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Mar 7, 2012

Finding the Write Space II

I am taking a poetic images course this quarter. So far, the course has focused on space as a poetic image. We have been contemplating the images of houses, nests, shells, and drawers/chests. (See The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard). But the chapter and focus that really has held my attention is the concept of a corner. He writes "...every corner in a house, every angle in a room, every inch of secluded space in which we like to hide, or withdraw into ourselves, is a symbol of solitude for the imagination". Exactly! I needed my space to be a symbol of solitude for my imagination. My writing space needed to be a corner.

I selected our office. It needed the most help and had the most potential. I moved the chair and ottoman to a different corner. I got rid of the kind of stuff I really don't need and rearranged the computer desk to be away from my writing space. My own little corner. Away from the distractions of technology and near the window where I could stare outside and day dream. I found a small writing table and put it my corner. Then I placed on top of it a lamp, my journals and a cup of pens. I took the chair from my son's room and voila, I had my writing corner. My space to write.

What I found though is that it took about two weeks for the piles of papers, mail, and additional items to clutter the small desktop. My corner became unusable. How did this happen? Was it effort that I was lacking? Perhaps organization? No, that was not it. I continued to write in my journal and write for class. What is lacking is time. There is always something else to do, someone else that needs me, or some event that needs to be handled. Thus, my corner sits piled high with things that keep me away. It seems that it isn't only the physical corner I needed to establish. It is my own corner of time that will require the real commitment. 


3 comments:

  1. So, how are you going to go about getting that time? I know at work when this kind of activity overtakes me and I'm not getting anything done, I end up reserving time-slots in my calendar to do "real" work. Can you do the same thing? Reserve certain times of the day or week for writing (or day dreaming) that you don't violate?

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  2. I think that really is the question. At what point do I allow my role as writer the same priority that I give to my roles as mother, daughter, partner, and worker.

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  3. Hmmm, it will never be and should not be the same priority as those other things (well maybe worker). But, you know as well as I do that you have to timeshare multiple competing tasks. If we only did things by priority, we would parent and nothing else. Even if this is way lower in priority, it may deserve a small fraction of your time...
    Just my 2 cents of course.

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