A recurrining writer’s procrastination meme shows writers needing to create the perfect space to write, the perfect temperature, the perfect…fill in the blank.
I’m nearly there.
For three days this week I cleaned and re-organized my home office. As of this writing I have a few minor details to complete, but let’s just say this is already working for me.
I have a place for my computer, a place to read and write, a place to create…or just color if the mood hits me. Remembrances of shows and events fill the walls and shelves…at least the space not taken up by books.
Books are so decorative, don’t you think?
Points for the reference.
I eliminated a good amount of stuff. Still, there came a point on Wednesday when I didn’t quite know what to do with things. There are a couple of bins of filing or shredding that need to be gone through, perhaps on the next inclement weather day.
And, there’s at least one box in the closet that I imagine my boys finding one day and asking “Why did Dad keep this crap?”
The office may not be perfect, but it’s pretty darned good.
Perfect would be changing the view out my window to the ocean and a little bell to ring for Jeeves to bring me another julep.
For what it’s worth, I have the bell. It’s a director’s gift from a show earlier this year.
I don’t necessarily believe that I need the perfect place to write.
I can write here in my home office. I can write in coffee shop. I can write on a break at the day job.
And I can write a beach house…if you’ve got a spare room.
The tricky part is setting aside that time when you won’t be disturbed.
Stephen King said:
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
I can shut the door and not complain that my office is a mess.
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