Congratulations to Shamekka Ja’net Sheffield who won a copy of Lauren K. Denton’s Hurricane Season! Please e-mail my assistant Christen (amy@triciagoyer.com) with your mailing address!
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Susan Meissner’s As Bright As Heaven!
I love my four adult kids and I miss their daily presence in the house now that they’ve flown the nest, but I’ll confess that one of the things I was looking forward to when they sprouted their wings was having, at last, a writing office. All during their school years when I was writing my earliest novels, I was holed up in the master bedroom surrounded by bed pillows and folded laundry. My darling fledglings have flown though, and now I have a writing office.
And I never use it.
The photo of the desk with the printer and the bookshelves above it is the desk in the writing office that I don’t use but was sure I wanted.
The photo of me at a counter (with the edge of my so-called office in the very left background) is where I like to write instead. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet with a detachable keyboard that weighs practically nothing, and which I can scoot all around the house with, but I spend most of my writing day standing at this bar in our downstairs family room with my dog at my feet, also pictured. I stand rather than sit because standing reminds me to take breaks and move around – that makes my FitBit happy – something the desk chair never did.
I have some theories about why I don’t like to write in my long-anticipated writing office. Part of it is that room is a bit dark because of how it is situated and how it was originally decorated back in the day – 40-year-old house, dark cork on the walls of this particular room, enough said. The other part is, I’ve realized I’m not sold after all on my needing a certain room in which I must produce. I kept thinking the dedicated office was going to be the habitation of my muse. To be honest, I’ve come to think of myself as my own muse. Perhaps that sounds uppity, but I don’t believe in that mythical creative force that exists outside of my imagination and which sometimes shows up and sometimes doesn’t. I’ve realized my strength as a writer is in the creative gifts God has gifted me – which I am eternally grateful for – and, because those gifts are mine to keep, they are with me all the time, in every room in which I decide to write. All that said, if I ever yank up the carpet and tear down the cork and fill that room with lots of light, I bet I will be able to happily write in it, but only because I will love that room to write in, not because it’s the writing room. I suppose that’s just wordplay right there. A writing room or a room to write in. But, hey, wordplay is my thing!
More about As Bright As Heaven
From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Bridge Across the Ocean comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love.
In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters—Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa—a chance at a better life.
But just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew. But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without—and what they are willing to do about it.
As Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.
Purchase a copy of As Bright As Heaven
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | SusanMeissner.com
Susan Meissner is a multi-published author, speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include As Bright as Heaven, starred review in Library Journal; A Bridge Across the Ocean; Secrets of Charmed Life, a Goodreads finalist for Best Historical Fiction 2015; and A Fall of Marigolds, named to Booklist’s Top Ten Women’s Fiction titles for 2014. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University. Susan is a pastor’s wife and a mother of four young adults.
Are you new here? You might want to subscribe to my email updates, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, or Instagram.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” Read full privacy policy here.
Love Susan’s honesty (and her dog)! I’m often asked if I have a special writing spot, but the truth is I write while waiting for my takeout lunch, in the school pick up line, while waiting for a business trip flight, etc… So looking forward to Susan’s next book.