Some writers have offices that overlook a garden, a lawn, or a peaceful stand of trees. I live very close to Copacabana beach—yes, that would be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—and…I would have loved if my home-office faced the beach. Unfortunately, not even from my living room windows can I see it. There is nothing but buildings outside, and the living-room gray-and-white stripped curtains are usually closed. To make things worse, I have no windows on my home-office. Yet, that mig