The Write Space with Violetta Armour

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Hey guys!  I'm excited to bring you guys another installment of The Write Space. Today we have author Violetta Armour showing off her office and writing space! Welcome Violetta!

The Write Space with Violetta Armour

Thanks Darcus for allowing me to share my writing corner of the world. As I look around my “space” in preparation for this blog, I am thinking, “Wow, I need to clean up my act” or in my defense, perhaps creativity flows in clutter? We can only hope so.

I find myself surrounded by family photos and momentos of gifts bestowed upon me at the publication celebration of my first novel, as they inspire me to continue to write, especially on the days I question why I am doing something often so difficult.

Photo #1

Photo # 1 is the logo from the neighborhood independent bookstore I owned , PAGES, in the early 90’s. A dream fulfilled and such a rewarding one! If you are reading this, you are a book lover. Imagine going to work each day surrounded by hundreds of authors and their stories and the labor of love that went into each page upon page. Their efforts inspired me to do the same and experience the thrill of seeing my book on a shelf someday. Facing out, of course.

The shelf below the Logo plaque is just to the left of my desk and houses many writing resource books, like WORD MENU, SYNONYM FINDER, THE OXFORD AMERICAN WRITERS’ THESAURUS. That title just makes me feel legitimate and like I am doing something important, when in fact, I prefer the EMOTIONAL THESAURUS AND FLIP DICTIONARY. Writing is emotional and some days I do flip out.

Photo #2

The second photo is an art work my neighbors presented to me in July when the first copy of my book arrived and they shared the joy I felt holding it in my hands. I love the old-fashioned typewriter because that is what I first learned to type on—not counting the toy typewriter I received at age ten. Now, 64 years later, I think of the many keyboards my fingers have touched--the toy, the Old Royal, the IBM Selectric (wasn’t that the best?) and the many computers. I now work on a MacBookPro which I love because I can carry it to my “other” work station.

Photo #3

Photo #3

Lucky enough to live in a warm climate (Phoenix,AZ) I often take my laptop to my patio where I have a view of the golf course. 7th green par 3. Golf is a wonderful outdoor and social sport but I am doing it less and less because it takes so much time that I could/should be writing-- and perhaps because I am so bad at it. :)

Photo #4

Photo # 4
The bookcase to the right of my desk houses back issues of Publishers’Weekly, The Writer’s Digest and some of my favorite hardbacks like The Jan Karon series, and other authors’ inspirational advice, like Stephen King’s On Writing. My favorite is still Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and I read pages of it often when “stuck”. Another gem from 1938 is Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write. For example, her first chapter starts with “Everyone is Talented, Original and Has Something to Say”. How’s that for a morning pep talk?

On top of this bookcase are family photos through the years…lots of grandchildren and they are the ones that inspire me because I want to leave a legacy and hopefully a message to make their dreams come true as I did mine with the publication of “I’ll Always Be With You” 

Photo #5

Photo # 5

Lastly, some favorite quotes pasted on my printer to the right of my laptop which I glance at 100 x a day. From Erma Bombeck, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”

So one last look around my cluttered space and I realize that the most important space is not physical surroundings, but as a writer what is in our hearts and heads that we want to share with the world.

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Books By Violetta Armour

I'll Always Be With You

Since the horrific night a drunk driver slammed into their car during his driving lesson, young Teddy has had to live with the memory of seeing his beloved father, Stan, die. Now just sixteen, he carries both sorrow and survivor’s guilt.

Concerned for her grieving son, Mary decides to put as much distance as she can between Teddy and the nightmarish Phoenix intersection that claimed Stan’s life. She moves the family to Stan’s small Indiana hometown, a place of peace in which she hopes they can build new memories. There, Teddy finds inspiration in an old book his great-grandfather carried with him to America, a book Bulgarian fathers have always read to their sons.

Is Stan reaching out to his son from the grave?

Mary also makes an equally life-changing discovery in the small town—Rosetta, Stan’s high school sweetheart. The deeper Mary digs, the more she learns of the forbidden love Stan and Rosetta shared. During the Civil Rights Movement, they dared to reach out for love across racial lines.

Now as their three lives intertwine, Teddy, Mary, and Rosetta must make difficult choices. Will they choose happiness? Or will old pains cause them to live as victims of circumstances?

Beginning in 1912 on Ellis Island and told in three voices over four generations, I’ll Always Be with You is a profound celebration of the power of family.

Amazon | GoodReads

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Violetta Armour is a first-generation American who cherishes her Bulgarian heritage. In her debut fiction novel, I’ll Always Be With You, she captures the spirit of her ancestors’ love for America. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she owned a neighborhood bookstore in the 90’s, Pages. She has written for Highlights for Children and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Visit her at www.violettaarmour.com