Canada Reads winner Michelle Good's writing space is the heart of her home

Leading up to Canada Reads, CBC Arts is bringing you daily essays about where this year's authors write for our series Where I Write. This edition features Five Little Indians author Michelle Good.

It's always a challenge to create a new home, particularly following a move far from everything familiar. Even more so, creating a writing space that is both comfortable, inspirational and amenable to long hours of work. This time, though, I knew how my work space would be even before I bought the house.

There is a large bay window in my wee house that looks out over the yard, my one spindly tree and the far more majestic trees in the neighbours' yard, their boughs bending over my fence, throwing shade and life into my space. This space gives me enough of nature to provide the solace and inspiration it always does. There is a tremendous quality of light, even on dour days, that nourishes a contemplative and creative state of mind. 

Creating a home for myself in my home territory is a dream come true — one I've longed for over many years. It does not disappoint. I feel this tremendous power rising from the earth that my ancestors walked. The chinooks invigorate my spirit and it is as though the ones that have gone before are whispering to me — welcoming me home, wryly wondering why it took so long. I surround myself with mementos and images of the things I love: photos of my son, little plants, tiny seashells from my beach walk with my niece in Australia, and of course books that inspire me and remind me of the heart of good storytelling.

Everywhere I look from this space, I see something creatively stimulating — the art of Allan Sapp; an astonishing pencil drawing of Chief Poundmaker; a photo of my little brother, gone so young; a lovely old watercolour memorializing the wooden grain elevators of days gone by. My mom gave me that painting years ago. It always reminds me of my dad's amusement at her oft-declared warning that the day would soon be upon us when those structures that dotted the horizon and graced every rail station would be gone.

I've curated my space with love and inspiration to get me through those days when each word is a struggle, my ancestors represented to see me and cheer me on when the words can't find the page fast enough. 

The souls of people in my writing have a presence here and speak to me from the creative source of all things. They all become family as I carefully reach for what they have to say. They fuel the creative process and keep me on track when I lose the thread. My mother used to tell me about how when things were hard, she would dream of her grandmother. She described her as being incredibly stern in these visitations as though telling her to stand strong; reminding her of the power of her inheritance. My ghosts are softer but no less filled with expectations of me. And so I continue.

This writing space is the heart of my home just as writing is the calling of my soul. I am blessed to find myself here.

Read this year's Where I Write essays every day this week on CBC Arts.