Where I Write: Shelley Read's Little Attic Office

‘Where I Write’ by Shelley Read

My Little Attic Office

I’m often asked where I write.

I write in the little slant-roof attic office my husband and I designed and constructed just for me when we built our own home - tool belts on, hammers and power tools in hand, as we built our own house from the bottom up. My little attic office has pale yellow walls and overflowing bookshelves and prayer flags handpicked in Nepal by my daughter and a lovely window with a view of a dozen mountain peaks.

The two best parts: one, the antique mahogany door that occasionally serves its remarkable purpose of closing me in and everyone else out; and, two, the ever-evolving wall collage over my desk - a hodgepodge of wise quotes, favorite photos (family, dogs, authors, bookstores, peak climbs, Prague) and hilarious poems, art, and scribbled love notes from my kids when they were young that never fail to make me smile (Mom, you are so fabuelesss, reads one. Mom, alweez rmember love, peace and joy are the most enportent things, reads another.)

For many years, our lovely rescue cat, Nellie, napped on my desk next to my laptop as I wrote, her long black body warmed by my desk lamp, my heart warmed by her purring. When old Nellie passed on, an elegant lady till the end, our spotted cattle dog, Beanie O’Sullivan—also a rescue  - decided my office was finally a safe place to nap. I wrote many pages of Go As A River with sweet Beanie at my feet. I’m sad to say, she died rather suddenly this past summer of an enlarged heart - what melancholy poetry I find in this, the most loving dog I’ve ever known dying from a heart grown too large - and my little office feels rather empty now. Still, as I embark on writing a second novel, I look around at my jampacked bookshelves and my surrounding mountains and know I am still surrounded by friends.

Yes, I have a writing nook in my home, and I am darn grateful for it. When I think back on the long process of writing and revising Go As A River, I often picture myself in my lovely little office built and filled with love.

But I also must say that sitting is not really my style, nor is staying in one place for too long. My most honest answer as to where I write is, well, everywhere.