Tool Time

In July of last year, Brett Family Incorporated (Brooklyn franchise) increased its staff size by 50%. Since Dani has brown hair and I have black, we decided to increase workplace diversity by adding a redhead. This new hire was ratified by stock holders before the ad was run in the paper, but there was only one applicant. Still, we conducted detailed interviews for some 40 weeks. Can’t be too careful with all these weirdos around.  Thus, Cassandra Hope Gero Brett was born… er, hired:

Of course, this led to some logistical problems. When it was just Dani and me, our two bedroom apartment seemed huge, even with both of us home together during the day. With Cassie in the mix, however, things quickly became cramped. We moved her into our bedroom at first, for ease of bi-hourly care and feeding through the night. This became less necessary and more of an imposition as time went on, however.

But where else to go? We couldn’t put the crib in my office, because I work at night, nor the living room, or we would never be able to watch TV or anything at night. We thought about moving, but we didn’t really want to. I was desperately trying to finish The Desert Spear and other projects, and both of us were struggling as new parents. The last thing we had time for was house hunting. Plus all of our friends are around here and we love the neighborhood. I would be loathe to give up having Prospect Park practically right across the street.

A solution presented itself in the form of buying a separate studio apartment in the same building and turning it into an office, then making the old office Cassie’s room.

It took MONTHS to close the deal because of the mortgage crisis. I pride myself on having excellent credit, but even that isn’t enough when you get paid in sporadic advances and royalties rather than a steady check. At least now. A year ago, those same banks were beating down my door with offers, but now, because of the greed of a small portion of assholes, the rest of us suffer.

But I digress…

We just closed on the apartment, and over the next few days I will be converting it from a poorly maintained unit with good architecture into my own personal hobbit-hole, beautiful and cozy and welcoming. A place where visitors will immediately feel at home and be reluctant to leave.

But it also needs to be my place of retreat, a sanctum sactorum. Fortress of Solitude. Batcave. Holmes Library. Eyrie. Whatever you want to call it. The place I go to be alone with my thoughts as I walk the Krasian Desert in my mind, or venture north into the mountains of Miln. A place of Power, where I am surrounded by things I loved as a child and continue to love today. The books and comics that shaped me. The toys I used to send on such detailed adventures. The art people have made based on my work. My sword collection. Etc.

I will be keeping something of a video diary of this process on my YouTube channel. I realize that the vast majority of readers of this blog don’t care about this stuff, but for my friends and family and any fans who enjoy a good episode of This Old House, the first two videos, my “before” tour of the apartment, are up now: Before Tour 1 and Before Tour 2.

Posted on October 2, 2009 at 2:13 am by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Interviews, Life, Musings
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