Whatnot Wednesday: Authors at Work, #CFFC, & Free Classic Novels

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

2026-03-09 Daphne Velma play at sofa
Daphne on sofa, Velma teasing below

Velma:  Hang onto your string, Daphne.  Did she say free books?

2026-03-09 Velma play sofa-skirt

Velma:  I don’t see any books.  Maybe they’re under the sofa…

Hello, everyone.  The Scoobies and I welcome you to Whatnot Wednesday.    Dan Antion, the moderator of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC), posted this week’s prompt — workstations. I realize this was meant to be about work areas where people invented or made things… but instead, I’m showing some workplaces of a few famous authors.  Shall we begin?

Agatha Christie and husband Max Mallowan 1950
Agatha Christie and husband Max Mallowan reviewing archeological work, 1950, Wikimedia
Agatha Christie

We know, and many of us love, Agatha Christie’s mysteries.  Rather than do the expected, and present her sitting at a typewriter, I’m showing something else.  I hesitate to say that archeology was her hobby, because she was keenly interested in the subject.  She went on many digs in the Middle East, and it figured in several of her novels. In the photo above she is with her second husband, who was, yes, an archeologist.

Click here for several of Agatha Christie’s books you can get free at Project Gutenberg.

Ernest Hemingway writing at a Campsite in Kenya c 1953 Wikimedia
Ernest Hemingway writing at a Campsite in Kenya c 1953 Wikimedia
Ernest Hemingway

Though they were published posthumously, Hemingway has two books set in Kenya.  In the above photo he is writing at an unadorned campsite table somewhere in Kenya.  Perhaps he’s working on one of those books.   The quote “Write drunk, edit sober” was widely, attributed to Hemingway, though now he reportedly never said that.  Darn… it was more fun when I thought Hemingway said it…  Although he did have a huge reputation for drinking, and I can’t help noticing the absence of alcohol in the photo.

Click here for several of Ernest Hemingway’s books you can get free at Project Gutenberg.

Mark Twain at a cluttered desk January 1901 Library of Congress
Mark Twain at a cluttered desk January 1901 Library of Congress
Mark Twain

I’ve long heard the quip, “A neat desk is a sign of a depraved mind.”  If that’s so, then Mark Twain was certainly quite sane, based on the photo above.  Twain is holding a pipe in the photo, not a pen.  He had many talents, including inventing things, and held patents on three of them.  Maybe he’s working on a patent application.  His patents are for:

  • Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments (designed for shirts or vests, a precursor to modern bra straps)

  • Mark Twain’s Patent Scrapbook (a self-pasting, pre-gummed scrapbook that was his most successful invention)

  • Memory-Builder (an educational game for tracking historical dates)

Click here for several of Mark Twain’s books you can get free at Project Gutenberg.

Gertrude Stein writing at her desk c 1936 Getty
Gertrude Stein writing at her desk c 1936 Getty
Gertrude Stein

Based in Paris, Gertrude Stein revolutionized literature with her experimental, repetitive writing style.  She also hosted a famous salon, and patronized avant-garde painters like Pablo Picasso.  Interestingly, she and Ernest Hemingway started out as mentor and protégé in Paris, with Stein introducing Hemingway to the literary scene.  However, their relationship soured partly because differing opinions, especially on homosexuality.  There was quite a bit of name-calling that I won’t get into that here.  Let’s just say that it got ugly.  Actually, I wonder what she’s writing in that photograph…

Click here for several of Gertrude Stein’s books you can get free at Project Gutenberg.

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Story Excerpt

My most fantastical story is about Bedlam, a misfit faerie whose vivid world is being drained of color.  One of her friends is an artist-inventor.  In the following snippet, Skypainter (the artist) is working on an invention.

hummingbirds 2 Silver girl Pixabay
Image credit Pixabay 2022

“What are you doing, Sky?” I asked curiously.  “Your legendary talents are usually displayed in the heavens.  That flash was at ground level.”

“Something that’s never been done — that’s what, Bedlam!” Skypainter exclaimed.  “You know the reflection pool helps us see visions.  So rather than just paint a composition on the clouds, I want to have a real, moving vision reflect onto the sky,” he explained with grinning enthusiasm.

He was right.  I was sure that had never been done.  It hardly seemed possible.  However, if anyone could make such a spectacle, it was Skypainter Morning.

“I know it will work, but I just haven’t found the right catalyst,” he began.  “I’ve tried fae enhanced carrot powder, distilled ginkgo extract, and bilberry wine.  This time it was ground up red flash-pepper.  That was a challenge to make, let me tell you.  It kept exploding before I could finish grinding it.  And well… as you see that didn’t work out either.”

Sky had pulled me into his experiments that easily.  I was fascinated.  My mind automatically chased the riddle he presented.

“Except for the flash-pepper, all those are plants that help with eyesight.  I can understand the symbolic aspect of the magic,” I said and he nodded, looking glad that I had followed his thoughts.  “Have you thought about gems instead of plants?  Gemstones that are used to enhance scrying or visions?  Maybe black onyx?  That’s what my grand-uncle used for scrying.  Or how phantom quartz helps meditation, or rainbow fluorite increases intuition?” I asked.

Abruptly I felt like I had said something stupid.  Sky was so expert in his visual creations.  I couldn’t possibly have anything to offer.

“Maybe it’s not a useful idea.  It would be a lot harder to grind a stone to a powder than grinding a plant or distilling a liquid.”

To my surprise, Skypainter’s eyes lit up at the idea.

“It wouldn’t be that difficult!” Sky called over his shoulder, hurrying in the direction of his home.

End of Excerpt

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Unlike the name calling feud between Hemingway and Stein, there’s nothing ugly about free literature. Check out some of the many books Project Gutenberg offers.  I hope you enjoyed seeing some classic authors working on various things.  Friendly comments are welcome.  Thanks for visiting.  Hugs!

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But wait, there’s the obligatory shameless self-promotion…  If you need a dose of color, light, and whimsy, this is for you.

Thistledown: Midsummer Bedlam

Thistledown - Midsummer Bedlam. New cover by Teagan R. Geneviene

Universal Purchase Links

Paperback: relinks.me/1675233632

Kindle: relinks.me/B082RFN9GF

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This work is entirely human-authored.  Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text.

This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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31 thoughts on “Whatnot Wednesday: Authors at Work, #CFFC, & Free Classic Novels”

  1. Love the history on the writers, Teagan. It’s fabulous, thank you!

    Project Gutenberg is also fabulous. I have downloaded at least 2 books.

    Be well and HUGS!

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  3. Teagan, this is such a fascinating collection of writers and their workspaces. It’s always interesting to see where creativity actually happens. I’ve often thought that a workplace doesn’t really have to be a desk or even a quiet room. Creative work can happen anywhere — outside in nature, on a walk, or even in the middle of a busy street. The real workplace is wherever the mind becomes engaged and ideas begin to move. Thank you for this wonderful glimpse into the spaces where these writers lived and worked. Sending many hugs on speedy wings to you and the Scoobies!

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  5. Every place in my apartment that I work resembles the workspace of Mark Twain. It’s always interesting for me to see the workspaces of other artists too. Some are surprisingly neat! (K)

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  6. Another fabulous post, Teagan. I always love to learn things about authors, and seeing where they work definitely grabs my attention. I remember reading Gertrude Stein0s Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, where she writes a lot about the people who came to see them in Paris, and it seems that Hemingway visited with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and he was quite annoyed because Stein said that she really liked Fitzgerald’s writing because he wrote “naturally in sentences”. Reading some of the things Hermingway wrote about Fitzgerald, it seems suprising that they were friends at all, but Fitzgerald had other problems, to be fair.

    Thanks for the beautiful post, and I hope all the people who haven’t read Midsummer Bedlam will try it and enjoy it. It is magical and wonderfully whimsical. Oh, and yes, great to be able to download free books, especially some of the classics that should always be read.

    Big hugs to you and love to the Scoobies!

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  9. I love these posts because I learn so much! Wonder excerpt, too. Hemingway definitely loved to drink. I was born in the day that he ‘liberated’ the bar in the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the end of WWII.

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  12. I love this post, Teagan. You had me from the first picture of the Scoobies, but also the subject. Writer’s desks are great workstations, and we are making something there, like Thistledown: Midsummer Bedlam, which sits on my book shelf with the rest of your wonderful stories. The photos you featured are wonderful examples creative people at work.

    I’m glad you included Mark Twain’s desk. I saw that desk, preserved in its messy state, when we toured his home here in Hartford. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the home, but I remember the desk. I also remember that he had notes pinned to the walls — no signs of a depraved mind in that room.

    Thanks for joining us at CFFC through this series. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

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  14. As usual a post that gives pause and in this case a chuckle an appreciation!

    “The quote “Write drunk, edit sober” was widely, attributed to Hemingway, though now he reportedly never said that. Darn… it was more fun when I thought Hemingway said it… ”

    I’m sticking with this and love the shameless promotion!!! xx❣️

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