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Eve L. Mitchell
Why I Write
Where I Write
I work full time Monday—Friday and before March 2020, that involved me going into the office from about eight in the morning, to around five, or five thirty at night. I would then come home, get into the ‘comfies,’ make dinner and then I would migrate to the couch and finish the night there, armed with my laptop. I live in a two-bed apartment, so space is limited. My first three books were written on that couch, with the laptop on my, yup you guessed it, lap. However, when deadlines are looming, and TVs are distracting, it became the norm for me, to sit at the kitchen table and the author job would commence.
As you may see, it’s a nice enough table and chair, but that chair whilst appropriate for sitting through the family meal, is not wholly forgiving on the back! So, to relieve my poor old bones, I would migrate back to the couch and try to finish the words there.
It’s not convenient. I was constantly huffing and puffing, stretching, moaning and basically annoying my wonderful other half, who complained he couldn’t hear the telly over my “working.”
Enter March 2020. Suddenly we were indefinitely working from home, myself and my partner were now sharing the kitchen table for day work. I like my kitchen, it looks out onto trees and the water, but from eight in the morning to late at night, it’s not the best space. Add in continual interruptions because it’s where the kettle and the fridge live…tranquillity to write, was hard to come by.
In June 2020, I bought a desk and chair and moved the sideboard out of the hallway and into the spare bedroom. I then sat for a few months in the hallway at my desk. Not very glamourous, but it beat the kitchen.
In September 2020, the executive decision was made, and the spare bedroom was revamped into my permanent office space. By September 2020, I had gained a new co-worker who transferred from the kitchen, and during the day my partner works alongside me. At five o’clock, he tidies his desk and then he leaves “work” for the day. I come out of the office to cook dinner, spend about an hour with him and then return to our home office to write. I can close the door behind me, I have my music on, my space is uninterrupted and I’m in my ‘zone’.
We have to get a picture for the wall, that we can both agree on, and once life returns to normal, I think a nice panoramic canvas of one of our trips around Scotland will be pretty, and it will finish my space off.
One of the main benefits of my home office is that I can close the door. It’s not very sociable but then, neither am I! I can listen to my music and my partner can listen to his in the living room. I don’t disturb him and most importantly he doesn’t disturb me (except to keep my coffee cup filled), and the added bonus is that my ‘thumping on the keyboard” is no longer distracting to him.
I’ve tried once to write outside my home, but I am too nosy and eager to see what’s happening around me, to be very productive. When I come into my home office to work, I’m in my writing zone.
There are not many positive things to say about 2020-2021 with the pandemic, but one thing I am grateful for, is my permanent office space!
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Eve L. Mitchell is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes contemporary romance and urban fantasy.
Being an avid reader from a young age, Eve still considers herself to be a reader first. She believes there is nothing better than getting that new book either on your e-reader or in your hands, and the fact she may bring that excitement to a fellow reader, fills her with wonder. She writes under a pen name because otherwise her Secret Agent status will be revoked.
Eve lives in the North East of Scotland, with her three coffee machines and her significant other, Mr. M. She enjoys NFL Football, music and having long conversations with the voices in her head, which sometimes turn into the stories she writes.