A Short History and an Anniversary

ByDeborah Raney
35 Comments

I’ve been writing almost since I could hold a pencil, but I’ve been writing seriously and professionally since New Year’s Day 1994. On that day, I sat down and wrote the prologue to my first novel, A Vow to Cherish, with a red Sharpie on a steno pad. Then I meticulously copied the words I’d written on my electric typewriter again and again until I had a flawless copy for my husband to read.

Ken read it, looked at me and said, “Honey, this is good! Keep writing!” So I did. And just a few days later, he brought me home a little Mac computer, and I’ve been a Mac gal ever since. That Mac Plus that I wrote my first few books on still sits on a bookcase in Ken’s studio along with some other dinosaurs.

I graduated to a Mac IIsi and then a lime green iMac (remember those fruity-colored, bulbous desktop computers?) which I actually carted back and forth to a bed and breakfast every day for two weeks while I was on deadline and my kids were home from school for the summer.

After I discovered how helpful it was to work away from home when I really needed to concentrate to make a deadline, I switched to a laptop as my only computer. I’ve had probably a dozen different computers in the 24 years I’ve been writing (all Macs) and my laptops keep getting smaller and lighter, yet more powerful and with longer battery life. Now, I can write for 8 hours on one charge during a road trip to visit our daughters! Pretty amazing how far technology has come.

My office space has had a similar evolution. I wrote my first book at our kitchen table (which was our only table in the small duplex where we were raising our four children). As the kids got older and noisier, I moved to a desk in our bedroom. Then when our youngest started school and I had the house all to myself during the day, I set up a sweet little office space in the corner of our living room.

You might recognize the divided mailbox piece I used for office supplies. In my current office, I use it turned on its end to house my huge collection of coffee mugs. Looking through these photos, I was surprised to note how many items from this 20-years-ago office are still in my current office!
That plant on the white bookcase my dad built is one my mother-in-law gave me when our oldest daughter was born. I still have it in the same pot in our current kitchen more than 35 years later! (And no, I never wear shoes in the house. I just love going barefoot.)
After getting three of our four kids through college, we bought our first home and for the first time, I had a dedicated office. As much as I loved this space with my book covers framed on the wall behind my desk, I didn’t like being down the hall in a bedroom, and I often brought my laptop out to write at the kitchen bar counter or on the sofa by the fire.
Ken created a beautiful prairie garden in the backyard at that house just outside the city limits of a small town. Kansas weather didn’t allow nearly often enough, but I loved taking my laptop (and my coffee) out to the back deck to work.
After a few years, my sister came and took down the striped wallpaper and painted my office “Galvanized Nail.” I loved the new clean look, and for the first time had a little coffee bar right in my office (my husband’s fabulous idea!) This was the start of my mug collection too.
My book cover wall was growing too!
In 2013, with all our kids out of college, we moved to Wichita and bought the house where we live now. Here, my office space is the perfect combination of out in the open and tucked away. I claimed the formal dining room for my office (since we have a nice dining space in the kitchen and we are not formal people!) The office organizer got tipped on its side to hold my growing collection of coffee mugs.
In case you haven’t noticed, I rearrange furniture in my office (and our whole house!) often. This is what things look like today. Different, and yet if you compare photos, you’ll see a lot that has stayed the same. And I like it that way!
The coffee mugs are still there and we’ve added a few fun pieces, most found on our weekly garage sale outings.
Our city “garden” is a little different and not quite so private, but I still love to work outside when the weather is nice enough.

It will be interesting to see the changes with technology and in my office space in the years to come!

I’m celebrating a fun anniversary today: 15 years ago this very day, after agenting myself for nine years, I signed with Steve Laube as my literary agent. I’m not sure I’d still be publishing today if it weren’t for Steve’s career guidance, business sense, spiritual integrity, and ability to talk his clients off the ledge when necessary! Just want to say a heartfelt public thank-you, Steve! Lord willing, here’s to another 15!

Celebrating 15 years with my literary agent, Steve Laube of the Steve Laube Agency! He’s stuck with me through thick and thin, short and long, dishwater and platinum! 😉

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DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a four-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

35 Comments

  1. I love your office transformation over the years. And you collection of pretties. In you office with the striped wallpaper, did it have a little heart in it. I think that is the same wallpaper in my kitchen now. It’s from the 80’s and we can’t get it off the walls. 😳Thanks for sharing.

    1. Thanks, Marti. No hearts on my striped wallpaper. That house was built in 2001, so they were just past the country hearts phase when it was decorated. But we had some that was really stuck to the walls. NOT a task for the faint of heart! :}

  2. I admire how far technology has come in the last thirty years, but from the other side, I must think about my happy first years of life without any computers, televisions or mobile phones…

    And what about your bookcase? I adore antiquarian bookshops and everybody can see it at my home 🙂
    I need bigger bookcase every year 🙂

    1. Most of our bookcases are in my husband’s office and he shares space with me. The white reference bookcase was built by my dad, and the library cart on wheels was a school auction find. I love old bookshops too!

  3. What a time capsule! I’m intrigued by the black ceiling light/card holder in one of the middle photos. Did it actually function as a light?

    1. No, it was never lit. My dad made what I call a “menu wheel” for me after I saw something similar in a catalog for over $200! I wanted a place to hang all my greeting cards, postcards, notes and inspiration for my works in progress…and this fit the bill perfectly! Plus, it’s so special that my dad welded it.

  4. I enjoyed reading this and now have the itch to rearrange some furniture! I love how rearranging makes it feel like I have something new without spending a dime.

  5. What a fascinating photographic glimpse into your world of being an author! Thank you for sharing about your writing nook over the years. God has greatly gifted you to bless us!

    1. Thanks so much, Suzanne. I should have mentioned one other huge change: the fact that I used to spend one day a week at the library doing research. Now, almost everything can be found online, or in a book ordered from amazon.com.

  6. I enjoyed seeing your office spaces over the years. The garden spaces were especially beautiful. Being a quilter, I noticed the pretty quilt on your wall in the early pictures. Thanks for sharing with us. By the way, I’m your opposite, I never move furniture unless my husband makes me!

    1. My furniture moving sort of drives Ken nuts sometimes…although I think he’s used to it now. And it makes me happy, so he tolerates it. 🙂 Once, when our kids were younger, I came home from the grocery store to discover they’d moved all the furniture into the middle of the living room! They thought it was a hilarious trick to play on me. 🙂

  7. Congratulations Deb! For your anniversary with your agent, for your growing success, for your beautiful interior decorating sense ☺️ And for your love for your sweet Jesus that spills over into every story. Love, Charlotte

    1. Thank you so much, Charlotte! That is my prayer! That His love—and His TRUTH—would spill over into every story. I love the way you put that!

  8. Congratulations on a job well done! From one Mac to another, you are a dandy and I hope there are many, many more words shared with us all.

  9. I always enjoy seeing your decorating ideas, Deb. Everything is so beautiful!
    Congratulations!

  10. Good for you Deb at being a MAC girl! I just love your houses/ spaces and learning about your transitions. I look forward the results of your Thursday jaunts with your hubby! Your decorating sense is great! This was a lovely post! Thanks. Looking forward to reading your next book.

  11. Happy Anniversary and thanks for sharing your pictures! I pray that you enjoy many more years of writing and publishing.
    Blessings!
    Connie

  12. Happy Anniversary! I love reading about your writing journey. Your photos are wonderful. I also live in Wichita, and I enjoy hearing about your garage sale adventures and Coffee and Donut shop visits!

  13. Thank you for the time capsule travel through your office in celebration of your anniversary. I spied a big Fiesta latte mug in your Kurig. I’m a Fiesta addict, so I can spot that stuff a mile away! Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

    1. Ah, Perrianne! I grew up with Fiestaware! That mug is a new one, but I have several old pieces from my mom and grandmother’s Fiestaware of the 1940s and ’50s. Yes, my mom and her mom both had Fiestaware in their cupboards and we ate on it every day! Maybe that was the start of my deep love of color!?

  14. Thanks for the fun tour and timeline. Your writing spaces made me think of my own travels with my sewing machine. Every time I’d move into a new home, I’d put the sewing machine in a bedroom, make a nice sewing area with it, and about an hour into a sewing project, I’d feel out of touch with the world and move the whole thing into the living room! Sometimes it takes us a while to figure out where we’re the most comfortable and productive, I guess. Continued blessings to you, and, thank you for all the great stories!

    1. SO true, Hilda! My mom was a wonderful seamstress and quilter who made ALL her own and her four daughters’ clothes, and sometimes even a shirt or suitcoat for my little brother. Her sewing room was right off the dining room. I think she was situated in the hubbub out of necessity to keep an eye on all of us kids! 🙂 Thanks for sparking those happy memories!

  15. I love your writing journey and I think I read my first Deborah Raney book about 15 years ago not long after we built our current house. I still have it somewhere in my many book nooks around the house.

    I too love to move furniture often. Guests always notice 😀. I have a dedicated office but I tend to float around the house depending on my mood. All your homes and rooms say welcome.

    Congratulations on your Anniversary!

    1. Thanks, Daphne. I do the same: float around the house…and into the yard, weather permitting. It is nice to have a different perspective! And a lot of my furniture rearranging is done to create cozy nooks where I can take my laptop or curl up and read. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

    1. Aww, thanks, Kelly. I didn’t want to save that ol’ piece of junk, but I’m so glad Ken did save it! It’s a great conversation piece! 🙂

      1. Also, I searched high and low for a photo of the lime green iMac but never did find one. I can’t BELIEVE I let that get away without being immortalized in photos!

  17. Deborah this was so inspiring! I love how your offices have changed through the year and the love and support of your family is so dear. I loved this. Thank you!

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