The new office and the pains of moving books

I moved in with Jen a couple of months ago, but the move has been a staggered move. At first it was clothes and things I would use on an every day basis: toothbrush, shampoo, toothpaste, an alarm clock, pictures, my coin cups, my Kindle, etc. It wasn't until this past Saturday that Jen and I went to my mother's house--my old house--in Fitchburg to gather two important items: my books and my DVDs.

The main reason we waited is because I didn't really have a place to put them all. I do have quite a number of books and DVDs that were sequestered in a small corner of my old office. In addition, I was deep in the first draft of Federal Agent and didn't want trivial things like moving books in the way of finishing that book. I had a couple of books and my Kindle handy. I was good.

I wrote the second half of FA at a small desk that Jen had in the living room. We also had a spare room across from our bedroom on the second floor that was pretty much unoccupied. We had discussed a potential writing area for me in that room, but we really never had the chance to put the plans into action until this past weekend.

We've turned that room into an office and quiet area, and I've commandeered half of the walk-in closet area as a library. Jen packed the books into bags, boxes and travel suitcases, while I did the heavy lifting. I unpacked and sorted the books yesterday.

Here are some pictures:

A shot from the doorway of the office half. Note the stacks of three-hole punch paper ready for use; I use three-hole punch paper to print out my books for editing. This is where I'm planning on doing a majority of my writing from now on.

The comfy half of the office. Jen and I moved that recliner upstairs from the basement and that desk across the hall. The bookcase contains Harry Potter, RA Salvatore, Vince Flynn and Robert B. Parker.

A look at my desk from the recliner. All of my trade paperbacks are on the top shelf, while my reference material is on the second shelf. Plenty of natural light streaming in through those windows!

Here's my library.

These two photos contain my entire Star Wars Expanded Universe collection. I've always dreamed of writing a Star Wars novel, and I figured that if that were to ever happen, God willing, I should have a strong background in and knowledge of the EU. I own all but one physical Star Wars book; the library is short three, as the second Thrawn Trilogy book is at mom's, and the Episode 3 novelization has water damage, so I need to buy another copy. I need to buy Revan, too, and thankfully the paperback comes out on September 25. Who needs Wookieepedia when I am a walking Star Wars encyclopedia? Right, Del Rey Spectra?

Oh yeah, I completely made this part of the library chronological. That took about an hour to accomplish.

A portion of my library dedicated to several individuals who have been in my corner in more ways than anyone can fathom: Steven Savile, Jim C. Hines (that's his new one, Libriomancer), and David Forbes.

My collection of Dune novels.

My shelf of Tolkien. Yep, that's two box sets of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Why would anyone need more than one? The older set was dad's. I even have LOTR in audiobook.

And that's Ziggy Puff on his own shelf. He takes over the recliner, too. He resembles The Wonder Cat so much.

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