Over the 35+ years of our time together, Sue and I have often had at least one “extra” room that could be made into an office. The kind of “room of my own” I thought I needed to read and to write. Book-filled spaces that inevitably filled with the flotsam and jetsam of my various interests and hobbies until in the end they were no longer good writing spaces at all. Too cluttered. Too distracting.

Now, I have a different kind of space. Not a room, but a landing. Not the big office desk I always thought a writer needed, but a small, standup desk complete with hooks to hang my backpacks, and storage space to hold the two covered boxes that contain my old analog journals and can double as monitor stands.

Looking now at the pictures I snapped, I see they really do not do my little space justice. To both the left and right as I stand at the desk, I have huge, two-story windows. When I am looking for inspiration I also have the various patterns of the rug we brought back from Istanbul and the pictures Sue took while we were there.

And when I am tired of standing or one of our cats are tired of me standing, I need only take a small step back and I can sit and rest on the top of the stairs.

After 35+ years, it seems I have finally found the space I was looking for all along. Simple, minimalist, without distractions. The perfect office!