A post this week at the Writer’s Technology Companion tipped me off about a page at that often-lovely newspaper, the UK Guardian, featuring a collection of writers’ rooms. There are links to some 50 or more photographs and anecdotes about where a bunch of successful writers actually write. I’ve seen quite a few stories like this going around lately – it seems to be an in vogue obsession – but I have to admit that it does make me very curious. Despite my champion procrastinating skills I didn’t click on every single link, but I picked a few authors who interest me and checked out their rooms.

The most satisfying discovery was that most of them have fairly messy desks. That puts me in excellent company. A notable exception was my favourite philosopher, Alain de Botton, who has a relatively neat-looking study (although there are piles of books on the floor, which I’d like my husband to please take note of). But when I read the story I discovered that de Botton actually rents this room off a neighbour after his original study had to be converted into a child’s bedroom, and in fact he dislikes this new room.

Ian Rankin’s desk is a bit clearer than mine is at the moment, but the room is still relatively messy. Go mess! I’m sure mess is necessary for creativity. The study of Hanif Kureishi, my favourite writer from the whole Guardian list, is something like how I’d love my study to look, one day. The floor to ceiling bookcases are something I’ve already started working on (although I still have a fair few books in boxes, and more accumulate every day). It’s neat, but chaotic, in a creative way. The only distressing thing I read there is that Kureishi writes his drafts by hand. You know, with a pen and paper. And then he types them up. His theory is that computers encourage books which are too long. Maybe true but I will continue to type everything I write – I couldn’t stand the time-wasting feeling I’d get if I had to type up a story from handwritten notes.

As for my study, it’s currently a little on the messy side, especially my desk. I just brought in a glass of wine for my evening writing session and had to move an empty tea cup to find a space for it. I’ve had a sudden influx of books for review arrive, and I don’t have a particular bookshelf for them, so they are arranged around my desk depending on whether I’ve read them yet and then subdivided into whether I’ve reviewed them yet or not. Add to that a few library books, the two notebooks I’ve deemed essential desk material because they’re related to my new novel, an overflowing in-tray (containing two or three more books to review) and small scraps of paper that my cats have torn up, and it’s far from perfect. The rest of the room is still half empty, but one side has nearly a dozen boxes that need unpacking from our move nearly a year ago. But after seeing the rooms of these successful writers, I don’t feel quite so bad at all. Unfortunately my neat husband might not see it quite the same way.