Author K.M.Lockwood http://kmlockwood.com/
I’ll
start this happy little tour in my study upstairs – where the work happens.
These shelves hold books I refer to a lot. There are a fair few How-Tos and
books from my MA in Creative Writing at West Dean College. I always have to
have my old Etymological Dictionary and a Thesaurus to hand.
I
should think you can spot that my work-in-progress has something to do with the
Jane Austen era, Chichester and Sussex.
At the
other end of the shelf, there are ghost stories and Polish folktales related to
The Wedding Ghost, (http://the-wedding-ghost.blogspot.co.uk/) and below them plenty of Selkie books for my
MA novel. The shelf itself was made by my wonderful Other Half way back in the
1980s when we were first married. You’ll see its sister later.
The
bizarre mixture of ornaments and trinkets on top houses hundreds of memories. I
have a shrine with photos of my family and related souvenirs at the top of the
stairs – my glow-in-the-dark Our Lady of Lourdes looks after them.
This
bookshelf stands at the left of my desk and holds books on demons, fairytales,
poetry, eccentrics, place names and folklore. These are essential source books
for my imagination to feast on. Geek
alert: yes, the two greeny-grey things on the top shelf are the Argonath
from The Lord of the Rings.
So here
we have the Big Sister Bookshelf who lurks in our bedroom (the bobbly thing is
a bedpost). There’s a mixture of His’n’Hers here – and the tiny books on top.
They just squeeze under the sloping roof: our house used to be a holiday
cottage.
Downstairs
now –and into the Library. This really is overflowing as my youngest son lives there
temporarily. The books are mostly in alphabetical order by author. This throws
up some pretty strange pairings: Mr
Darcy, Vampyre next to The Wind in
the Willows, anyone?
The
champagne on the top is waiting for publication day(s).
There
are three bookcases along the wall, and one shelf holds a special Venetian collection.
I have rather a passion for La
Serenissima. It’s like the Grand Canal: Michelle Lovric, Marcus Sedgwick, Susan Hill
and Cornelia Funke all jostle together.
Finally,
the Sitting Room: talented, gorgeous Other Half made this one too. It marks the
divide between the fireplace and the pool table end. Here you can find an ocean-scale
collection of books about the sea. What started as a few maritime bits and
pieces to amuse guests did the grit-in-the-oyster shell thing and became this
fabulous resource. I won’t claim to have read absolutely all of it, but it’s
had many a good browse.
I’ve
loved doing this – thank you for asking me, Kirsty. Any questions? Just ask @lockwoodwriter
on Twitter.
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