Finding Excuses Not to Write
I’m having my very own Field Of Dreams experience in my life right now. Seeing as how studies have shown that using your computer in bed decreases sleep quality and that I cannot write in my living room because Bravo will distract me, I’m in the midst of a “if I find the perfect desk, the writing will come” conundrum.
It’s not that I fully believe that just getting the write desk will magically turn me into a female Tom Robbins of sorts, it’s just that I have a very hard time writing in a space that is not designated for writing. If I’m in bed, I get sleepy. If I’m in the living room, I end up watching tv. If I set up my laptop in the dining room, the only in our house with a decent writing surface, I find myself taking a “pre-writing snack break.” I swear, that scene in Adaptation where Nicola Cage tries to write but ends up thinking about muffins is all too real to me.
I have been meaning to write. Unfortunately, I always seem to find a way out of it. I’m busy with school or I’m busy with work. Or, mostly, I’m busy watching reruns of crappy reality shows on Bravo. If I love writing as much as I claim to – why can I never seem to force myself to sit down and do it?
As of this writing, my newest excuse (reason?) as to why I keep postponing writing is that I don’t have a desk. Not just any desk – the right desk. This is a crucial distinction to make because as someone who is very influenced and affected by her surroundings I can’t just pick any old desk.
I have been searching – on Craigslist, in vintage stores, by dumpsters, in Goodwill etc – for a month now. It’s not that I haven’t found perfectly decent desks; I just haven’t found The One. Oh, also I do not have a truck so there’s no way to transport it.
The reason I can’t write, you see, is because of the desk. That magical piece of furniture which can seemingly, in my mind at least, facilitate the writing process and let the linguistic floodgates open. I basically have the mentality of “If I find the desk, it will come.” “It” being the ability to craft a sentence or even a whole paragraph!
This coming weekend I will one more begin my quest for the mythical Desk of Writing which potentially only exists in my imagination. The only thing that worries me more than not finding the perfect desk is actually finding it because then I’ll be plum out of bullshit excuses as to why I’m not writing.
