I admit it – I’m very nosy about other people’s workspaces. Writers and artists especially. So I loved Josephine Corcoran’s recent post about her ‘cluttered desk’ – although I thought it looked pretty good actually.
My first instinct was of course to compare it to mine, so I reached for the camera – but before tidying up. Monday is usually my day for clearing the desk and starting afresh, so this is the gritty reality of the pre-clean-up. Josphine’s desk seems to be in a lovely light, airy place, whereas mine is a darkish corner where I’m flanked by bookshelves, a chest of drawers, a tall filing cabinet and a printer. But it’s cosy though, and nobody can come up behind me 🙂
There are actually two desks. The main one with the nice big screen and the standing desk with the laptop. Here goes – with Josephine’s post still open on my screen which shows how I leapt up to take a photo!
You may be wondering about some of the items here… the Brownie Badge Book (I’m a volunteer Bownie helper, so just doing a bit of record-keeping for the Unit) and the empty toilet roll (I’m learning knots at the moment and one of them calls for a tube … don’t ask!) And two pairs of glasses may seem greedy but hey. Believe it or not there is some legitimate work stuff in that pile of papers. I’ve always had a big screen desktop comp as I used to do a lot of graphics and website stuff. Although I do less of that now, I like writing at the big screen and seeing words unfold there. I don’t do any writing longhand.
As it happens, the standing desk is currently my poetry desk, and I’d like to say it’s tidier, but…
Somewhere in there is a renewal notice from the PBS, a copy of The Author, poetry collections by Stephen Sexton and Jericho Brown, a copy of Dante’s Inferno which I’m reading in English and Italian (a good way of stretching my vocabulary!) a couple of notebooks and a copy of ‘101 Things to Do in a Shed’ which is brilliant and altogether 101% distracting. All that’s missing is a half-drunk can of Diet Coke (it was too early in the morning) and Bobby, the black cat who likes to block the screen and nudge my mouse hand when I’m trying to type (like now!) In fact I think it’s time for a little yoga (Bobby likes to join in, and he does a fine Downward Dog).
So thanks Josephine for the idea. I’d love to see some more of these ‘my workspace’ posts. Like I said, I’m a tad nosy!
Funny how your desks look good to me and not too cluttered at all! I love the idea of a standing desk and used to have a version of one in the days when I used two desks and had two jobs. I’m happy to report that, after my post, I tackled the clutter and I seem to have freed up some creative energy. I feel like a woman reborn and I am making an effort to keep away the mess. It’s amazing how quickly it all accumulates again, though.
Thanks Josephine, and well done… I have done a modicum of tidying since Monday morning but there are now two empty toilet rolls lurking… that can’t be good feng shui!
I love seeing artists’ and writers’ workspaces. Any workspace, actually, but especially creatives’. Thanks for letting me step in and I also popped in to see Josephine’s. I keep saying I am going to do a blog post about my Writing Room, but my gracious it’s a mess! I’ll have to wait until I’m not near a deadline.
Hi Cheryl, yes please do show us your writing room! I recently visited a ‘house museum’ in Milan where they’ve kept an artist’s studio as it was when she lived there, and I took a ton of photos because it was fascinating. I may post a few of them.