Where is it that you write? Where do you sit down and write your novels, poems or blog posts? If you are like me, and I would guess many bloggers or writers, you have a form of a desk. It can be a table, or a box in a corner or a real office type desk but chances are you will still call it a desk.
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My desk is an actual desk, now. before it was a smaller table that I built with components from Ikea. It was perfect for what I needed and actually, it still is. It is now in the garage ostensibly set up to be my little podcasting desk. I don’t know how that is going to work with winter setting in here in the Rockies.
When we moved, my desk came with me. then I decided that I really needed a bookshelf or something that I could store some papers and notebooks on. I had tried versions before, little shelves that I had built but they all ended up in the fireplace bin and the books on top of my desk. Cluttered. So I went looking for a small type shelf or filing cabinet that would work for what I wanted it to. And fit in the space I had available.
I ended up at Ikea again and a new product that just came out this year had a perfect size bookshelf. The only catch, is that it came with a desk. Eventually it came down to price and this set was relatively cheap for both pieces. So I brought it home and put my other desk in the garage. For the record I like the old one a bit better but this one has a drawer. Besides, now I have the bookshelf that I need.
What really brought on this post was the clutter that collects on my desk. Now, my desk is in our front room, less than 10 steps from the door and the meeting place where the TV is and where guests can see everything that I have out. It is there so that I can work and keep an eye on the kids at the same time. This does give me an incentive to keep the desk clean, being in the living room.
Most of the time I can do it. But I get help. My kids help. My wife helps. But they don’t clean, they stack. I get all sorts of stuff piled randomly on my desk, from papers to craft paints, to mp3 players. I get so much…..stuff piled on here some days that I can’t even use my mouse. It is frustrating.
So what do I do? Clean it off, putting all of the stuff in piles for the kids and the wife, not including what ends up in the trash can under the desk. And then the cycle starts all over again.
The bottom line, I get much more done when I have a clean desk. It is much more comfortable to write without the chaos. I know that there will be more chaos soon, but for a while at least, there is some small fragment of tranquility that helps the creative process.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
-Justin
