Without Fear

I wish my office had a view.

At present, I share my office with the kids’ toy room – it’s okay we are rarely in there at the same time so it doesn’t affect me as much as it sounds.

…wait, I go in with my kids to play, so we are in there at the same time just not while I write. I don’t think waking them at 10pm and making them watch me write is good parenting. Anyway…

I want a good view to accompany my writing. I’m currently at the coast in a holiday house so I’m writing from the kitchen table but I can see a horizon filled with trees and surf and gorgeous space and this morning’s coffee that I left on the balcony rail.

This view calms me, excites me, inspires me.

I’ve never had an office with a view. Ever.

Well, maybe that’s a lie. At uni I lived on campus and my top floor room faced the carpark. My study was often interrupted with hours of people watching for procrastination. It was the best. You’d see friends, foes, gals, and bros all going about their life like they weren’t being watched. It was like an ant colony filled with people you knew. It was reality tv on an even creepier level.

I’d see strange pairings of people going into town to do some shopping – jocks and nerds like cats and dogs. I’d see walks of shame with shoes in hand from other colleges, who picked their nose in their cars, who could afford take out more than twice a week, who parked with friends and cases of beer and cigars and drank til dawn (alright, that last one was me and the boys).

It was all story fuel but I was missing it as I was busy studying. And if I were strapped to the lie detector like Moe Szyslak it’s going BZZZ, studying sometimes, BZZZ, drinking with friends as we studied, BZZZ, drinking with friends. BZZZ, drinking alone, BZZZ, drinking alone while reading about D-Day in a National Geographic, DING (and it was fun and one of my best birthdays ever!).

Anyway, point is, it was wasted on me and now my adult offices either view my front yard or my backyard. And I know that some writers say have no view, no distraction, don’t even play music, but I think those people are lame. And lack self control. I want a beach view, that’s the office dream. So much of my writing is sitting and staring and thinking, I’d love to have something in front of me to make it worthwhile. I want something I can draw stories from. I want that silent interaction with the outside world.

What view does your ultimate office have?