My bedroom is my office. Sometimes, we fold up the futon bed and the room feels a little more like a professional study. But most days, my clothes are spilling out of open drawers, a pile of sweaters sits atop my dresser, and I fantasize about one day having a workplace to call all my own. Of course, there’s something to be said about the overly crowded bookshelves, (I do believe we’re past the thousand mark for this personal library), and the two large bulletin boards, full of maps, storyboards, series outlines and character portraits.

But with or without a folding bed and my personal Library of Congress, there is one remarkable thing about this room. With the exception of four years I spent away at college, I have lived in this room permanently for over twelve years, and my favorite thing about it has always been the light.

img_6285Part of the reason I can’t fit anymore books into my study/bedroom, is because two of the walls are entirely lined with windows, facing south west and south east, so I get both the rising of the morning sun and the setting of the late afternoon sun in my peripheral, without ever having to move my chair.

It is a simple, but altogether peaceful detail, that makes this crowded not-office feel a little like an island, with strips of lacy shadows that form through the old curtains, and the ever-changing time teller of when I need to pull the shade down.

There are many things I long for in an office – a white board for planning and organizing, endless bookshelves, a cupboard that magically fills itself with peanut M&Ms, but I love my little corner desk in my sea of madness. It wobbles, old and tired from years of being at my mercy, but the bright light that streams from both sides of the world, both sides of my ever-glowing laptop, makes me feel hopeful, enlightened, and always just a little bit happy. Sometimes all you need for inspiration is a little bit of sunshine.