My workspace is a home office that I share with my husband. We have half the room each and I work at a height-adjustable desk so I can stand when my back starts aching. Writing full-time really is bad for your back so I like to mix it up a bit. I’m not one of those writers who can work from the couch or from bed. Although I do like doing my final readthroughs in bed, because that’s just like reading any other book and doesn’t involve any typing.
At my desk I’m always accompanied by one of my three cats, usually Sookie – the female. She has her own bed that takes up half of my desk, leaving me cramped into the corner, and my laptop covered with fur. If I remove her bed so I can have more room she sits next to my laptop and protests until I put it back, so I really have no choice! But it’s lovely having her close all day.
Around their dinner time the other two cats (Joey and Teddy) jump down from their beds in the office (we have cat trees everywhere – in fact, they have more furniture than us!) and jump onto my desk to remind me of their existence by walking all over my keyboard until I feed them.
I have shelves above my desk with spare copies of my books on, as well as various tacky (but cute) cat figurines, houseplants and notebooks. To the right of my desk, on the wall, I have a huge whiteboard which I use like a homicide detective. There are names of suspects and victims, investigation timelines, family trees etc. I can spend hours looking at that whilst trying to figure out who did what.
I also have a notice board where all the deadlines for my books and edits are listed, so I can keep track. I’m usually editing a previous book whilst writing my current one, and planning the next one whilst promoting the first seven books. It can get complicated!
The office has a big window that faces the front of the house so we get good daylight and can see the postman coming and going! With us living in a quiet cul-de-sac there’s not much other action so when I do see a neighbour walking by I start imagining what their back story is. I’ve written short stories about my neighbours before (don’t tell them!) by coming up with a scenario that they’re dealing with behind their front doors. I’ve used all their names in my books too so neighbours do come in handy! Teddy likes sitting next to the window so he can watch the birds.
The worst thing about the office is it’s the coldest room in the house because it gets the sun first thing and then nothing until the evening sunset. So I’m usually bundled up in lots of layers and asking my husband whether we should put the heating on!
My husband always had his own half of the office (filled with computers, electric guitars, Marshall amps and mock-ups of the Warhammer products he designs for his day job) but before coronavirus he was out at work every day. Now he’s working from home we have breaks for plot discussions and coffee, where he’ll point out the flaws in my plots and figure out timelines for me. It’s useful having a writing partner and he makes great cappuccinos! All he wants in return is an acknowledgment in my books, and I think that’s a fair trade.
Wendy is a former coroner’s assistant turned crime writer who lives in the UK with her husband and 3 cats.
Her first novel (The Girl Who Died) was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition. Since then she has written two crime series – one follows Officer Dean Matheson on his quest to make detective, and the other is her current series which follows Detective Madison Harper as she tries to reclaim her life after spending six years in prison for a murder she didn’t commit.
As well as crime novels Wendy also has short stories published in various anthologies in the UK and the US, and she has been shortlisted and longlisted for various writing competitions.
