Just wanted to share some photos from my writerly life. I've been meaning to put some on here rather than in emails, since I can put a lot more on here. I'm also updating this as things change, as I travel and work other places, and so on.
I just updated this to add my new writing digs as of January 2023 as part of my three-month working and research trip to Europe. So far, after a short trip to Brussels in Belgium, I'm living and working in Barcelona, Spain.
If you want to see more of my tourist / exploring / research photos on my trip so far, I'll be posting those in a separate post on here, so check them out if you get a minute! :)
My new pad here in Barcelona. I'm writing in coffee shops too, but I've been writing here quite a bit, even in just my first week or so here. I have to say, it's been a really lovely place to write so far. I've been getting a surprising amount of work done. :)
My little jungle writing spot in Bangkok, out on the balcony of my old place in the Chatuchak neighborhood. I still really miss it there! I'm looking forward to being able to go back, at least for a visit! It was an amazing place to live. :)
Writing digs while staying to help out at my parents' house in Hollister, CA. It's really peaceful, especially since I brought all of my plants up with me from Los Angeles when I came up during the pandemic (and now I've got it decorated a bit more - I'm realizing this photo is a little old now, I should probably take a new one if I can make it a little less messy, lol). I do miss L.A., so I'm looking forward to going back, but this has been a great place to write, thank goodness.
One of the cool things I did BEFORE I left L.A. I'm a huge film geek, so I did a few of the studio tours. These are the chairs from the famous "blue pill / red pill" scene from the Matrix. I'll definitely go on these tours again - they were a lot of fun!
One REALLY nice thing about my parents' place is that I can work outside when I'm here, at least when it's not too cold (or too hot, lol). I work outside whenever I can, weather permitting, and it's absolutely lovely. I get a huge kick out of watching the birds, especially the hummingbirds. There are TONS of bird breeds that hang out in their backyard and partake of their fountains and bird baths to cool off when it's hot.
Sunset at my parents' house. They have some really lovely ones. :)
I was gradually checking out coffee shops in Los Angeles before everything shut down, and I found a number of great ones, that were wonderful places to work (and had tons of other writers). I miss some of those hangouts, and I REALLY hope at least some of them are still around when I get back. This one was right across the street from Paramount Studios, and had really good matcha lattes. I found out it closed down permanently during the pandemic (sniff) so I'll have to find a good replacement when I get back.
Another really nice thing about being in Northern California for a bit… I'm super close to the coast. It's been a lot of fun to head over to Santa Cruz and wander around the cliffs, visit my nephew at UCSC, and hang out at a coffee shop to get in some work. :)
This is one of my writing nooks in L.A. I had a pretty small place (mostly because I was never there, frankly), but I managed to carve out two writing spots (three, if you include the couch) during the pandemic so I wouldn't always be sitting in the same spot. This was one of them, and I sat cross-legged on the floor just because I get tired of chairs. I really loved it there, at least until the pandemic made the apartment claustrophobic, lol.
This was my absolute favorite coffee shop when I first got to Bangkok. It closed after I'd been there about a year, unfortunately (they made it into a bar, bleh), but I was here every day before then. This was close to Lumphini Park in the Silom area, so great people-watching.
I loved this little office / writing nook I had when I lived in Portland, OR the last time. I had a beautiful view of Mount Hood right out my window, and it was a lovely view whatever the weather. I remember sitting here with my little space heater and watching it snow that winter while I wrote, in addition to the usual PDX rains. Just a great little spot.
Since I had to deal with visa stuff pretty regularly over the five-plus years I lived in Bangkok, I spent a LOT of time in Laos, especially Vientienne. This was a coffee shop I went to most mornings when I was in town.
This is kind of funny, but because I lived in Southern California, I could get a super cheap year pass for Disneyland, and I could go pretty much any weekday I wanted. It was literally an $11 train ticket from my place in Los Angeles. So I'd go there and ride a few rides and write and hang out and people watch, and write some more. This is me eating an EXTREMELY decadent meal at one of the restaurants in New Orleans Square and working on a novel. I loved it there, especially the artificial environments. I find the place weirdly inspiring and the people watching is excellent of course, since you get people from all over.
This was the other writing spot I had in my apartment in Los Angeles. All of those plants (the ones that survived anyway, which is most of them) are HUGE now, lol. I brought them all with me when I left L.A.
This is the most recent photo, of me writing while house-sitting for my sister in Santa Rosa, CA.
This is me writing by the beach in Goa, India. I lived in India for almost three years before I moved to Thailand.
Me, being a total dork at Disneyland, lol. I admit I'm a bit of a Star Wars geek. I'm totally obsessed with ANDOR at the moment...
And that's it for now! I'll update / revise / refresh these periodically when I get a few minutes!
Hope you enjoyed them, and happy reading / writing!
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