Last summer my studio apartment was invaded by bedbugs, which became a blessing in disguise. With all my stuff packed up for four weeks of bug bombing, I created a dedicated office space for writing. With green paint on two walls and shelving units forming a third wall, I had a separate work area for writing. Since this is Silicon Valley, no surprise that my new office space resembles an 8×8 cube.

This is not the paperless office of the future. Everything that I write starts off as something created in long hand, a series of Post-It Notes, or on the typewriter before being entered into the computer. Although I do some editing on the computer, I do most of my editing on paper. Being able to touch the paper and spill red ink are important to me as a writer. I find it easy to create the rough draft on the typewriter, scanned the page into the computer, and clean up the text on the screen.

At WonderCon 2009 I picked up two full-size posters to hang on the wall. The first one is the “I WANT TO BELIEVE” poster that’s often seen in The X-Files TV series. The other poster is for a 1950’s-style science fiction movie called Alien Trespass that’s coming out this year that was a free give away at the WonderCon table.

When I saw a personal counselor a few years ago about my mother’s death from breast cancer in 2004, I watched all nine seasons of The X-Files DVDs. The weirdness from that show made the weirdness of my dysfunctional life look normal in comparison. I was a fascinating patient to my counselor since our conversations about my emotional state revolved around my knowledge of books, movies and TV. While searching for my lost childhood, I rediscovered my passion to become a writer again.

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NOTE: This blog post was first published on Once Upon An Albatross… blog.