Zoe Strachan is a writer based in Glasgow. She has had 3 novels published. Negative space in 2002, Spin Cycle in 2004 and her new novel, Ever Fallen in Love, has just been released through Sandstone Press. She shows us around her writing room.

It’s a big cupboard with a window, which I had shelved to accommodate my clutter. The day we moved in to this house I removed a towel rail from the back of the door. That makes me think it might once have been a toilet, and visitors do try and go there rather than the bathroom, but thankfully there haven’t been any accidents yet.

When it’s messy, like this, I’m working hard. I think that goes for most writers. A tidy desk is lovely, but a little suspect. The surface is quite grubby, although writing isn’t particularly messy, and I like the way it’s accumulating a patina of ink and coffee rings and pencil marks. The postcards sometimes change depending on what I’m writing about but there are sentimental odds and ends as well; a library card from Berlin, photos of my gran and my nana, trinkets from here and there.

Silence works quite well for me when I’m writing, though sometimes I’ll listen to an album or even a song on repeat. When I close the door it feels nice and isolated. That helps me write too. I bought a couple of old Ordnance Survey maps of Orkney that I’m going to paste to the wall behind me. I think that’ll give me an illusion of open space. I’ll be able to twirl in my chair and pretend I’m sailing around the islands.

Visit www.zoestrachan.comfor more information.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.