Welcome to My Room.

'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction' Virginia Woolf

I’ve been a writer for many years, but not a serious one. As Woolf said in her famous speech on woman writers, to be able to write you need personal space, and a large enough income to allow you the free time. I’ve never quite had either. These days I do have a salary in keeping with Woolf’s suggestion of £500/year (when you allow for inflation), but I have to work for it. That takes time and mental energy. When I am not doing that, I’m spending time with my family. That takes even more time and mental energy. I have a lovely home, but there isn’t the space to enable me to have that private writing room I’ve always craved.

Tant pis for me. I had plenty of opportunities when I was young. I had my own bedroom, and though I worked, had weekends and evenings to myself. Then my reasons were: too busy, too tired, no typewriter. While I was making all those excuses, the world kept on turning. Suddenly I found myself, aged 40, mother of three, and not a novel to my name.

Since then, I have taken matters in hand. These days I write most evenings, have produced a number of short pieces of fiction, and am working on a novel. I am passionate about developing my skills as a writer, and have just completed a Diploma in Creative Writing.

I don’t have a real room of my own yet, so I’ve decided to create a virtual one instead. I'll be posting short pieces of fiction (maybe the odd bit of poetry)and essays looking at the craft of writers I admire. I’d love to know what you think, so if you want to critique, please feel free to post (particularly welcome for pieces in development). Even if you think I suck, it would be good to hear your comments.

I’m also lucky to know a bunch of very talented writers, many of whom are starting out, or may not be that well known yet. I’ll be using this space to advertise their work.

So welcome to my room. Come on in, pull up a chair, turn the lamp on and I hope that you enjoy the read.

Virginia Moffatt


A Room of My Own is the copyright of Virginia Moffatt. All works published on this page by Virginia Moffatt are copyrighted to her. All works published on this page by other writers are copyrighted to to them.