Creative Spaces

My workspace is one of the smallest and least impressive looking author offices you can imagine. It’s in the middle of the living room, and while writing, I’m reclining in a loom armchair with my feet up on a multi-cushioned stool, lifting my legs high. My keyboard is on my lap, and as I tend to freeze easily, I’m usually swathed in one to three extra blankets, with the occasional curl sticking out. Not that it’s always freezing in Germany, where I live, but it’s always good to have an extra blanket handy! I love that writing position and feel that it’s important for my health because I sit in an office all day long and all that sitting is not good. At least, while it’s technically still sitting, this gives me a bit of variation. It also makes me feel very relaxed. Basically, I don’t like to sit on chairs. I much prefer to sit on the floor!

My flat screen is fixed with a bracket to the wall, and I can swivel it around, depending on the jobs I do. When writing a novel, I turn it so that it looks more like a book. In doing so, I can make the print very large and still see a lot of text (which is necessary because I’m far away from the monitor due to my reclining position!).

Another essential is a mug with green tea next to me. I easily down half a gallon while writing without noticing it. My somewhat antique wooden desk is only there to hold my mug and my mouse and a notebook. It has roughly the size of a standard towel and boasts a tiny, overstuffed drawer. I like that it’s small because I don’t work well in cluttered surroundings, and I’ve learned that it’s easier to keep a small place under control than a large one. 😉

German author Beate Boeker’s creative writing space is in the middle of her living room.

Usually, people say they can’t work when surrounded by people, but I like it because it makes me feel that I’m still with my family and not shut apart from them. I read them excerpts, discuss my plots and just continue when any immediate emergency (like finding those very important trousers or judging a brand-new drawing) is dealt with. It’s only when I’m writing very touching scenes that I need silence around me. I never listen to music while I write because music changes my mood dramatically, and that would reflect in the novel.

As to my books, I’m writing romances and cozy mysteries with mischief and humor and am just busy plotting the fourth novel in the series Temptation in Florence. The second novel (Charmer’s Death) will be free May 15 – 19, but if you want to start at the beginning, here’s the link to Amazon for the first, Delayed Death.

The most important advice I would give to any aspiring author: Learn the craft from professionals, and then, persevere. Never give up. It takes years to learn any other job, so give yourself time. While writing, little voices will tell you that it’s all crap, all boring, and that nobody will ever want to read this. Don’t listen. Write on. The little voices are wrong, and if you take advice from professional writers, your writing will shine one day.

Bio:  Beate Boeker is a traditionally published author since 2008 and has 11 novels and short stories online available. Some of them were shortlisted for the Golden Quill Contest, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the “best indie books of 2012” contest.

Beate is a marketing manager by day and a writer by night. She has a degree in International Business Administration and her daily experience in marketing continuously provides her with a wide range of fodder for her novels, be it hilarious or cynical.

Widely traveled, she speaks German (her mother language), English, French and Italian fluently and lives in the North of Germany together with her husband and daughter.

While ‘Boeker’ means ‘books’ in a German dialect, her first name Beate can be translated as ‘Happy’ . . . and with a name that reads ‘Happy Books’, what else could she do but write novels with a happy end?

Although being German, she has chosen to write in English because she appreciates the professional support and training opportunities a writer can find in the US.  Contact Beate Boeker on her Website, Facebook page, Amazon author page, Goodreads author page, and on Twitter: @BeateBoeker

Also, check out Beate’s Book Trailer.