This is my office with a desk that's probably twenty-five feet long. I try to keep it tidy since piles of papers tend to drive me mad. I confess I did a little housework before this was taken, but it's fairly typical of my work space on any given day. The little black witch is The Mysterious Stranger Award, which I was given for 'A' IS FOR ALIBI. It's from the Cloak and Clue Society in Milwaukee, since disbanded from what I hear.
 

I have a sofa bed at either end of my office. You'll see some of the awards I've collected over the years. The roofline you see out the window is Steve's office which is part of this cottage, located 15 feet or so from our back door.
 

This is the view from my office window. I have a bird feeder hanging from one of the tree limbs and I'm always entertained by the activities out there. This picture was taken in February so you can see the hardships we face living here in California.
 

These are the four photographs that sit to the right of my computer screen. To the left, in that grouping, is a picture taken at a local book signing I did with Carol Kay (left) and Natalie Hevener Kaufman, who co-authored 'G' IS FOR GRAFTON. To the right, in the ornate silver frame is a photograph of my friend, Kelly Lange, taken at the Earthling Bookstore, which is now defunct. Barnaby Conrad painted the mural behind her and that's me looking over her shoulder at a copy of her first mystery novel, TROPHY WIFE.

In the small photograph, front right, you can see my friend, Fannie Flagg, and me at a talk we gave at Southern Birmingham College a couple of years ago. She's just as funny and dear in person as she was in the days of Candid Camera and What's My Line. And what a wonderful writer, too. If you haven't read FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE, you ought to give it a try.

In the other small frame, front left, Julia Child and I were photographed together at the annual holiday luncheon Steve and I give just before Christmas time. She's amazing . . . 87 years old and still out on the road doing book tours. Sorry for the name dropping, but I value these women and I'm proud to have them in my life.
 

This group of photographs sit to the left of my computer screen. On the far left, mid-ground, is a wonderful embroidery one of my fans did for me of the book titles A through M. I believe the stitcher is a woman named Diane Thomas, but I'm not absolutely certain of that. She gave it to me in the midst of one of my tours and I lost her address so I was never able to write and thank her properly. If you're out there and you recognize the embroidery, please get in touch with me on the forum.

In the background, there's a photograph of Steve and me when he still had his moustache. To the right, there's a photograph of the house we used to own in Kentucky. In the middle is a picture of Bridget, the Kentucky cat we share with my sister, Ann, and her husband, David. The caption on the photograph reads: Bridget exhausted after defoliating fake plant.

The fawn cat, on the left, is a little female who used to visit us in Kentucky. I never knew her name or who owned her, but she often spent the night with us. Two springs ago, she simply disappeared. I chose to believe her 'people' moved and took her with them. What a love she was.
 

This is a view of my 'jill' . . . a home gym set up with equipment geared for women. I encourage friends of mine to use the workout facility any time they choose. I have a treadmill, recumbent bike, upright stationary bike, and an elliptical cross-trainer, which is essentially like a cross between a treadmill and a stair-climber. Those of you who lift weights will recognize some of the other machines. I have maybe 15 in all and I can workout any time of day. Hard to come up with an excuse not to do my weight-lifting and my cardiovascular exercise.

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