Where I am now

Some of my books on their shelves

I am writing on this sunny July morning here, in my study on the first floor (second floor for American readers) of my large granite farmhouse in Brittany. At my back are the books in the photo: lots and lots and lots of books from my various studies over the years in Wisconsin, Ohio and Cambridge (England).  Any good writer is very likely a reader, too; I am certainly a reader as well as a writer, and wherever I have settled I have had bookshelves-- bricks and boards in the 1970s and mismatched cases in rented houses, but here in France a whole wall of shelves purpose-built for books.  And I've had lots of studies, too: in the corners of bedrooms and living rooms and even one in a converted basement coal room, but here in Brittany I have a large room at the top of the stairs with windows on either side and a desk in the middle-- a perfect place to write.  And so that's what I'm doing this morning: writing this first post, then getting a second cup of coffee and turning my attention to Transgressions, my first novel, which is almost ready for publication.