from each trip. The wooden manatee is handcarved by an artist in Belize. My parents went there two years ago and brought him back for me, because manatees are one of my favorite animals in the world.

Welcome to my home office! This room is my favorite in our house. Husband has one room that he pretty much has all his favorite things in {it's our guest room about once a month but the rest of the time it's the Gamecock man-cave} and I have this room that is just mine. We love that at this point in our lives, while we live in a small home, since we don't have kids we are each able to have our own spaces. We're renters but our landlord is wonderful and has given us freedom to paint the walls and hang whatever we want. And in this room, I've done exactly that.

The dresser has been mine for years now and holds my sewing supplies, household tools, and office supplies. The floating shelf has my wedding shoes, a vase used as a centerpiece at our wedding, and our guest book. On the dresser, our sand ceremony box sits, in all its royally messed up glory. It looked great at the wedding. Then somehow it didn't get packed up right and sand got between the glass panes and got spilled. So it's a hot mess. The typewriter was a graduation gift from a volunteer at the art gallery I worked at all through college, and the canvas was a graduation gift from my former boss. I made the print in the circular frame, and the dried flowers are my wedding bouquet.

White and teal are my favorite colors in the world. Together, even better. I had five shades of teal swatches on the wall before settling on this one. I love how bright and cheery it is, and the unique look it has at night when I've only got my desk lamp turned on. All the furniture in this room is white except my antique sewing table from my father-in-law.

Print from Madison--won it in an Instagram giveaway. My first 5k tag. My design calendar. Photo strip taken at Frankies Fun Park in the spring. And the top and bottom photos are from our senior prom, when we were silly teenagers in love who had no idea what the next few years were going to look like. We were precious. The middle photo is my little brother and I as kids at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

I spend many hours at this desk, writing and designing and taking care of our home finances and whatnot. I actually have 3 calendars--one for the blog, one for my freelance projects, and one for our home responsibilities. I've thought about simplifying to one calendar but this actually helps me by compartmentalizing everything so I'm not seeing too much at once.

A little poem I typed up yesterday morning. The A key has trouble hitting hard enough to release any ink, and the C key sticks. And sometimes the O hits twice even if you only hit once.  It's the most perfectly imperfect typewriter in the world.

Now, onto the questions:

1) What am I working on?

Currently, I'm working on some nonfiction essays, kind of like this one I shared last week. My hope is to submit a few to literary journals and be published. I was featured in my alma mater's literary journal during my senior year, and I would love to expand that published list to some larger scale publications.

2) How does my work differ from others from its genre?

This is a little hard to answer really. When it comes to the blog, my work is different because my personality is different, and I write here the way I talk. Sometimes I'm funny (at least, I think I'm funny) and sometimes I'm serious. Pretty much, here, I'm writing exactly as I speak in conversation with friends. In my essays, I'm different because I don't usually write a long story, or focus on major topics. I take small details of life, a single item perhaps, and explore it in depth, focusing on why it is significant to me. I have written on bigger topics in the past, such as eating disorders, but mostly I write about the impact of little details on life as a whole. 

3) Why do I write/create what I do?

Another difficult question. I write what I do because I need to. Writing to me is an essential element of life. I know when I haven't written something in too long because I just don't feel like me. And I write what I do because it's honest. Because it is true to who I am. Because it is my life.

4) How does your writing/creating process work?

My process is relatively simple, really. I just sit down, sometimes with a notebook and pen, sometimes with my laptop, and start. I let the words come out as they come to me. Once I feel that I've run out of words, I stop. Then I edit, and edit again, and edit one more time, and when it feels true, when it feels finished, I call it a day. 

So there you have it, friend. A little look into my space and my heart. Next week you'll be hearing from Jessica of Seeking Individuality, Betsy of Heavens to Betsy, and Jessa of Jessa Olson! I can't wait to get a peek into these beauties lives and see what their process looks like.

What does your process look like? Do you have a special place that is all your own in which you feel most inspired?