Today on Writer Wednesday we welcome Lauren K. Denton, author of Glory Road.
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Glory Road! Winner announced right here next week. Congratulations to, Rebecca Maney, the winner of Katherine Reay’s The Printed Letter Bookshop! Please e-mail my assistant Christen with your mailing address! Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Where Writers Write

This is my office. It’s really the guest bedroom, but for purposes of me needing a space with a door so I don’t have to see the laundry basket, the grocery list, and myriad socks, shoes, and hairbrushes scattered all over the house, my husband let me transform one side of the guest room into a place just for me. Now when I open the door and walk in, I take a deep breath and whisper my gratitude at having a space set aside for writing.
When I first decided to make it my writing place, I hopped online to get some inspiration. That’s when things went a little haywire. After going down the rabbit hole, I decided I was trying too hard to make my office look like all those gorgeous Pinterest-y offices—the ones with the fancy Moroccan rugs, clear acrylic desk chairs, and a fiddle leaf fig in the corner. I knew if I went that route, I’d end up spending way too much money to have an office that didn’t really feel like me. Instead, I shopped around my house and bought a few things to fill in the gaps. And it turned out to be much more my style and speed.
Here are a few details…
I bought the desk a few years ago off a local trading site for $50. Once I took off the old drawer pulls and painted it gray, it looked better. (Which reminds me, I still haven’t added new drawer pulls!) I put my (annoyingly finicky) printer in the bottom cabinet and filled the drawer with the aforementioned Post-Its, my favorite Optiflow rollerball pens, and a paperclipped stash of papers where I’ve jotted down story ideas over the years.
The rug isn’t Moroccan or hand-tufted or vintage. But it’s soft underfoot and I love it. I love it so much I’m considering getting a similar, bigger one for our den. Rugs USA for the win.
Instead of a big shelving unit to hold my books, I found these three floating shelves from West Elm. Now when I get stuck, I can look up and see my most inspiring books looking back at me. Taped onto the bottom shelf at my eye-level are two photographs from a place we used to vacation (and that’s serving as the setting of my next book) and a couple of quotes that keep my head in the right place.
Scattered on the shelves and on the surface of the desk are special items: my grandmothers’ eyeglasses, a milk glass vase from that same grandmother, a cup I had as a child that now holds highlighters, a painting from a friend, and a Mercy Verity candle that makes the whole room smell delicious. The bulletin board holds all kinds of sweet things: photos, business cards from authors and booksellers I’ve met along the way, and notes and drawings from my daughters.
A few months ago, I sat in this space and wrote “The End” on the manuscript of my next book, due out next summer. And I’m still sitting here working on revisions and tweaks to that manuscript before I hand it over to my editor in a couple short weeks. Then after the summer, I’ll be back again, with my head in an imaginary world but with my feet firmly planted on a very soft rug in Birmingham.

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren Denton now lives with her husband and two young daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. Her debut novel, The Hideaway, is USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts bestseller. Her second novel, Hurricane Season, released in April 2018 and was listed on BookPage’s 2018 list of Most Anticipated Fiction.
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More about Glory Road

At thirty-eight, garden shop owner Jessie McBride thinks her chances for romance are years behind her and, after her failed marriage, she’s fine with that. She lives contentedly with her fiery mother and her quiet, headstrong daughter. But the unexpected arrival of two men on Glory Road make her question if she’s really happy with the status quo. Handsome, wealthy Sumner Tate asks her to arrange flowers for his daughter’s wedding, and Jessie finds herself drawn to his continued attention. And Ben Bradley, her lingering what-could-have-been from high school days who’s known her better than anyone and whom she hasn’t seen in years, moves back to the red dirt road. Jessie finds her heart being pulled in directions she never expected.
Meanwhile, Jessie’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Evan, is approaching the start of high school and trying to navigate a new world of identity and emotions—particularly as they relate to the cute new guy who’s moved in just down the road. At the same time, Jessie’s mother, Gus, increasingly finds herself forgetful and faces a potentially frightening future.
As all three women navigate the uncertain paths of their hearts and futures, one summer promises to bring change—whether they’re ready for it or not.
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