And artist's, and technical writer (day job title, but it doesn't really cover what I do. Close enough), and mom and...
When we moved into the Crooked House, I was working from home and had to be working while we moved in. This, on top of other things meant that two things happened. One, the office had been the last room for focus on renovations, and two, my desk got set up in a hurry. Four months later, I was starting to feel it. Not the lack of renovations so much - missing trim and wainscoting quickly fades into the background of a room you inhabit daily, at least it does for me. While those would be very nice, the desk becoming painful when I am sitting at it for 9-12 hours a day was a far larger problem. When my friend Annamae pinged me, asking about a desk and we started talking about how my office is(n't) working for me, I realized I had a day where all the plans had fallen through and you know what? I had time to get some stuff done in the office.
This is what the desk layout looked like this morning.
Desk tucked into the far corner of the office, with the built-in bookshelves impinging on one elbow, and the treadmill on the other. Not being able to use the full table surface because of this, and computer layout with peripherals less than optimal. What if I moved my desk? Where to? The room is cut up by doors. There's a door to the bedroom, two closet doors, and the door to the kitchen. Not a lot of wallspace with the big built-in occupying more than half of the contiguous wall. Could I put my very cable-heavy setup into the center of the room?
With my son's help, we broke down the office, and then rebuilt it, with a lot of cable velcro involved. This is by far from the final look - another desk may be happening before too long, getting the Ikea table out of the equation - but for now it's already feeling much better.
This solved a couple of problems I didn't realize were issues until this solved them. One, I don't have to completely turn around to talk to the First Reader, now. Two, I can turn my head and look right into the kitchen, which is handy when the Little Man is concocting something in there and wanting my input every few minutes. I think overall the layout is going to make much more sense than what I was doing before. It remains to be seen after I work in the configuration for a week or two. The treadmill looking out the window is nice, and I've tested it up to a run (short run!) and it's fine by the wall there.
So! Happy writer is, well, writing. I've done a morsel of fiction, and now this blog post. Art, by the way, happens elsewhere. My art desk is in my bedroom, because there wasn't a place for it in the office. The new configuration doesn't help with that, unfortunately. I'd been hoping to make the bedroom an oasis of peace and no working in there. Perhaps once the Little Man is launched, I can art in the guest room. Which is currently the Teen Den. Lair? I feel more like it's a lair. Also, I need a filing cabinet, but that could probably go out in the garage and be fine.
it's good. The settling-in part of moving is still happening, and I expect that to continue iterating for at least a year, with occasional eruptions periodically thereafter. I sometimes get a yen to just move stuff around and see if there's a better flow to be had. In this case, it was like breaking in a shoe, and I think I'm less likely to feel the painful rub now that I have elbow room.
Halictid bee on Dayflower
The other thing is that I've bought myself a little toy. The photography I've been doing recently has mostly been using my cell phone. Which is, mostly, fine as it's got a really nice camera. However, I found the macro setting is only so-so, and in the limited time I have to play around with photos, I don't pull out the DSLR and lenses. So I picked up a clip-on lens kit. For about $12 on sale, it's a toy. That being said, it does a really great job. Not as good as the big camera, no. However, for stealing 5 minutes to run around my tiny garden shooting the bugs? I'm happy!
Slowly, I'm feeling like I'm regaining lost ground. Moving so much the last couple of years has left a mark on us all. No more moving! Time to settle in and make a comfy groove to live in.