My writing space was once my kids’ playroom. It’s a small room separated from our living room by glass-paned French doors, and the other three walls are completely wrapped in windows, so I’m surrounded by glass when I’m working in there. I love being able to look out onto the street from my desk, seeing the people walking their dogs, and kids on bikes, and parents pushing strollers. I’m alone but not alone. (That said, because of all of the windows and my proximity to the street, when I record episodes of *The Slowdown*, I don’t do it at my desk. That magic happens upstairs in my daughter’s cozy bedroom!) DESK I bought this clear acrylic desk from CB2 because it takes up less visual space in the room. I keep a number of beloved objects on it, so I’m surrounded by them as I work. Each one is a sort of talisman. There’s a framed Audre Lorde postcard that reads, “I am who I am, *doing what I came* to *do*.” My friend Marie Myung-Ok Lee sent it to me when I was in the thick of my divorce.…