A sneak peek into the work space and writing life of Elen Sentier...

I write from about 6.30am to midday-ish, then again from about 8-11pm ... in bed.

My bedroom is large, usually full of light, very quiet and comfortable, and it has a view of the hills to Hay Bluff. In the morning I get up and make a pot of tea, usually Earl Grey but sometimes Darjeeling, then go back to bed to work. The evening session is accompanied by another pot of tea, this time Lapsang. I do not work without tea!

The cats come to help and enjoy being curled up with me. Sometimes this can be frustrating as they both want a tummy-rub at the same time. I can just about handle typing one handed (doing one cat at a time) although this does nothing for my spelling and can even be injurious to grammar! The work gets done though and I do love having the cats by me, they're really important.

I love this space, it's all mine and full of my things - loads of books, my Kindle, phone and the laptop. the walls are covered with pictures I love, Bristol Blue bottles and candlesticks and an old Aztec jug a friend gave me. Flowers from the garden are always on the window ledge and the window is usually open so I can hear the birds and the wind. I always have my staff and at least one drum with me too as well as skulls collected mostly on walks on Exmoor and a vase of feathers including a golden eagle, buzzards, a peregrine, raven and other corvids.

All my “stuff” is important and helps fire the writing-juices but most of all it’s the space itself that works for me, the space and the cats. I feel as cosy and at home here as a snail in its shell, it fits me like a glove. There are rarely any human sounds to disturb me, just birds and wind and sometimes small beasties like the hedgehogs snuffling and grunting at night and the badgers. In January the vixen serenades me with her weird call to the dog-foxes while most of the year round tawny and barn owls will sing at night, and sometimes early morning, from the poplars by the window. I love it.

 

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