The Clean Office

I should have taken a 'before' photo so that you could first see the chaos that was my office these past months: piles of papers, piles of books, piles of notes.  Towering piles. Toppling piles.  Piles from Switzerland. From England. From the States.

In any case, here is the 'after'--after cleaning, purging, ruthlessly tossing or filing:

And my favorite cabinet, with doors that now close:

After a few months away from a manuscript, I'm preparing to return to it, and this is part of the ritual: clear the decks, re-establish order, realign the brain!  

And while I'm in the office, here are a few of my favorite things.  First, I love these Jill Bliss notebooks:

The larger one is 5 x 7" and the smaller one is 4 x 5-1/2". The pages are smooth and inviting, either unlined or graph-i-cal (block paper, graph paper, you know what I mean?)  I use them to jot notes, titles, names, phrases. Sometimes I include favorite cartoons (lots of Harry Bliss ones). When I'm on the phone, I doodle in them or color the images.   

And then there are the pens and markers. My weakness. Alas. Here are some:

In another life, I would like to be an illustrator, one with much more talent than I now possess.

But: the office is clean, the desk is clear:  bring on the manuscript!

Your View, 23 May, 2009

After posting yesterday's bit about the view from my office, I wondered what you all were seeing from your windows.  Will you describe or send a photo please?  Above is view from a second window in my office.  Can you make out what is on the window ledge?