My search for fun in the writing life continues . . .

Years ago, I bought and decorated an old house. I became obsessed for awhile with paint colors and drapes, furniture and tile. I spent hours thumbing through home-decoration magazines to get ideas. Often, I would stop at a picture and say, “I love this! These are the colors I want in my home office (or bedroom or kitchen).”

More often than not, I would suddenly realize I was looking at a picture of a children’s playroom. The rooms that caught my eye had bright green walls and pink flowered curtains. Or sunflowers painted on the floor and mobiles dangling from the ceiling. Or polka-dotted chairs and yellow bedspreads.

I was determined to make my little old house what I wanted. I splashed color everywhere, went crazy on wall hangings, and even painted the light switch plates in the kitchen different vivid colors. I repainted the living room ceiling four times to get the right shade of peach and created sky-blue stripes on one of the bedroom walls. I finished with a sense of enormous pride. Some of my friends loved it and some hated it. But I was in heaven.

My old house (now painted dignified shades of ecru and taupe) has long since been rented out, and I now live in a less eccentric place. But I look back on the days of decorating that house with a deep fondness. I have no doubt that my longing for color had to do with a desire for play. I was coming out of a rough patch, and the blues and fuchsias and lavenders of my old house felt charming and mischievous.

These days, as I think about bringing more fun into my writing life, I’ve looked around at the places people work with a new eye. How cheerless they are. The grays and beiges of most offices are supposed to be soothing, but they bring me down. Even worse are the cluttered, narrow spaces so many people labor in.

My own home office is light-filled and spacious, but it could use some sprucing up. I’ve never had fresh flowers on my desk. But why not? Wouldn’t that make my spirits light? The windows have ugly blinds on them—even though I could easily find some colorful curtains in a thrift store. How about a bowl with some pretty floating candles? Or a plate of oranges?

One of my goals for the rest of July is going to be making my writing space prettier and more cheerful. As I’ve said in my previous posts, I’m going for playfulness here. And how can you feel playful when the space you’re working in practically shouts, “Wipe that smile off your face!”