For many authors, where they write can make or break what they write. Today, Lin Enger, author of the historical novel The High Divide (in book stores now—wink wink, nudge nudge) explains the (very small) world that gave life to The High Divide, and gives us a peek into his current office.

“Not exactly by choice, I wrote most of this novel in a four-by-five closet, standing up. Sitting for any length of time wrecks my lower back, and so I resorted to using for my desk the top of a four-drawer file cabinet I kept in the closet of my study. Why didn’t I move the cabinet into the study itself?  Because the isolation of standing in a small, windowless room helped me disappear into the northern plains of 1886. I also wrote in other places: coffee shops, libraries, hotel rooms, anywhere. Writing a novel is such an immersion experience—you have to take it with you; it refuses to be left at home.

“Since finishing the book, my wife and I have downsized into a smaller house, and I recently acquired a standing desk (salvaged from a library) that I’ve placed along the empty east wall of our bedroom. That’s where I’m writing the next book.”

—Excerpted from Lin Enger’s essay, “How I Wrote It,” on Omnivoracious.com.

 And there’s still time to enter for a chance to win a copy of The High Divide from out Pub Day giveaway:

[gravityform id=”143″ name=”Pub Day Giveaway: Enter for a chance to win The High Divide “]