When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough… Redecorate…

I have a quirk.

Yeah, I know. I have a lot of quirks. I have one in particular that only raises it’s head when I’m under a large amount of stress.

I nest.

When things around me spiral out of control, I will take control over my immediate environment. If it can be cleaned, it’ll get cleaned. If I can move it, I will. And… well… I break out in Ikea trips.

And that, dear reader, is how I managed to snag the last short Billy bookcase in Orlando yesterday.

(Could have been worse. There’s a Container Store across the street from Ikea. This trip? I did not go across the street!)

The entire thing started Saturday. I sat down to work, and my brain said “We cannot possibly work under these conditions!” So I cleaned up — put some things that were supposed to be donated out to actually go for donation, cleaned my desk, filed some papers and put supplies away… and then I reached the part of the room where the stacks were stacked. They were very neat stacks, but… yeah, stacks. I needed a bookcase.

Which meant moving my kanban board up 2.5 inches, because the bookcase I wanted was 41.75 inches high. I measured the heck out of that, and the kanban board is now flush against the bottom of my ink shelves, and the bookcase I built today is flush underneath the kanban board. Measure twice!

There was also a stool with storage purchased, because it was neat. And… some storage boxes because I needed to put things in things. And… yeah, new bedding for the day bed because I’m still annoyed I missed the tie dye set Ikea had last spring.

Somehow, the office feels bigger now.

The room is still cozy.

And look at that alignment!

So, yesterday was bookshelf buying. Today was bookshelf building (much easier than that stool, I tell you! For that, I needed to borrow some hand strength from the husband in the office next door. Yes, the husband is, in fact, mine.)

Writing happened last week. A lot of writing happened last week.

And we’re revisiting a couple of places we haven’t seen since book 2. It’s interesting going back the way we came, because these characters have changed so much since they started this journey. It’ll be even more interesting when they get farther down the road and… spoilers.

This week is the RWA National Convention (starting Thursday, and my panel is Friday evening), so I don’t anticipate getting as much writing done. And next week is Thanksgiving, and I most definitely won’t get as much writing done. But things are progressing, and I can’t complain. And the week after that, Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads releases! Hrm… should I have a sale? I think I should have a sale.

Let me go set up a sale! Written in Water will be free for Thanksgiving week!

Catch you next week!