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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

That's Disgusting

"So phobic was her reaction to domesticity that she would rather have starved before boiling herself an egg."


Biographer Marion Meade on Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell is This?



Around me as I write are dusty piles of books and furry layers of dust; on my floor, hair and pollen, plus old boxes that need to be put out in recycling. In my purse are broken sunglasses; on the table is a pair of winter pants I've intended to bring to the dry cleaners for three months; and in my shower is black-orange mold that laughs daily at my can of Comet and idle threats. 


But I'm over 130 pages in to what looks, feels, sounds, smells, and tastes like a new story. I couldn't tell you for sure; I'm somewhat addled by dust that fills my senses like smog. 


I'm no Dorothy Parker; not only do I lack caustic wit but I actually enjoy scrubbing things down and making things beautiful. I believe environment, energy, and feng shui matter. My office is blessed with soothing colors--sage green, soft orange--and I enjoy inspirational posters, artwork, and a soft chair when writing at a desk no longer works. But the cobwebs, and that mysterious bug that's hung from the ceiling, and those tumbleweeds of cat hair? They somewhat dim the shine of this well-arranged room.


But my head is down and my senses are deep in the alternate universe I build. 


Occasionally I go on a cleaning spree. When a book is done, when a goal is met, things get scrubbed. Till then, I trust my nose has great filters and the body, a strong immune system. 


Just don't tell my mother.

4 comments:

Hope Clark said...

OMG, this is SO me!!! I clean when I know someone is coming, and since I live out in the country, I usually have advance notice. Nobody drops in. So I get away with it! LOL

But I so get this. My curtains are dusty - haven't been cleaned in 5 years, but hey, my story is coming along fine. Yay for writers.

Hope

www.chopeclark.com
www.fundsforwriters.com

Lyn Fairchild Hawks said...

Hear, hear for the writer's wilderness retreat...we're lucky we're undercover of many trees, too.

We keep on keepin' on. Let the stories unfold!

Delia DeCourcy said...

I love this post--that you admit to the mold growing in your shower and that the cleanliness of your house suffers because your writing is thriving. There should be grant funds available for writers to hire cleaning people. :)

Lyn Fairchild Hawks said...

Brilliant idea, Delia. If I become fabulously wealthy any time this century, I will start the Writers' Mold Removal Foundation!