The New York Times Bestseller The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith (available as an extended excerpt until March 20th), is an incredible story of trauma, love, relationships, and life. We at Riveted can’t get enough of the book or the brilliance that is Amber Smith. That’s why we wanted to get a deeper look into how the story was created. We had so many questions! What does a writing space for something like this look like? How do you draw your inspiration when working on something like this? Luckily for us, we don’t have to live with these unanswered questions. Amber was kind enough to bring us behind the scenes. Read on to learn all about Amber’s writing space!

This is my creative sanctuary in my house—this room gets used for nothing else but writing and (less often these days) art. My desk is the one area I’m very careful to keep neat and organized because I tend to get easily distracted while I’m trying to write. I’m definitely a visual person, so behind my desk is a whiteboard where I chart out some of my thoughts on whatever I’m working on, and next to that is a fun cork board where I like to pin up random things (pictures, quotes, cookie fortunes, and the like) that inspire me.

I love being surrounded by books while I’m working (and these are only about half of the books that live in my house!)

I’m a huge art lover and an especially a big fan of photography—I love being able to look up from my laptop and see these beautiful photos by some of my favorite photographers “Words in Flight” by Linda Foard Roberts and “Panteón de Xoxo, Mexico” by Carolyn DeMeritt.

I’m a big collector of stuff. Whenever I see something that I find beautiful or interesting in some way—whether that’s stones, seashells, feathers, pine cones, flowers, broken light bulbs, even a piece of a honeycomb I once found on a walk—I keep them in jars and display them in my work space. I’m also an antiquing junkie, and have amassed a large collection of antique postcards, letters, and old photographs of anonymous people (you can see a few of them here). Each object has a story behind it, stories that have been forgotten or lost, and something about re-imaging those stories and those lives really inspires me.

And, course, my loving, hardworking assistants, confidants, and cheerleaders, Darwin and Bentley!