Writer in Residence

Well, the “hello” is from me, not actually from a talking desk. Just a figure of speech. Here’s the desk in question, it’s one of the two desks that I mainly use in my office. I have a winter desk, which is in a kind of little sunroom; and the one pictured, which is in an adjoining room and doesn’t get as much sun. The other desk does talk a bit, actually, though it rarely has anything interesting to say. But not this one.

My lavish choice of two desks to work at is a relatively recent thing, as is a separate office. I wrote many of my books at kitchen tables, or on very makeshift desks. SABRIEL, for example, was mostly typed up on a Mac Classic perched on a chair at the end of my bed, in a very small but airy fifth floor apartment, way back in 1994.

Let me return to the point of this first of my guest postings for the month of February, which is to say hello. There will be more anon, when I will return to post about how to predict the future with the entrails of salamanders; the disadvantages of writing novels in lemon juice secret ink; and other useful stuff.

Or alternatively to talk about my books and writing, and if all goes well, I will also be able to reveal several secret projects.