Thursday, June 24, 2010

MY WRITING CABIN


On my long and winding healing path I learned about the power of visualisation, although I think I have always felt that in order to achieve anything you have to have a very clear vision of what it is you are working towards. My healing journey through Reiki taught me that this holding of a vision is very important even if you have no idea of how you are going to achieve your goal.

The title of my blog is no cutesy attempt to lure in readers with the promise of coffee and freshly baked scones (although both are often available). No, From The Kitchen Table is so called because that is exactly where I write from – my kitchen table. I yearn and ache for a room of my own in which I could write without distraction or disturbance.

My ideal writing space would be a cabin at the end of my garden, just under the Hawthorn tree. This cabin is fully heated and insulated making it cosy in winter. It also has a little veranda running around outside for summer days. Inside my cabin is a rocking chair for thinking, a stove for brewing coffee and a desk by the window from where I could write.

I see lots of plants and a bed in the corner for visiting cats. The walls are decked in colourful batiks and hangings and paintings that speak to my soul. There is a wicker basket which holds some beautiful blue, turquoise and green throws from Avoca Handweavers for extra winter warmth. Just inside the door, on the floor are my special furry writing slipper boots. There are shelves holding my reference books, dictionaries and books of poetry. On my desk sits my laptop, notebooks, scribble pads and a large candle.

Can you see it? I am there right now. As I hold this vision and will and dream it into being I am reminded of a poem I learned at school,

The Old Woman Of The Road by Padraic Colum.

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!

To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!

I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!

I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!

Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!

And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house - a house of my own
Out of the wind's and the rain's way.

Where do you write from?
Photo is of the old shed which is currently occupying the space for my writing cabin... under the Hawthorn tree!

19 comments:

  1. That's an excellent poem. I used to dream of having a house with a clock and dresser. Now I've got all that but it doesn't mean everything's 'fine and dandy'. It's the same, I suspect, with wanting a writing cabin. I write on the dining table in the morning and I sit with my laptop on my lap in the living room in the afternoon but it's not set in stone. I'm in the conservatory this morning with Josh-the-dog at my feet. I think I'm happier with the flexibility... but I hope you get your cabin one day.

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  2. Oh, I love your description of a writing cabin. A place like that would be so wonderful. I think I could spend all my time there. enjoyed the poem too.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  3. I remember that poem from school as well. Must have seemed an impossible dream to women back then. Now, I'm sure you will get your cabin soon, it's surprising the things which happen when we focus on what's really important to us:)

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  4. Beautiful Barbara and what a wonderful way to give power to your visualisation by getting all your readers to 'see it' too! I saw it and it is a wonderful place. :-)

    Find a way to make a start, a step toward it, show willing and miracles happen. ;-)

    I have a whole room to myself, with space for a cat or too of course! it is filled with book shelves (and clutter!) with a desk by the window that overlooks the bird table, the garden and all the wonderful big trees beyond.

    See the view from my desk :-) - http://myincrediblejoy.blogspot.com/2009/09/view-from-my-desk.html

    Lovely post Barbara. :-)

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  5. Lovely post, Barbara. I would love a little writing cabin as well.
    I loved the old story as well. I am glad to see you would place your writing room under the hawthorn tree - the fairy tree.
    It would be great for creativity. Could we move our families into the little sheds, do you think, and just take over the house? Bx

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  6. Cynthia Lord has a little writing cabin with heat and electricity. She goes there to keep from being distracted by chores, phones, and Internet. It's a lovely idea.

    Perfect poem for your post!

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  7. Hi Rosalind.. and thanks for comment. Glad u liked poem - its simplicity and honesty makes it v beautiful. And flexibility - yep you are right. I guess we also learn to be happy with what we have - which is so much!

    Hi Mason - my cabin does sound fantastic doesn't it.. will let you know if it ever happens!

    Hi Niamh and Susannah - yes I am holding that vision and visiting it in my head regularly!

    Brigid...totally forgot the magic and fairy lore associated with Hawthorn - no wonder it feels like right part of garden! Thanks for reminder

    Hi Theresa - maybe next time you visit I can 'recieve' you in my Writing Cabin!

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  8. Love the poem! And the photo of the cabin under the hawthorne tree. I'm pretty lucky that I have an office with a great view of a very interesting street!

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  9. Thanks for coming into my blog and commenting on my two-dog pizza day post, which happily brought me here. The photograph is wonderful, your description of your dream of a writing place even more wonderful. So my daughter and son-in-law's Maine Coon cat would be a welcome visitor in it!! (My writing place is in my small duplex, in the living room next to the kitchen nook where Jen has her computer. Well, so I have a room of my own. But I long for something as beautifully visual as a cabin under a hawthorne tree!!!)

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  10. Your dream cabin sounds heavenly. My own space needs sprucing up for sure...it's much too plain and businesslike. Cozy would make me want to be here more, I think. And if I moved my thinking chair up here, maybe I'd write more?

    I saw your comment at my blog about having tea with Maeve Binchy. That must have been a wonderful treat. It would be grand to meet that lovely lady in person.

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  11. What a great description of your cabin! I sit at my kitchen table too. I'm quite lucky that I have a view of the garden from it. I move around to suit what is going on though - I like laptops for that. x

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  12. Hey Barbara
    That's a great photo of our shed - time to fully train you as a snapper now...
    Paul xx

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  13. Hi Barbara, before you spend Euro 20k on a Seomra from the good people in Kilmacanogue you might remember G B Shaw who had a little hut on wheels which he moved round the garden to follow the sun... Loved the Padraic Colum poem, brought back a flood of memories. On second thoughts go and get that Seomra with internet connections, microwave and cable tv. Just go for it....P

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  14. I have my own room wtih two or three tables and my computer and windows and everything. I'm going to lose it late in August though because we are getting a foreign student who will need it. Then I will be writing from our dining room table or maybe upstairs in the hall or in our bedroom but not with the large computer - only with a laptop. I will have to figure out how to do this but I have before...I have a little chicken coop but not for writing - for little chickens! Your shed looks lovely - could it be transformed? And what of winter? ah well, a room of one's own - could it be a room of the mind...?

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  15. I now desperately want some 'special furry writing slipper boots'. They sound magnificient! I write from a cramped squishy position on my bed facing my desk of drawers that has my PC balanced on top of it - not ideal at all. In the summer the room turns into a sauna from midday onwards. There's nowhere else to put the PC, and it creates too much family tension to try and work downstairs so I tend to cram everything I own into one room. I relate to the poem - I long for my own little house! But I'm happy for what I have - the PC works (mostly), I can still sit cross-legged (woohoo!), and I know I'll get where I want to be someday. :)

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  16. Hi Talli - that photo is my shed! My cabin would be an altogether more sophisticated affair!
    Ann - the Maine Coon could visit me anytime! Thanks for your comment.
    Patricia - yep - cosy is good and some girly throws reminds us to connect with our feminine creative side!
    Rebecca - yeah - I have a view of the garden too.
    Padraic - as I don't have 20k yet, maybe I will ask Sherwood to build me a hut on wheels ala GB Shaw!
    Jan - my shed is held together by the ivy growing inside and out. I would freeze and soaked - both winter and summer.
    Jayne - love your description of where you write. Marion Keyes says she writes IN bed.. so maybe that would suit you if you get cramp from being cross legged!

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  17. I remember that poem from school as well Barbara. Like you I write at my kitchen table with Mozart playing gently in the background and taking in the changing seasons of the trees outside the windows.

    My dream place, a library of my own, with a beautiful antique desk, large fireplace and wall to ceiling windows overlooking the sea. I could go on and on, but don't wish to out stay my welcome! :)

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  18. My dream writing area would be in a summer house, overlooking the ocean, heaven! Here's wishing though. In the meantime, I'll have to settle for my home office in the suburbs:)

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  19. Barbara, please stop by my blog when you have time. I have an award for you today.

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I love feedback!