An Occupational Hazard
Sometimes writing is like juggling, like having apples and oranges in the air at the same time. You start to hear the next story before finishing the one you’re working on. Soon you have three or four going at the same time. ~ From Gravity, Muses Like Moonlight
We tend to forget that writing is a sloppy business. None of us would accept a garage mechanic working in our home, leaving greasy tools all over the place. But, somehow we accept writers working at home who are almost as messy. Many of us have one in our home, or are one.
Not only do writers who work at home make messes, but they are inclined to repeatedly burn pots of food on the stove or ignore a sink full of dishes in order catch their drifting thoughts onto paper. Loose papers get spread out all over the house. Stacks of them pile up, threatening to tip over. Half finished drafts and scraps, some typed, some scribbled, get started and then left, and then maybe lost in translation.
Weren’t computers supposed to save us from drowning in so much paper? My husband was recently trying to talk me into getting a laptop that you handwrite onto. The handwriting is then converted into typed and stored text. I told him I didn’t think I would use it, in the same way I didn’t use the digital recorder he bought me to talk my notes into. I couldn’t get used to playing back notes, re-winding and fast forwarding to find the right place. I’d rather shuffle through my papers, spread them out like a buffet, or like a puzzle I’m putting together, and see all parts of the whole. If I can’t hold the written evidence in my hand, I forget it exists.
“I know it’s messy, but this is the way I write,” I defended myself. “I may use a computer more than ever before, but paper is still my first language.”
June 4th, 2005 10:18 am
I know what you mean about today’s technology. I would rather do things the old way too. I find this in nursing a lot. The computerized medication dispensers are so confusing…it may aid in less mistakes for some, but it is more work to me trying to put all that data into it to get one pill. I rather do things the old fashion way.
June 4th, 2005 10:58 am
I do that with my art…spread everything out all over the place, all around me and then put it all together. I’m a scrap paper writer too..although I didn’t realize it til just now! I love the way you send my brain into new realms…thanks Col!
June 4th, 2005 11:49 am
My outdoor gear is in every nook and cranny of the house. My wife hates it.
Came via the meet n greet.
June 4th, 2005 11:59 am
From one writer to another – I know about the messy-ness. LOL. Hi from Michele’s.
June 4th, 2005 12:00 pm
Hi Colleen,
I really like your site. I have the exact same hat you are wearing in your “about me” photo..
I would also love to talk to you about fostering a child. Something I am very very interested in.
MICHELLE SENT ME!
N:)
June 4th, 2005 12:35 pm
I had wondered if there were any more ARE’ers out there in the blogosphere, and I’m glad to now there is at least one. We shoudl talk about it sometime.
Judy
June 4th, 2005 12:40 pm
Colleen,
Thanks for the info….It is also quite amazing that I also at the moment work with developmental adults …At a workshop. I am teaching them how to sing and putting on a concert at the end of the summer. I am up in Maine for the summer…It is so beautiful and I guess as beautiful as where you are.
June 4th, 2005 3:17 pm
Great blog, and that’s exactly how I feel sometimes.
June 4th, 2005 4:10 pm
Colleen, re your comment on your messy car: Since your writing is so well organized, I would never have thought you’d have a messy car. Shows what I know!!
June 4th, 2005 8:02 pm
Do enneagrams have anything to do with I Ching? I don’t know much, but I once read something about it.
June 4th, 2005 10:10 pm
Sometimes you just have to have tangible evidence that you’ve completely lost your mind.
June 4th, 2005 11:26 pm
I read what I could find about Palmer and enneagrams; very interesting, but I would have to read more to understand it. I have read quite a bit of the other stuff mentioned in the article, such as Blavatsky, Ouspenskaya, etc., but a long, long time ago.
June 5th, 2005 12:28 pm
Paper used to be my first language but once I got my head around software I speak it better than I ever did my L1.
” repeatedly burn pots of food on the stove” really? not just me. 🙂
June 5th, 2005 5:54 pm
I see from the comments you going off and converting more people to Enneagrams. I still haven’t looked into them that much, but I have a much better understanding and appriciation for them then I did.
Regardin paper. I find that they are very different tools. I need paper to be able to wrap my head around an idea, but my computer makes it so much easier to present it.
June 6th, 2005 11:09 am
This posts defines me (and my home office) to a tea!
Nicely organized post! *wink wink*