Thanks Natalie Goldberg

Thank heavens for Natalie Goldberg. Whenever I feel stymied about my writing, I turn to her marvelous book Writing Down the Bones, for writing ideas or just for inspiration. She understands me. So well, in fact, that I might wonder if she's been following me around these past few years.

Take today for example. I'm feeling all guilty and annoyed at myself for not writing these past few weeks (I did write a little, but a pitifully small amount) and I have only a few minutes before I have to go pick up the kids. But I tell myself, just write for five minutes and you'll be happy.

For a quick jump-start, I pick up Natalie and turn to a page I folded back a few months ago. She's talking about writing spaces, and how people get obsessed over their writing space and try to make it perfect and spend all this time redecorating when all they really need is a comfy chair and a pen. She talks about the disaster area that constitutes a good writing space and it sounds suspiciously like my own. Papers all over the floor. Unanswered mail. A 1/2 cup of coffee from three days ago. A broken watch even! (For those uninitiated into the wisdom of Natalie Goldberg, she describes a writing space with a watch with a broken second hand lying on the floor. The watch in my writing space doesn't run at all, and the velcro on the wristband doesn't stick.)

Truly, one of the things that hangs me up is that I can barely walk in the room where I want to write. The Wreck of the Hesperus, my mother would call it. But I am redeemed by Natalie. She says the following: "A little apparent disorder is an indication of the fertility of the mind and someone that is actively creating. A perfect studio has always told me that the person is afraid of his own mind and is reflecting in his outward space an inward need for control. Creativity is just the opposite: it is a loss of control."

Take that!, all you perfect suburban housewives with your perfectly made beds and no clutter on your kitchen counters! I'm way too creative to bother with a few dishes and a pile of unwashed socks!

So thanks Natalie Goldberg, for coming to my rescue today. I did my writing and my blogging, and now I can tend to the more mundane but necessary tasks that await.