Every now and then, one of our Crime Cymru authors is brave enough to offer us a glimpse of the place where they write. This week, Rosie Claverton tells us of the importance of bookshelves, art and her bureau in her writing life.

The designated writing space in my house is the bureau that sits in the study I share with my husband. I bought it from IKEA when I was a student, which makes it about fifteen years old (eek). While I wish I could dedicate this space entirely to my writing of fiction, it is now also the place where I work from home and where I do most of my online roleplay games. Creating a collaborative fictional world with friends also helps to feed my love of writing.

This picture is carefully framed to show only the doors of the top part of my bureau, as what lies beneath is a chaotic scene that the internet does not need to see.

From my current vantage as I type, I can spot, between the waves of paper and books, an ancient Nokia phone, glittery pipe cleaners, a purple stapler, a tub of moisturiser, a box of green and red paperclips, a collection of sheet music, and the bag of purple dice that I have yet to use in a tabletop game. Somewhere, beneath this collected detritus, is a sign that reads: “It may look like a mess, but you just don’t understand my system”. The sign lies.

However, the wall next to my bureau shows how I like to focus my imagination by gazing at beautiful and intriguing things. These images take us from ancient historical artefacts through Gothic London and into modern LEGO art, with the original covers and inspiration for some of my crime novels included.

Yet I cannot build a book on imagination alone. Downstairs, in the living room, we have three large bookcases that house our family’s fiction and reference books. This particular shelf is for my writing and you can see some of the same influences – the crime, of course, and also the ancient and the Victoriana.

Soon, my writing bureau will be moved to another space in the house to make room for a new addition to our family. The room where I have created worlds and characters will become my older daughter’s space to make her own stories – and I cannot wait to share in them.