Official Desk
Click on the objects on my desk to explore!
This is the desk that I write at. When I am at my desk, I look out at windows that look out at treetops and the Vermont sky. On a clear day, I can see the distant hills of New Hampshire. On chilly mornings in autumn, I can see a ribbon of mist snaking through the valley, rising up from the Connecticut River that separates Vermont from New Hampshire. In the early morning hours (which is when I like to write), I can sometimes hear the neighbor's rooster crowing. On hot, summer mornings when I have my windows open, the neighbor's rooster can get a little annoying, the way he keeps crowing away. I wonder how Obi would handle a rooster?Click on the objects on my desk to learn more about some of the things that are in my studio.
My typewriter
I love this old clunker of a typewriter. It's my Rosebud. It was made by the Royal typewriter company back in the 1930's. (No, I haven't had the typewriter that long – it was a second-hand typewriter when I got it! Hey, I'm not that old!) On the front of the typewriter is a little rectangular logo plate that says ROYAL. The tail of the R in ROYAL swoops down below the letters "OYA", like a curved sword. The R's tail stops just short of the last letter, the L. But then the bottom of the L picks up where the R left off. Love that!
My parents gave me this typewriter as a high school graduation present. It was the best high school graduation present I received. (Actually, I think it may have been the only high school graduation present I received.) The typewriter weighs a ton. For years, I lugged the typewriter around with me wherever I went, writing whenever I could. When I got out of college, I often shared apartments with friends because rents in Manhattan (where I lived) were very high, and I wasn't making all that much at the time. I would tell my roommates that if there was ever a fire in the building and I wasn't in the apartment at the time that, whatever you do, be sure to save the typewriter. One of my roommates gave me a look of disbelief when I told him this. "What about my stuff?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh, I suppose you can take some of your stuff, too, but just be sure to rescue my typewriter."
I wrote my first published piece on this typewriter.
Sunshine State Young Readers Award
In April, 2011, OBI, GERBIL ON THE LOOSE! won Florida's Sunshine State Young Readers Award! What a happy day that was! Click on the award to read my acceptance speech.
My dictionary
When I'm not sure about a word, I turn to my massive, somewhat beleaguered, very dog-eared Random House dictionary that I've had for years and years and that is right beside me when I write. The neat thing about having a big, old dictionary like this is that you tend to stick pieces of paper into its pages that you then forget all about. Then one day as you're flipping through the dictionary, looking up a particular word, you stumble upon the piece of paper like this letter from my friend, Amanda. When that happens, I nearly always murmur to myself, "Huh! I forgot all about this!"
Quotes
This sheet of paper features quotes that mean a lot to me. The first quote is something the author Jayne Anne Phillips said in an interview that she gave to The New York Times. I love this quote. The same holds true of me: I, too, lead a pretty quiet life, not very interesting, except to me.
Gatsby
This is Gatsby, my family's old Newfoundland. He was a very stubborn dog. No matter how much we pleaded with him, Gatsby refused to take off his football helmet! Even when he was at the dinner table!Drawing
When I draw, I use a rapid-o-graph pen made by the Koh-i-Noor pen company. I draw on Strathmore 500 two-ply Bristol paper made by the Strathmore paper people.
Writing
When I'm working on a new story, I like to start with an outline—a roadmap, so to speak, that my characters can follow so that they (and I) don't become hopelessly lost by, say, page 96 of the story. When I'm creating this outline, I use a yellow #2 Ticonderoga pencil (with a very sharp point) on yellow lined paper. Then I get busy writing on my Apple computer.
A Very Nice Note
This note was left on my desk by my daughter, Emma, age 8 at the time. Yes, the same Emma whose name appears on the dedication page of many of my books. How could I not dedicate a book to someone who leaves me her leftover black raspberry ice cream?
Music
Every morning when I was writing BIRDBRAIN AMOS, I loved listening to "Appalachian Spring" and "Rodeo" by Aaron Copland.
Postcards
I have a map of the United States on my studio wall that's covered with tacky postcards that either I've picked up or that friends have sent to me. It's the United States of Post Cards!
If you have a really good tacky postcard that you think should be up on my wall, by all means, send it along! Please send to:
P.O. Box 364, Hartland, Vermont 05048.