An Inventory

Susan Sarah here, waking up with sniffles, fever and sore throat--ugh!--so the day isn't starting out quite as I'd planned. Having finished a whirlwind copyedit, I was all set to blitz through cleaning up my desk and office, get all those little ducks in a row, and move forward on the current book project. Plowing through the assorted flotsam and jetsam on the desk can be a daunting task, and one I’m usually more than willing to procrastinate.

However, instead of moving ahead, I am stuck here feeling like crud, whupped by a virus that oh-so  cleverly masqueraded yesterday as allergy symptoms (we were out picking cherries from the cherry trees in the backyard), and now has revealed itself as something to be reckoned with. I’m sitting here staring at what ought to be done, mustering the energy to do something about it. When the window is small and definite and there are things on the docket, often a force greater than ourselves (aka, a dastardly Rhinovirus) can quickly interfere with even the best-laid plans.

I’ll pluck another tissue from the box, drop another of those fizzy wafers with Vitamin C, zinc and whatever-else into a glass of water (generic or brand-name, that stuff definitely seems to help), and I'll go crawl back under the covers for a while … but first I thought I’d at least take inventory of what’s on the desk.

There’s the stuff that needs to be filed, shelved or tossed … there are things that stay here for the duration of a book project ... and there are things that I keep on or near my desk -- things with meaning or that inspire me, things that remind, support, distract, nudge, etc. And then there's a layer of accumulated Stuff, the ephemera as well as the essentials that cross every writer's path daily. I've never quite figured out what to DO with all this stuff -- we live in an age of an excess of information -- and for me, the occasional purge seems to be the best solution. I'm not one to keep on top of things. That would be too left-brained for me. I tend to thrive on a little comfortable chaos; when it gets past that point, it's time to act.

My desk at this very moment:

1.       Flat screen monitor with sticky notes: “Writing novels is the most fun I’ve ever had” – Sidney Sheldon (sometimes true, sometimes NOT); notes on a couple of appointments that I need to remember

2.       Two yellow legal pads; one covered in scribbled notes taken during the copyedit; one filled with notes for the book-in-progress about Queen Margaret of Scotland

3.       My cell phone, which I’d better put back in my purse before I go out tomorrow

4.       Hand sanitizer; I have a cold; that stuff didn’t work this time...

5.       Rescue Remedy – a must-have, it is fabulous

6.       Small tabletop stereo with a little pewter dragon sitting on it

7.       A phone cradle, but where’s the cordless phone that goes in it?

8.       Sticky notes and colored tabs left over from the copyedit

9.       Two or three black and white composition books (green and blue, to be exact). I often use these for notes and thoughts, and have for years; they’re simple and straightforward, tough and easy to tote around, easy to find and always affordable, and can be neatly stacked on a shelf (sometimes I even do that)

10.   A book of harp music; I’m taking lessons in Celtic harp, and currently I’m in the plink-plonk-ploink stage; nothing to boast about, trust me

11.   Bunches of pens, pencils, highlighters, scissors etc., in a red plaid bucket

12.   Lavender hand lotion

13.   A couple of little angels (for years I’ve collected angels in all sizes, shapes and sorts; there are some in nearly every room in the house now)

14.    A fairy in a waterglobe

15.  A Scottish elf captured in a jar

16.   Stacks of CDs that need to be put away

17.   A deep scattering of printed e-mails, notes and reminders …

18. A vase of yellow carnations and heathery fronds

19.   And somewhere under all this, a desk surface

I am contemplating taking a shovel to this stuff, but for now I think I’ll shut down the computer and go crawl away with my box of tissues to fetch a cup of tea. Tomorrow I’ll tackle this task...

Meanwhile, what’s on your desk? What is always there, brings you luck and inspires you? What should you toss but keep procrastinating over? And are you the master of your environment, or does it take over until you finally muster forces and deal with it?

~Susan Sarah

Comments

[Margaret Garland]

Your desk sounds a lot more interesting than mine. I hope you find your cordless soon before it dies. When I lose mine, I call it from my cell phone and follow the ring. Or vice versa.

1. My desk is buried in paper. Bills, printouts, etc.
2. Knitting stuff
3. A felted wool pin cushion.
4. A couple of coffee mugs.
5. A roll of paper towels (?)
6. A paper plate. Yes, I eat & drink at my desk.
7. Hand lotion.
8. Empty medicine bottles so I remember to call in re-fills.
8. Salt & pepper. See above.
9. Digital camera. I u/l pix to my computer last night.
10. Hand sanitizer
11. Paperback books needing to be re-shelved.
12. Family pictures.
13. Scotch tape.
14. Air spray.
15. Blank DVD disks.

There's more, but now I'm depressed.

[Margaret Garland]

I forgot to say "Get well soon!" So, there it is for you. Rest, drink lots of fluids and take care of yourself. All that stuff will still be there when you recover.

[buggalugs]

Gosh Susan Sarah, give yourself a break!
The dreaded lurgy has got you!Forget your desk, it ain't going anywhere, Rest, sleep, have a hot lemon drink with lots of sugar and 2 panadol!
Don't even read this ... and when you feel better have a cup of chicken laska soup. Get well soon!
Cheers Carol

[buggalugs]

forgot this!
I.Old dvd as drink coaster

2.2 notebooks a.movie and b.book list with grading sys.0/5

3. Digital Camera
4. Flash drive
5. Pen and pencil holder
6.Headset.
7. 3 sheets of paper with notes to self.

8. a photo frame with list of PC drives and what on each,

9. 2 hairclips.
10. 2 extention leads for camera and usd drive.
didn't count the PC, canner, speakers, Printer, modem.
Cheers again Carol Best wishes!
Get well soon!

[Patricia Rice]

Good heavens, set the elf and fairy free! No wonder you're sick, you've been cursed!

When you figure out how to rein in those vital notes into a neat, orderly stack, let me know. At least you put yours in books. Mine are on scratch paper scattered knee deep in places. But I always know where to find them...

[kay]

1. A Glinda bobble-head
2. a snow globe with ruby slippers in it
3. a rock that says "mom" made by my daughter when whe was 5
4. A wind-up eye that moves
5. Pictures of my parents
6. a card with Rosanne Rosannadanna that whines when you open it.
7. A plaque my daughter made that says "la-di-da la-di-da la-la"
8. A number of daffy duck things
9. A glass globe with a dandelion in it.
10. a Calendar, paper clips and sticky notes
11. a wind-up carousel
12. Ruby slipper lead door jam sticking out from under my computer and "There's no place like home" pasted to the top of my computer.

Then of course there are the walls.

[Kalen Hughes]

I’m am soooooooooooo not the master of my environment. I live in what my grandmother has politely dubbed “a stare of organized chaos”. On my desk are:

1) A big monitor (the deep, old style) that I really need to replace with a flatscreen . . .
2) A key board
3) An iPod speaker
4) A few scattered pens
5) 2 composition books (we share that fetish, LOL!)
6) A rather tall stack of research books (I think there’s about a dozen right now)
7) A couple of CDs I’ve been meaning to load into iTunes
8) A mug of tea
9) A stack of pictures I’ve been ruminating over for my website redesign
10) And an empty granola bar wrapper (yes, I’m messy)

[Susan/DC]

In my youth I was excessively, totally, obsessively neat. I had a boyfriend who described his own housekeeping method as "volcanic -- you let it pile up until it starts flowing down the sides. At that point you manically clean. Then you let it pile up until it erupts again." At the time I couldn't understand why he didn't immediately put everything away in drawers or files or binders.

Then I had children, a husband, and pets and I discovered that I could either remain obsessively neat and quietly go crazy every time I noticed a Lego or t-shirt on the floor (or the bed or the chair or wherever but definitely not in its proper place) or I could learn to ignore it all and spend time previously devoted to cleaning to enjoying my family. The relaxed method worked well for many years, but now that the boys are grown my innate "there's a place for everything and everything in its place" tendencies are reappearing.

[Susan Scott]

Ahh, you lucky folk! I don't even HAVE a desk, let alone an office. I write on my laptop on the bed, so I guess I can catalogue what's on the bed with me:
* Two sleeping cats (Sotheby and Fig)
* A calendar for figuring out booksignings for "The King's Favorite"
* A bowl of walnuts and rice-cakes (snacks are always necessary.)
* Photocopies of 17th century books in French (research for my current WIP, "The French Mistress")
* An Old French dictionary for deciphering the above
* Bottle of OPI nail polish in "Cha-Ching-Cherry" for touching up toes when inspiration fails

Feel better soon, Susan!

Susan S.

[Maggie Robinson]

A combination lamp/caddy w/ pens, sticky pads, pendrives and a nail file

An antique wooden salt cod box w/music CDs

A picture of me and my girls taken on my birthday last year

2 folded pieces of paper towels

A prescription bottle with one pill

A plastic file holder filled with manila folders, a phone book,random papers and a calendar

A twenty-year old picture of my son and 3 daughters and a Beefeater at the Tower of London when they were little

Printouts of Yorkshire farmhouses

The Old Farmer's Almanac Favorite Cookies cookbook.

A beach rock with a cross through it

An antique blue and white jug stuffed with pens/pencils, scissors

A bookmark w/ a quote from Grandma Moses: Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.

My new computer

Feel better! My husband has had this cold for over a week and I'm contemplating divorce.

[Janga]

Maggie, I knew that was your list long before I got to your name. LOL!

I recently moved and so my desk is less cluttered than usual. On it are
my computer,
pictures of the grands,
a huge container of pens and pencils with a pink bon bon pen on top,
a hand-thrown bowl full of binder clips in assorted colors,
a folder with the first (hand-written) draft of my WIP,
a peace angel,
a mouse pad with George Clooney's face on it,
and a giant paperclip holding a quotation from E. L. Doctorow: "Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”

Get well soon, Susan!

[talpianna]

A mess of papers and catalogues

Speakers for the computer, which is rather silly because my sound doesn't work.

Glasses case for computer glasses

Cable router

Remote for TV so it can tell me it's 112 degrees.

Small glass Pyrex dish for pills

Box of tissues

Coaster for drink

Keyboard-cleaning spray

Unanswered mail

Smart Bitch mousepad

Glasses-cleaning cloth

At any given time, one or two cats

[jrox]

There is a desk in the house, but I don't use it--my husband does.

From his desk (that is theoretically ours) I use the pens, stapler, three-hole punch, electric pencil sharpener, envelopes, stamps, and scrap paper.

My desk is a blue rocking chair next to an end table. Sometimes the entire area surrounding this chair is covered with books, maps, notebooks, a bulletin-board with story notes and outlines.

Right now, the little end table is relatively clear.

The laptop is... in my lap.
On the table there is:

a thermometer and case (sick child right now)
a coaster
a hairband
a printout about flowers
the iphone charger, but no phone
sunglasses
a lamp

Underneath the table is a file box, which I should use, but is actually rather dusty.

I am impressed with Susan for even getting the blog out this morning! We've had a similar nasty bug that also masqueraded as allergies, and have spent the last several days tucked up on the couch watching Noggin.

[Virginia]

The lesson plan for summer day camp at the community center (I still get called to "volunteer" although my youngest child is 30).

A folder of notes about French Canadian migration to Grand Isle County, Vermont.

Glasses case with my bifocals in it (when I close down, I'll put the computer glasses in the case and wear the bifocals).

Glasses cleaning kit (cloth and miniature spray bottle).

Glass paperweight with some kind of abstract wavy blue thing and a bubble inside it.

Bookends shaped like books, received as a wedding present 46 years ago.

More practical black bookends from Staples(this desk has a bookshelf).

Three pens, one purple, one pink, one turquoise, all fine roller point.

A lot of post-its.

A DVD labeled "Carsten's pictures."

Four large bars of Lindt Extra Dark chocolate that my husband gave me for Mother's Day.

A box of hideous stationery that I don't have the nerve to toss out.

My cell phone, plugged into the recharger.

A lot of maps and paintings from the 17th century, printed out from the internet.

A printout for Granville Gazette #18 that I have to proof-read by the middle of July.

A printout of the manuscript for 1635: The Dreeson Incident that I also have to proof-read, this one by Friday.

A reminder to send three books to a distant relative in Missouri.

An order form to get some books from the Vermont French Canadian Genealogical Society, if I ever remember to fill it out.

[Susan Sarah]

I'm so enjoying these responses! It's good to know I'm not the only with a talent for, uh, thoroughly decorating a desk surface.

I think there's an old Chinese proverb that goes something like, Out of chaos comes creativity, or something to that effect.
Though I keep telling myself it would be good to experience serenity and order, and see if it would be easier to wrangle some creativity out of that...

Thanks for the get well wishes! I'm still in the throes of this rather unpleasant virus, but the blog has been an excellent remedy today. :)

Susan

[Jane George]

Writers and readers have the best cr*p! What interesting lists, and I'm coveting Susan Scott's Cha-ching Cherry polish. :-)

Aside from the usual pens, dictionaries, stapler and thesaurus, I have:

A stack of books on the circus, my favorite being a book on the history of circus trucks.

Two books by Scott Cunningham and one by Doreen Valiente.

A vase from Indonesia encircled by a mermaid bracelet I purchased at RWA National.

Various candles.

Photos of hubby & me on our first date.

Box of thumbtacks and a dirty spoon from sneaking ice cream out of other people's pints. Bad Jane.

Feel better fast Susan/Sarah!

[talpianna]

Susan/Sarah, I forgot to mention that if your nose is sore from being constantly blown, aloe vera spray or gel WITH LIDOCAINE works very well as a soother. Be sure to get the kind with Lidocaine, as it's a local anesthetic. You will probably find it in with the suntan lotion, as it's a standard sunburn remedy (good for kitchen scalds, too).

[theo]

Oh, boy! I have loved reading what everyone has and now, I don't feel so odd about my desk. :)

I move between my desk and my chair so, I'll just do the desk and leave control central out for now.

1. Two containers, one of blank CD's and one of blank DVD's because I do a lot of recording

2. Jewel cases for said disks

3. A box of colored push-pins

4. A remote control for a stereo I no longer have

5. A remote control for the TV which works, but the remote doesn't

6. A plastic Mickey Mouse dressed as the wizard from Fantasia

7. A Longaberger note basket filled with another remote (I have no idea) CDs, index cards, two calculators, an address book and a pair of glasses in their case (mind, basket is 4 X 6)

8. Speakers for my computer

9. My certificate from my M/A classes that I took 10 years ago

10. A HUGE monitor that takes up half the desktop

11. Another basket with 'important' papers in it like car titles, birth certificates and such

12. Another Longaberger basket, recipe basket, filled with assorted little pieces of paper I don't want to lose

13. A basket filled with at least 30 pens

14. A painted flower pot my daughter did 18 years ago in Sunday school, also filled with another 30 pens or so, markers, a bracelet buddy, scissors and assorted other things

15. A little business card basket filled with business cards I will never look at again

16. Mouse pad and mouse

17. A ton of other pens, hand sanitizer, hand lotion (which if you ask me, cancel each other out but then, what do I know?) ribbons, a pair of earrings, so many post it notes stuck to the frame around my monitor that I can hardly see the screen

18. AND...a 12 inch action figure of Gerard Butler as King Leonides, replete with robe, sword, shield and spear, removable shin guards, and two heads. One with his helmet on, one without. And a button on the back that, when pushed, says one of six different phrases he utters in the movie 300, in his own voice.

How's that last one for inspiration?

;)

Susan! Feel better!