Behold the bliss of the messy office. The top photo is mine and the one below belongs to the writer Rosemary Graham. (Forgive me for not being able to supersize it.) For me, creativity comes out of chaos. My office is the size of bedroom, with two big windows, a couch for naps, more snow domes than I can handle, and various toys, including a one-legged Malibu Barbi and some vintage wooden monkeys. I'm not sure why I have two chairs, except one serves as a great catch-all for books and papers. Lots of books, some plants, photographs and oddities everywhere--and I love it.
At the one and only job job I ever held (a video corporation where I got to watch movies for a living and endure corporate culture the rest of the time), I was always criticized, and even denied a better raise because of my messy desk. I kept insisting if my desk were neat, I'd never be able to work.
True then. True now.
3 comments:
I'm so with you. Neat desk = empty mind.
No Clea, say it isn't so!! My desk is neat-ish...papers sure, but everything in its place. I can't focus otherwise.
And Caroline, I always love a spare chair...I have one in every room...for stacks...of things :)
I think how people work really varies and you have to respect what works for you. I once wrote an article for the Boston Globe about homework spaces--the article was about kids but I did talk to a bunch of teachers and psychologist type people who said that some kids work best in a busy atmosphere, in the kitchen, for example, amid the noise and confusion. Others work better in a quiet spot. Both are equally viable and worthy.
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