Who the Heck... & Ideal Work...

First of all, I'm late. I didn't manage to answer last week's question before this week's was posted. Maybe this entry could be a twofer.

Who the heck am I?

I'm a person who loves to write. Hmmm. Is that enough?

Okay. Here's a bit more. Currently, I'm writing novels for teens. I have one upper midgrade novel (being submitted), one young adult novel (being revised) and another young adult novel (being pondered). Previously, I wrote nonfiction math and science for kids.

I'm a wife, a mom of two teenage sons, and the daughter of a frail, forgetful 91-year old mother. I've worked as a research scientist, a college instructor, and co-managed a large, unwieldy volunteer organization.

What is your ideal work environment?

Last weekend, I went on a writing retreat, so my concept of "ideal work environment" changed drastically. The picture on the left shows the view from the deck of our retreat cottage. There's more about my writing retreat on my blog.

Usually I write at the big computer desk in our bedroom. Sometimes I bring a laptop to my sons' TaeKwonDo class. I am not distracted by ki-haps (concentration yells), breaking boards or the sounds of fists and feet slamming into targets (or other students). I cannot write at my younger son's music lessons because listening to other moms' chitchat drives me nuts. Another favorite place to write is at Write Night, but I'm sure another member will write about that.

I love to type and hate to write longhand. If given the opportunity, I will type grocery lists.