Have you ever seen one of those photographs showing someone on the beach with his or her laptop, working while enjoying the sunshine and spectacular view? It is especially appealing to the author, who can easily take a laptop about anywhere.

One problem with that image, it typically doesn’t work. At least it didn’t for me. When I lived in Havasu, the place with lots of sunshine, I’d occasionally try taking my laptop out on the patio and work by the pool. It sounded lovely, and I was under a patio cover, so it seemed like the ideal workspace.

Unfortunately, I could never handle the glare and eventually retreated back inside to work.

Now that we are living in Oregon, the landscape and climate is vastly different from Havasu. Lots of rain here, but when the sun pushes aside the rainclouds, outside is where I want to be, not in front of the computer.

Last week I tried something a little different while editing. I took my laptop out to the barn, opened one of the garage doors (our family barn has 3 RV sized garage doors). Instead of going outside, I sat on the sofa with my laptop, with the door opened behind me, as you can see it the picture.

It was amazing! I am tempted to drag my desk out there. It is like working outside, but not outside. Fresh air, sunshine, no glare, and if it does start to rain, I am safely under roof. This may be one of my new favorite workspaces

In other news, The Ghost and the Medium is off to the editor. Look for it to be available May 19, 2022 in eBook and paperback. I don’t yet have the release date for the audiobook version.