Read for the Love of it!
My new desk
I got a new desk top.
It sounds like a big ‘whoop’ as I’m writing this but I’m pretty excited about getting a new desk top.
It is so cool. I have had a few desks, one that I really liked but left behind when we moved 1500 kilometers a few years ago. So when we arrived on Vancouver Island, I just wanted a desk and hadn’t really cared too much what it was like. So I bought a secondhand one. It was solid wood, really nice but the desk top was cheap. It had malmac covering it, which was ugly from the get-go and with time it was starting to fall apart. I had always wanted to replace the top but it was kind of one of those things you leave for one day. Only one day took a long time coming.
Originally, I had wanted to get a slice of a tree. My intent was to then stain and varnish it and screw it to the existing base of the desk. The more I thought about it, though, and with seeing all the forest, including some old forest that is being cut down or is burning down, I decided I didn’t want to add to that destruction. If I had found someone who already had a flat slab of a tree, I might have tried to buy it. But truly, I didn’t try too hard.
Something a bit different
All I knew was that I wanted something a bit different. After all, I wouldn’t really be looking at it as it would soon be buried under all the things I seem to think I need on my desk. But I wanted it to be something that made me feel good to sit down at and write.
I found a coffee table that was the same size as my desk. The coffee table had an extra top screwed to it. I don’t know why but I can tell you the top was ugly. I should have taken a before and after picture but I didn’t. Take my word for it, it was ugly but had potential. I just had to figure out what.
Why not paint it?
Recently I had my daughter paint some TV trays and a stool for me. I loved how they turned out, so I asked her if she’d paint my desk. I thought this would be a good project for her. Thankfully, she said yes. I don’t have her artistic talent. My painting is restricted to painting walls, trim, and ceilings.
Here are a couple of her first pieces that she did for me – TV tray and stool top.
I was pretty vague about what I wanted
You know when you want something different but just aren’t sure what that is? Well that was me. I know I wanted different but not what, so I left it to mu daughter as to what to do with the top of my desk. I wanted the five words – Live, Love, Laugh, Dream and Believe – on it but left the rest to her.
I love how it turned out. It’s one of those things that just makes me feel good everytime I look at it.
Do you have something like this that just makes you smile or feel good?
Clean or Messy?
Time to get writing
So now, I guess it is back to work. Time to get writing. Procrastination week is over.
Actually, I am really excited about the new series I am writing – The Twisted Deception Series. Book One, Fostered Identity is already published. Book 2, Shadowed Footsteps is with my ARC team now and will be published Sept. 21, 2021. Book 3 – Exploited Innocence is about 80% written but still needs some work. You can learn more about them here.
“Read for the adventure…”

Multi-Award winning author, Maggie Thom. Author of The Caspian Wine Series – Captured Lies (Book of the Month - LAS Reviews and Reader's Favorite Finalist), Deceitful Truths and Split Seconds (Award Winning): The Twisted Deception Series - Fostered Identity, Shadowed Footsteps, Exploited Innocence... with more to come – and her other published novels, Tainted Waters (2013 Suspense and Thriller Book of the Year through Turning the Pages Magazine), Deadly Ties, Fractured Lines and Blurred Lines (you can get for free - scroll down).
Her motto: Read to escape… Escape to read…
"Maggie Thom writes a fast paced thriller laced with romance that keeps the reader interested and on edge!" InDtale Magazine