Writing Heaven

What do the Ghostbusters, Charles Dickens' cat paw letter opener and moveable type have in common?

The hallowed place I'm now sitting in.

This is the Rose Reading Room in the NY Public Library. It's called the Schwarzman building now, but it's always the library. Guarded by the lions Patience and Fortitude, it is my favorite place in the world to write.

I don't get to do a lot of writing done here. I don't live or work in NYC anymore so I get maybe a couple of hours twice a year. But I get seriously geeked when I know I'm going to be in NYC for an event and have some down time. You can't have coffee here, you can't eat lunch here. You get wifi, a/c and electricity. What else do you need?

One of the original Gutenberg bibles sits three feet away from me. Somewhere in the archive is Charles Dicken's letter opener (said to be made from the paw of one of his beloved cats). And no one here would be surprised if a chubby green ghost started floating through the book stacks.

Here, anything is possible.

What's your favorite place to write and why?

F Is For Find the Future

And for Felt

It's no secret to those who know me that I have a serious hard on for Patience and Fortitude. I passed these stone lions every day, to and from my work in midtown for nearly ten years. There's something about them, and the library they guard that makes me happy to be alive. I've eaten lunch on the steps to the library, I've wandered around the Rose Reading room, open-mouthed and staring at the glorious ceiling frescos like a tourist. I've itched to get my hands (wrong, so wrong) on their copy of the Guttenberg Bible. The Stephen A Schwarzman Building on 40th and Fifth Avenue is magic, it just is.

Now that I'm far away, hunkered down in my gardening boots, running to Girl Scouts meetings and baking brownies for Japan at the yoga studio, there isn't much about my city life that I miss. Except Patience and Fortitude.

If you live in the City, or near it, enter the library's Find the Future game. If you win, you along with 499 other people get to stay over night in this storied place with Patience and Fortitude watching over you. You'll do a scavenger hunt, you'll write a novel en ensemble. You'll have an unforgettable blast. I hope you do enter. I hope you win. I hope you tell me all about it.