I wanted to include the birth of “Thoreau House” on my web blog. This was the first action I took in writing Toll of the Liberty Bell. I Built a place to write it and store all of the treasures of my travels and research. Between my father, my uncle, a cold 2013-2014 winter, the support of my wife and a few swings of the hammer by my son, I was able to make a place where ideas could flourish. All told, I expected a cost of around $5000 – $6000 but my family insists I have pushed the $8500 envelope.
Fully permitted with electric and the whole nine yards. I love it.
The inspiration for the Thoreau house came from none other than a famous author of history, Mr. David McCullough. And the first book to be stored on the shelves of my “Thoreau House” was 1776. http://pages.simonandschuster.com/davidmccullough
Mr. McCullough was known to have a writing shed of his own. I researched it and low and behold, there it was.
“Nothing good was ever written in a large room,” David McCullough says, and so his own office has been reduced to a windowed shed in the backyard of his Martha’s Vineyard home. Known as “the bookshop,” the shed does not have a telephone or running water. Its primary contents are a Royal typewriter, a green banker’s lamp, and a desk, which McCullough keeps control over by “flushing out” the loose papers after each chapter is finished. The view from inside the bookshop is of a sagging barn surrounded by pasture. To keep from being startled, McCullough asks his family members to whistle as they approach the shed where he is writing.
So, I thought… If David McCullough has one… I can’t imagine how I could possibly write a book without one of my own.
Enjoy the pictures!
~ Christopher
