Maria Rosa Menocal: I like to write in the center of my apartment, rather than in an isolated space. My ideal writing areas have always been in, or adjacent to, my kitchen, actually, since I love to cook and I find I can do both at the same time, there is in fact something about the creative aspect of cooking that dovetails with writing in a good way for me.
Lynn Schooler: Since finishing The Blue Bear, I've been living in a small cabin on a quiet cove that is twenty-five miles out of town. From the road, it's a half mile hike in over a rough, muddy trail, so I don't get a lot of drop-in visitors. Through the window, I can see a range of snow-clad mountains beyond a wide expanse of water where there are often humpback whales and sea lions feeding. It's hard to get more ideal than that!
Emma Sweeney: I write in my kitchen, with books and notes (and sometimes photographs) spread out around me. The window faces east and I write in the morning so the light is perfect then.
Mona Golabek: Near my source of inspiration...my piano!
Tony Perrottet: I go every day into the "Writers Room" in downtown Manhattan --- a co-operative space that was set up in the 1970s by a group of authors who couldn't work at home (either because of New York noise, kids, distractions). It's a great place, and I'd be lost without it. There are about 300 members, it's open 24 hours a day, and you get a locker to house your laptop and notes, all for about $60 a month (less than the price of a latte coffee per day). I get the peace and quiet, and can meet other writers in the kitchen --- privacy and a sense of community rolled into one. It's on www.writersroom.org.
