Rune Skelley and the Secret of the Hidden Bookcase

We do most of our writing in the aptly named Writing Cave, but from time to time, especially in the winter, we like to hole up and work in the Auxiliary Writing Cave. It has a fireplace, you see, which makes it extra cozy. It’s also the only room in our house we hadn’t gotten around to redecorating. This year we’d finally had enough of the dingy yellow paint, and a decision was reached: it was time for a change. Once we hauled out all the mammoth bones and gave the place a good sweeping, we decided a little bit more than a coat of paint was needed. We would update the fire. As part of the process, we had to put in a false wall.

In the past when we’ve done projects around the house, we’ve written messages on the backside of drywall before installing it, and on the floor before tiling over it. Fun little surprises someone might discover in the far future. This time we got a little more creative.

The fireplace redo is the first major renovation project we’ve done since self-publishing our Divided Man books. Jen thought it would be fun to hide signed copies of the books inside the wall for some future homeowner to find. Kent heartily agreed.

We think it looks amazing. It’s hard to imagine anyone ever wanting to replace the tile, so perhaps our secret hidden bookshelf will never be discovered.