Why A Cluttered Desk is Keeping You from Writing

Is Your Desk Messy?

Life can get busy and when that happens your home can get messy. But not just your home, but your writing desk. A desk seems to be the catch all place for most people. I know I've throw my mail, trinkets, jewelry, office supplies, or important notes on it to deal with later. But then later comes and when I want to use my desk for writing, I can't. Here's why you should always have a clean desk.

A Cluttered Desk is a Cluttered Mind

Having a mess can be distracting. Instead of focusing on your story in front of you, you're seeing the mess you've created out of the corner of your eye. Anxiety can build and your thoughts can jumbled during the writing process. So instead of a nice clean written chapter, you have a mess of paragraphs that don't flow together or you've come up short on your word count for the day.

Can't Find Your Notes

If you are like most writers, we have sticky notes, or index cards, or even notebooks full of ideas and storylines. But when you have a messy desk, those things can be hard to come across. In fact, I know I've lost a few important pages because of this. Your notes and ideas are important so it's best to have those ready and all in one place instead of jumbled in with your recent birthday cards.

Taking Time Away

When inspiration strikes you should be able to sit down and write. But when you do you notice how messy your desk is and take anywhere from 10-15 minutes cleaning before finally sitting down. The inspiration that was there just minutes ago is now fading and writing can seem like a chore instead of something fun to work on. The time you had to write is now gone and you missed out on a good writing sprint that could have allowed anywhere from 500-100 new words added to your story.

Final Thoughts

It's so important in the writing process to have a clean and organized desk. If you can, put things away the moment you think about it so you don't have to waste your time cleaning or losing important scenes to your story. There are plenty of tutorials online now that can help you organize the desk of your dreams. Just go to Target if you need some containers to keep everything in one place. I promise your writing will improve when your desk is clean and ready the next time you go to write.

What do you keep on your desk and how do you organize it to help with your writing? Tell me in the comments below!