We are delighted to welcome J S McGowan to our At My Writing Desk feature. I think many of us will identify with his reflections on different settings in which to write in the piece below though perhaps not so many of us have a stunning view from our windows as we write (mine takes in back courts and dustbins)! You can read more about his book Lael here.
A WINDOW IN THE BLACK ISLE
As I am writing this I am sitting with my laptop on my knee, sitting very close to a window – my favoured position. I have no desk as such – any notes, booklets or notebooks of sundry information are stored in containers that look like very large books and they are stacked on a bookshelf below the windowsill. I have a fantastic view from my window, I can see right down the coastline of the inner Moray Firth and the hills beyond. The farthest part of land that I can see has a lighthouse on it and that marks the place where I was born and spent a fair part of my life. It was here I started writing short stories for my young brothers and much later for my two daughters. These stories nearly always featured fairies, elves and goblins. The woods, beaches and cliffs that surrounded where we lived were atmospheric haunts for the mystical creatures that I wrote about.
© J S McGowan 2017