The other day Kirby Larson posted a teensy glimpse into her writing space, putting out a request for "the things you keep on your shelves or on your walls that celebrate your writing self? That comfort you? That inspire you?" Here's some of the stuff that tends to attract my gaze while I'm sitting in my writing chair. For what it's worth, all these images were taken without moving my tushie from said chair:
1. Front and center, my framed autographs of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, and Laura Bridgman. Other interesting tidbits: a genuine sweetgrass basket filled with shells from the shores of South Carolina; a photo of my buddy Sarah Jean the Green Bean; a copy of Luther's Small Catechism stamped "Property of Sarah Miller" (my great-grandmother); and my first very first book, Ladybug, Ladybug and Other Nursery Rhymes.
2. To the right of that, my Romanov library. Which seems like it ought to intimidate me with the sheer scale of what I've taken on with this project, but I always seem to find it oddly pleasing. (Note the nifty Nikolai II matroyshka, direct from the Catherine Palace gift shop.)
3. On the back of my door (which opens directly parallel to my chair) original artwork of the kiddo from the Halfway Down the Stairs logo, presented on the day of the shop's Grand Closing party.
4. Below that, my bill/bookmark/scissors holder, adorned with four itsy-bitsy framed formal portraits of the grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia taken in 1914 -- the year O.T.M.A. begins. Regarding the size of those frames, see the section in Bird by Bird entitled, "Short Assignments" (page 16 in my hardcover edition).
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Currently reading:
The Walls of Cartagena
by Julia Durango
