Author Life - Under an Avalanche of Stuff

I have a confession...I'm a Virgo. Yes, it's true and there's no changing it. I also admit I'm one of those Virgo's who's true to the descriptions you read therefore, I don't function at my optimum when people, things, and everything else I think I should be able to control is disorganized or messy. After a writing week where I struggled to make sense of what to put on the page and where to go from here I'd had enough.  

Even my characters, Mercedes, Zane and Ash seemed to be affected by our surroundings and I ended up saying things to them like... I know you told me that before and I wrote it down but I just can't seem to find where I put it. 

Frustration was the word of the week and something had to give. 

Eventually it was me and I took a break to clean up the mess that had become my work area. It was a slow accumulation over a period of months and I kept telling my self I'd sort everything out later, later never came. 

Now I know some of you may look at the pictures and say, that's not messy. I'll keep my response to that simple...VIRGO.

I knew under the reams of papers that I had a printer, a diary, my plot, research and scene ideas for the book. I also have to admit my mail from the last three weeks or so lurked in and around the chaos. As did my new personal recorder that friends had given to me so I could record plot ideas or a scene on if I was out or woke up in bed in the middle of the night and didn't want to turn on the computer. I can speak the story and then type it up later. It's brilliant. I definitely needed to find that. I could see the empty box, even the instructions for it were visible in the mess, the slimline device wasn't. At some stage over the weekend, I'd also managed to bury my mobile somewhere in the clutter. 

So I began. My methodical Virgo brain knowing exactly where to start. Put the purple bra away. That, of course, led to me sorting out all my clothes and repacking my drawers and wardrobe. I now have a nice bag of clothes for the thrift store. Avoidance behavior I hear you say. Au contraire, mon ami, the bra HAD been put away, along with the jeans and a couple of tops strewn over furniture. I was an hour into it and I'd effectively moved three items, I was on a roll...lol.

After about 4 hours of putting things away, opening and dealing with mail (oops), filing and completing a few other unfinished tasks, I looked at my new well organized space and smiled with contentment. Order restored. I found the voice recorder, mobile phone and external hard drive that I knew had to be somewhere, along with four coasters that I thought had been lost forever. I also confirmed that under the mess I did indeed have a printer. 

With life now back in order, I'm ready for my new work week. I just have one final thing to do today and I bet you can't guess what it is... the picture below might give you a little hint at what it is.