Kia ora Koutou, I changed my working space from one room to another. I wasn’t expecting to, the idea suddenly appeared and, lucky for me, so did someone who didn’t mind moving  furniture.

So it was easy, me giving instructions, someone else doing the mahi.

I always have an attachment to the place where I work. Its my haven, my working and dreaming area, my sorting, deleting, rewriting, chucking out, my drinking tea or coffee, chatting with friends area – the space where I live a large part of my daily life. And then one day I realise that I want another space, another view, a different place to think, work and dream in.

So now I’m happily ensconced on one side of the sitting room. Its a neat space, any sun going streams in thanks to the architects who designed Nga Purapura. Good neighbours in action.

The journey towards finding out what you really want to write about, or more likely, have been writing about but have been too dim to see, gets a little buzz too, either from the different  work space or because you made the decision to do it. There’s a certain exhilaration that comes with making decisions.

You can get something of the same effect by any sudden decision, a quick walk, cleaning a cupboard that’s been waiting for months, chucking out things that should have been disposed of long ago, in fact all the things we put off until a certain day dawns, a day when we realise we are full of energy, and we get stuck in – we are in change mode.

I used to have times like that when I thought perhaps I’d change my name. Not so much for my work but for my personal life. And if I could have thought of a name I liked a lot better than Renée and a name which I’d not already used in a novel or a pllay, I’d have done it.

I knew I’d have to like it a lot because changing one’s name comes with a certain agenda. You have to tell people, announce it. You don’t have to say why. I have friends who changed their names, legally as well as simply saying, from today my name is ‘Tamsin’ or ‘Katie’ or ‘Bronwyn’ – or, ‘Today I’m thinking of changing my name to Marisa or maybe Eloise – what do you think?’

I wonder how it would be if we all had to change our names regularly, like daylight saving. One name for the fall back, ‘Ermyntrude or Elsie, Elton or Ethan, and another one for the spring, Lila or Louise, Leo or Lionel. Would it give us a chance to try out different personalities? Become different people? The same way changing your working space gives you a different view? Changing our name might give us a different view of ourself?

Say we were free on that particular calendar day each year to choose any name we liked as long as it started with a different letter from the one we’ve currently got. So we change the clocks and our names at the same time.

I would have to choose a name that did not start with R. As I said, I like Lily, but would Lily like me? I have my doubts. What about Grace? I like that name and it has family connections. Alice? Corrine? Zelda? Or should I go for flowers. Iris. Yes, I like Iris. Oh that’s right, I chose it for a character in Wednesday To Come so I can’t have that. Iris in the play is, of course, a character I created, therefore imaginary, but she’s real to me and I could not take her name. Kate? Suzanne? Victoria? Lola? There is a name I like but I’m using it for a character in the novel I’m writing, so its taken.

I think changing the work space is probably enough for now. Although its tempting…if you had to or wanted to changed your name, what would it be?

Renée