The Shakespeare Cottage

This little number's right out my back door and, when it's not being used for Polly Pocket World by my kids and the cousins, it's my writing room. See? Dane and Aubrey made me a sign at the end of summer. Here it is below.


They made this sign and then found some rope to string across the inside of the cabin with lots and lots and lots of Pollys and Lego Star Wars characters taped to it. Pretty sweet banner.

I've been writing a lot in the main house -- which feels humongous after having a 2 bedroom 1100 sq. ft. apartment shared with 4 people for 3 years -- but I'm also making myself sit out in the cottage a little bit every day. As far as the writing is concerned, during this huge transition (graduation / job search / moving / unpacking / kids starting school / sports) my writing's more about quantity than quality right now.

That (above) is my favorite scrappy little chair to write in. Other than that, it's just so cool to have this little piece of history in my back yard. The cottage was originally the 1962 World's Fair booth promoting the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. Later, it was brought up to Ashland and was used as a branch of the library (there's a great newspaper write-up in the cottage with this librarian in a knit dress, wearing cat-eye glasses, and leaning out the window between shelves of books.) After that, it somehow ended up in this back yard. My landlord offered the booth back to the city as a historical monument, but got no takers. I'm okay with that.