It always feels good to have a tidy home. I love an ordered environment, but it is sometimes incompatible with family life - unless you want to drive yourself to distraction by obsessing over every little object out of place or go around with a white glove looking for each speck of dust. Honestly, with three kids I have had to learn to ignore some of the chaos in order to accomplish the necessary writing.
I have actually learned to be creative in the midst of the frenetic pace of family life and I find that sometimes it helps to just allow the laws of entropy to invade my domestic sphere. I mean check out Einstein's Desk on the day he died:
This picture brings me some solace - not that I am anything like Einstein - but I think it reveals something about a creative mind that can layer and rearrange, move beyond boundaries and still keep a personal focus.
So, today I will make my bed and switch the obligatory load of laundry and think about what to make for dinner so that my family won't go naked or hungry, but don't count on my desk remaining ordered for very long . . .
Today starts Chapter 5 - Only Chapter 5 and Chapter 3 left to write. Yes, even my chapters are out of order! I won't begin by opening a computer file. Instead I will start with my favorite clean slate - a clean sheet of lined paper and a pen.
These tangible objects are old school, but I always start this way - something about a direct connection between the brain and the hand. Judging by the notebooks on Einstein's desk (granted, he wasn't working with my awesome Mac) this mightn't be a bad way to start!
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