Desk Tour: Kelton Wright
Welcome to the cabin of dreams.
Welcome to Desk Tour, a series where I interview creative folks about their desks and workspaces. In case you missed it: Michelle Martin’s Desk Tour from last time. You can also browse the entire catalog of Desk Tours.
One small life experience that I love so much is glimpsing into someone else’s home and recognizing very little that mirrors your own but still connecting with it very deeply. It’s kind of like a Ghost Ships experience. The thought is something like: In another life, I could see myself exactly there. This is sort of how I feel about this Desk Tour, and about
’s writing in general. I’ve admired her Substack for a little bit now, and though on the surface, our lives are not exceedingly similar, I often find myself nodding along to her essays about motherhood and life in a small Colorado town, seeing small parts of my own experience reflected. That is the mark of an excellent writer, if you ask me. And her space? Her house? Well, you just really, really need to see it.
OM: Describe your workspace.
KW: Right now I have two workspaces, and where I am depends on who has the baby. My husband and I don’t have any childcare or family in the area, so we trade off. When I’m on baby duty, I’m in our main room, usually on the floor. Ideally both hands are writing, but sometimes one hand is on the baby as he attempts the herculean feat of standing to gnaw on the coffee table. I’ve started to rely on voice-to-text typing when he’s really on the move so I don’t lose a good thread.
But my real workspace is upstairs in the loft. We live in a log cabin with a pretty standard cabin layout: kitchen and living rooms and bedrooms are on the main floor, and then there’s an open loft upstairs. Right now the loft is the catch-all, the “all” being everything we like to do in life: write, paint, exercise, draw, Legos, puzzles, etc. I’ve taken over one part of the loft with my desk, plants, books, and various art supplies.
When I’m writing, and the words won’t come, I turn to scissors, tape, and The World of Interiors.
OM: What are your three favorite items on your desk right now?
KW: 1, My kangaroo paw fern is one of my nearest and dearest. She’s the first larger plant I bought and she nearly died when I moved her to Colorado. It took several years for her to recuperate and then to thrive, but she really anchors the space for me.
2, A mug featuring some paintings by Vicki Sawyer that I just love. She often paints birds and other animals with various nature-inspired headdresses; their whimsy never ceases to delight me.
3, I keep a collage book of my favorite interiors, and that’s really been scratching some deep itch for place right now. I love interior design, but I know I have an untrained eye, so I’m working on sussing out what I like and what I don’t. When I’m writing, and the words won’t come, I turn to scissors, tape, and The World of Interiors.
OM: Do you keep anything specific at your desk that you use as inspiration to stay creative or positive?
KW: Books. It's always books. There are some books I come back to again and again, like Richard Plum’s Evolution of Beauty, and there are some that are relevant to pieces I’m working on now, like Kari Leibowitz’s How To Winter and a memoir about mountain lions.
When things get truly dire, I dive into the “smells” section of my desk. I have a bunch of incense to choose from, palo santo, candles, and then some dehydrated chicken. That last one isn’t for me, but it summons all four animals in the house almost immediately, and they always make me feel better.
OM: Is there anything you absolutely HAVE to have at your desk/workspace or you can't be productive?
KW: Decaf coffee with a healthy pour of Half & Half, made from Cimarron Coffee Roasters Shut Eye beans (best decaf beans I’ve ever found), in my bright yellow Yeti mug.
OM: Is there anything you'd change about your workspace? If so, what?
KW: I’ve always fantasized about a separation between church and state when it comes to my work, and I want that separation to be physical. While being on a different floor certainly helps, it’s still a loft, and it is wide open to the downstairs. My husband is a woodworker, and he and I are working on plans to separate this space by building out interior windows. I’d love to have those steel warehouse windows, but trying to salvage them out here is impossible and shipping from somewhere else is thousands of dollars. So our plan is to build the framework with wood and then cut the glass ourselves.
OM: Describe your ideal work day at your desk.
KW: I can give you an ideal two hours: I wake up and the baby is not teething, growing, or attempting to poop. He entertains himself while I make coffee and scroll through my email. It is windy outside, so windy in fact that I do not feel like I “should be out there.” It is dad’s turn to baby, and the baby stays happy for all two hours of dad’s turn. I go upstairs to my desk with a loose but promising plan of what I am going to write. When I sit down, a cat jumps in my lap. (A cat in my lap means I can’t fuss about the room doing other things, I have to just sit there and commit. We refer to this as “la loi du chat”.) I play the Planet Earth II soundtrack in my headphones, and I write an essay so bewilderingly gutting that it makes people cry within the first two paragraphs. It also makes me cry because it only takes two hours. My coffee stays warm the entire time.
OM: Where can people find you on the internet?
KW: If you like slow living and small towns, subscribe to the newsletter at Shangrilogs. If you want to hear more about writing and getting published, tune in to Pen Pals wherever you get your podcasts.
Note from Olivia: If you need a reason to smile this week (don’t we all?) may I point you in the direction of the photo of Kelton’s baby in front of the most gorgeous stone fireplace I have ever seen? What a beautiful life. It felt like a gift to take a small peek into it.
Be sure to check out all the past editions of Desk Tour!
PS: One last thing before I go… you can order my first novel NOW! If you’ve already read and enjoyed, I would be honored if you would leave a kind review or rating on Goodreads or Amazon. It makes a world of difference. I appreciate your consideration, time, and support immensely.
A portion of February’s subscriber proceeds will go toward the Transgender Law Center, which fights to change law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.
Ohhh, what a lovely space! I can practically smell the woodsmoke looking at these photos.
Kelton’s voice is so captivating — waiting for a book of her essays! Loved this peek into her workspace!