Is it Trash Day?

New York City Department of Sanitation

New York City Department of Sanitation (Photo credit: BriYYZ)

This is what I’d like, a battalion of garbage trucks for me to toss everything in my apartment and start fresh.

Been home for several days with sick Flower Child; raw, damp, and gray outside. Can you say aargh? A couple of days ago I was “good,” used the time at home to do some overdue sorting and cleaning. Clearly, the best use of my time yesterday was to spend hours online, cyber-shopping and buying imaginary furniture for my imaginary house. Don’t think I’m not practical, I made sure to only look at couches that will fit in my current apartment in the meantime. In varying shades of cream and beige, to really play up the dog hair and paw prints that will make it mine.

All this led me to varying blogs and websites dedicated to decorating small spaces, making them chic and practical.  I don’t have this talent. Many do, and I don’t think it’s about money.  I’ve been to some homes where the owner has plenty of money, but it still looks like those dump trucks are waiting at the corner. Others where the owner/renter has very little money, but a great sense of style and organization that allows the space to look and feel great when you walk through the door. I wish the latter was me, but it isn’t.

Women nest at different times. Me? I nest early in a writing phase. I’ve heard a lot of writers talk about this phenomenon, referencing it as a procrastination tactic.  I see how it can be. But for myself, it gives me a reason to pace while I’m creating scenes, lets me think about what type of home my protagonist lives in. Maybe it’s easier to lose my head in the characters’ lives when I’ve got a little real life elbow room.

Snake Attacks Bird Nest

Snake Attacks Bird Nest (Photo credit: johnynek)

I don’t know, maybe it’s because I know if I really get going, the housework completely falls down on the priority list. Usually long before the sorting and organization are finished.

At the moment though, I’m imagining a tasteful and elegant home, with a clearly defined space for me to work in. Preferably an enclosed porch type thing, with lots of glass and screens and light. In the Florida Keys. Somewhere like that.  But not here, tucked into the corner of my ratty blue couch, laptop balanced on the sinking arm, stinky from the rain Little Incredibly Dumb dog pressed against me.

I’m going to take up cigars and fishing, since I apparently fantasize about being Hemingway.

 

Ernest Hemingway House, Key West, Florida

Ernest Hemingway House, Key West, Florida (Photo credit: Mat McDermott)

 

 

34 comments

  1. Soooooo relate. I have trouble getting started writing (not fun stuff, school stuff) until every room in the house is clean…all the way down to using Q-tips in each crevice.

    This used to work for me–before I was outnumbered by children. Now I sit and rock and flap my hands. And don’t finish. Anything.

    P.S. apartmenttherapy.com and designsponge.com have sucked away many hours of my life.

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    1. I never get it all finished before I get writing. I want to, I mean to, but then the laptop feels so warm and cozy, while the dirty fridge is cold and scary 😉

      I’m pretty sure I found apartmenttherapy yesterday, I’ll have to look at designsponge, thanks 🙂

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  3. I do so enjoy following along here Mrs. F. I do not know anything about writing, or what it takes to become one…but I do know if you ever do get a book published, I’d sure buy it- no matter what the subject. I can see, hear and feel what you write in a very real way. Until quite recently reading was never a pleasure- always seemed a chore ( stemming from my pure hatred of school methinks ) Thankfully that has changed. This little blog takes me places I’ve never been and I hope it takes you where you would like to be. ❤

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    1. Thank you Richie. The absolute truth is that knowing people are reading, the comments and discussion that follow posts, are what keep me writing. ❤

      And I'll tell you a secret, I hated school too. 😛

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  4. I’m not a writer and I still find plenty of reasons to avoid the cold scary fridge once I stick the milk and butter left from breakfast back in there. 😉 I would defnitely love that fleet of garbage trucks sent my way once you are done with them. The whole thought of starting fresh sounds lovely here, both literally and figuratively.

    Sometimes the literal, physical changes can help motivate you make more- or at least validate/serve as representation- of the more internal changes you may want to make in your life, too.

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    1. I think that’s what it’s really about, the illusion of starting fresh. Cause you never really can, once you’ve got grown up responsibilities.

      It’s making the changes we can, striving to make peace with those we can’t.

      I’ll send the trucks your way next Tuesday, this is gonna take a while 😉

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  6. The Florida keys would do me just fine about now. 🙂 As a child in Cyprus we had such a porch, made of marble slabs and pillars, vines growing in the gaps. I ate my breakfast there listening to the crickets chirping. I have never really got over it’s loss. 🙂

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      1. It was on an army base, odd misplaced colonial buildings 🙂 Cyprus is nice in a different way. Try pissouri. I was there this summer 🙂

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  9. I nest at the beginning of a big project. I like not having to worry about cleaning up for a while. Looking at my kitchen right now I think it’s probably time for a big project:)

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  10. I too can relate to the nesting instinct and having a clean-up before starting on a project. Then somehow – once everything is neat and tidy – it frees you and gives you ‘permission’ to be completely indulgent for a little while on that project…….. and let everything ‘housework’ lapse again without guilt.

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    1. Wow, I typed a comment, and it disappeared before I hit reply.

      My question is, why do we need to give ourselves permission before starting a project? Hmmm.

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  12. Sometimes cleaning (a mundane task) allows me to think creatively. I’m no designer either and I’ve also seen places that look awesome with items that are old, reworked or not even that pretty by themselves…wish one of those designer folks would come fix my place!

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  13. You would have loved the cabin in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains where we stayed last week. Porch on 3 sides of the house with a noisy creek running past, balcony on the front & back on the second floor & lots of windows to view the woods, mountains & water. Since it was a rental, it was neat & tidy with matching everything very tastefully done in log cabin style. It would be very easy to get creative in a spot like that. No need to go all the way to Key West where the tourists would distract you.

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  14. Pingback: Not So Shiny Anymore « mrsfringe

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