Meanwhile in the Dumpster...

Here's a photo of the Dumpster Office of Doom that shows real improvement!

I now have a desk. With a phone. And a lamp. There's still a mass of stuff to sort and get rid of, but it's sort of homey and more comfortable in there. I have a basket chair to sit in, with a proper back rest and a lovely purple velour seat cushion on order, as well as a pink faux suede footstool. I'm starting to go in there to eat lunch and read, as well as to shred paper and decide what to throw away. Haven't really worked, as such, in there yet, but I'm moving towards that.

I think when I make some more significant progress in the clearing out, and possibly get rid of a huge table that's still in there, and replace it with something smaller, I might indulge in a comfy office/gaming/recliner type chair too. I've bookmarked a few likely ones on Amazon.

Writing progress is still very stately. I don't have the attention span and focus I used to have [and I didn't have much at the the best of times] so my word count, though daily, is very modest. I'm still working on Her Lover's Secret, filling in the gaps I left in the first draft. I wish I could write faster. I wish I could spend more hours a day on it. But I just can't, at the moment. So I plug on at a very steady rate, and hope for the best.

The Dumpster Office of Doom

Well, here it is, The Dumpster Office of Doom!

I'm sure you'll all think this is a 'before' picture, but it's actually taken just now. LOL I'd estimate about 50% of the 'stuff' has gone, but as you can see, the task ahead is still monumental. Even when I've got rid of as much as I can, arranging what remains in a usable fashion is still quite a job.

But, having said that, this room has been accumulating books, paper, DVDs, CDs and all manner of other crud for around 30 years now, so it was never going to be an endeavour achieved overnight to sort it out.

But I'm getting there! :)

ps. Back in 2010, I said I was going to sort this disaster out... but it's taken me this long to do something!

http://wendyportia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/dumpster-office-of-doom.html

Update

For everyone wondering what I'm up to...

Yes, I am writing. But I've had to put aside the WIP I was working on. Again. Even though I love the characters and their story, and have introduced some really fun elements, there are some aspects of the story that I just don't seem to be able to write well at the moment, so I'm giving myself a rest from it. Another rest.

I'm sure that mojo will come back in its own good time, but for the moment I'm tinkering with a different story. One that I'm really writing just for fun, as an experiment and to keep the writing muscle exercised. I refer to it as 'thing' and I'm not really sure what genre it is, and I'm not sure I'll ever publish it. It certainly would never be accepted by a publisher, as it's not commercial or in a hot category. If pressed, I'd say it's sort of romance, but with a side of very light women's fiction. It's just a 'thing'. :)

At the moment, I'm enjoying 'thing' and just puttering along, writing a few hundred words a day in this new world. Which is better than not writing at all, as I did on my recent 'hiatus'.

In other news, I like to think I'm being creative in another way. For a long time, I've talked online about the Dumpster Office of Doom, my office which turned into an episode of Hoarders, more or less. Well, I finally decided to do something about it. I mean, really do something rather than pick at the edges of the horrible mess of books and papers and general crap. I've been filling black rubbish bags, and bags of books/bric a brac etc to send to charity, and bags of paper to recycle. I've also bought a swishy new shredder, which is doing sterling service with the more sensitive stuff ie stuff with addresses and drafts of copyrighted work.

And I'm really making progress! I can see huge areas of floor that haven't been visible for at least 10 years! I got rid of one of the 3 large tables that were taking up space, and I'm roaring through the heaps of paper and magazines and whatnot. I'd estimate I've maybe done 40% of the job so far, and my goal is to reclaim the office as a usable space by the end of 2016. It's very tiring work, especially for an oldie like me, who also has fibromyalgia and some arthritis. But it's like the writing. A little bit of meaningful work each day on the task will get me to my goal eventually. :)

I'm also keeping up with my Mini Habits of reading each day, and journaling each day, and I'm delighted to say that my calendar with glittery stars for each achievement has never been lacking. I've always been able to stick on my full quota of stars each day. I've also added a new 'habit' of one promotional/online presence thing per day. It doesn't matter if it's the tiniest, most unobtrusive item, maybe just one Tweet, but it's just a way to let people know I'm still around, and even if I'm not publishing much, I'm still working towards it, in my own way.

This blog post is today's promo/presence 'habit'. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Dumpster Office of Doom

[It's far, far worse than this now!]

People who know me know that my office is an uninhabitable, unimaginable pit full of clutter, crap and the detritus of a thirty plus year career of total irrational hoarding. It's bad. And it just seems to get worse... and not always down to me. Certain home improvements have impacted unfavourably on my office and created an even greater disaster zone of books and paper and 'stuff' recently.

And today, this is getting me down more than ever, because himself is sorting *his* office out and has lots of space, can move, and can find what he wants. Which makes me very envious, even though I know my predicament is mostly [well, completely] of my own making. Sigh...

Something needs to be done, but I think I can't really tackle it until I get the first draft of IN THE FLESH done, something I intend to complete by the end of April, with luck. But when that time comes, I'm going to take action. I'm going to have to be stern with myself over things like magazines, and set a date before which everything will be thrown away, with no exceptions. I've always found it hard to let go of such things as books, magazines and VHS tapes, my thinking being that one day, I might need something I've read or watched as research or background for my books. Not being a person who's travelled much or done much in the way of exciting jobs, I depend on research materials a lot, to supplement a vivid imagination and a sort of 'empathy' for other lives and times and situations... But I started all this hoarding long before I had access to the internet, and now, my first port of call for research/background is the web, where I can usually find much, much more information, and probably better, than I might have gleaned from an old magazine article or a book I read years ago....

So, come the merry month of May, I'll be starting the long, long project to restore my office to the state of... well... and office. And that, I suppose, is my greatest, belated, New Year's Resolution. Wish me luck...

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Eating: chocolate finger biscuits
Watching: snooker
Reading: Daily Life in a Victorian House - Laura Wilson [excellent children's book]
Writing: nothing yet
Feeling: completely fed up and frustrated by Dumpster Office of Doom