A friend just won a de-cluttering voucher at a raffle, her husband commented, ‘I know what we need to get rid of, it’s doing it that’s the problem.’
Well, I am a fan of clutter, although I am also an ex-librarian and it has to be organised clutter. I tend to know where things are, even if things aren’t quite in Dewey Decimal order. I thought I’d share with you a photo of my very cluttered work space just before I have a bit of a tidy.
My mind can be on about three different projects at once, and this is reflected in the guddle that is my desk. I also know what needs to be read/attended to/filed, it’s just getting round to doing it that’s the problem.
My messy workspace.
Can you spot:
Inspiration quotes and Guardian cartoons hiding the front cover of All the Places I’ve Ever Been;
Dictionaries and grammar books being held straight by Lewis’ chess pieces;
My new business cards for Beech Editorial Services;
My lovely blue sand hour glass, which amazed my teenage daughter as it actually runs for an hour. (She’s more used to egg timers). It’s meant to help me stay focused on the task in hand;
Catalogues that I have browsed through, but need to actually buy from if anyone is going to get anything for Christmas;
Books on Mary Queen of Scots and a printout on the Scottish Enlightenment;
At least four notebooks;
A Bakewell slice;
Files full of information and inspiration for the two novels I am currently working on;
Lots of stationery;
A pile of half-read Writing Magazines?
Amazingly there is no coffee cup (surely some mistake), and I’ve saved you the boxes of magazines and newspapers that hide under the desk, to be plundered for ideas at a later date. And that, really, is the point of all the clutter, to inform, to entertain, to inspire – I sound like the BBC. Organised chaos, basically, a bit like my mind…
Right, on with the de-clutter, I might be here a while.
Colette Coen 
Leave a comment