Writer Junk
June 11th, 2008 at 11:43 am by --KALEB NATION--
You wouldn’t believe all the junk we writers keep around. It’s not that we particularly have more things than most people, it’s just that writers always seem to have more pressing things to do than keep their humble abodes clean, such as getting an overdue manuscript in, scratching out 4,000 words on some draft, rewriting a scene where everyone has green hair, etc. The unimportant things in life such as eating, sleeping, and keeping our living conditions up to par with health and safety inspections just fall to the floor.
I decided it was high time, whilst awaiting the revisions from my editor, to give my room a good solid cleaning. After all, I’ve lived here for six months and as you can see, there’s still loads of things in boxes. The reason for this is that the moment I got here I immediately hopped on Youtube and haven’t pulled myself from it since. Oh, and there was that book deal thing. And the college thing. But after I went to my Big Junk Drawer and couldn’t find my box of favorite pens, I realized that I was living as messy as Ernie, and something had to be done about it.
Anyhow, I got set on cleaning stuff out. Writers have a thing with pens, paper and notebooks. I have boxes and filing cabinets filled with them. I can understand that, but what I don’t understand is why I need 43 sales receipts from various stores stuffed in my dresser drawers. It’s not like I don’t have stacks of free note pads lying around from college salesmen (college salesmen are those folks that come around campus trying to get you to pay more fees for learning overseas, special classes, new computers, etc, and love handing free stuff out). My junk drawer in particular had grown out of hand:
Yes, that is a cassette tape. No, I didn’t throw it away.
Whilst cleaning, I realized that when I come in, I always drop all my change into the drawer and forget about it. Imagine my surprise when I pulled all the junk out to find this at the bottom:
I felt like Ali Baba stumbling upon the treasury of the forty thieves. Then, I found something else stuck between the lid of a box:
I can’t imagine how it could have gotten lost in the drawer. Maybe I should start cleaning things out a little more often…
Posted in About Me, College
Tags: Bert, Cleaning, Drawer, Ernie, Junk, Money, Sesame Street, Stuff, Writers
June 11th, 2008 at 11:59 am
hmmm…..i should clean out my stuff.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I just love it when I’m cleaning something out and find money that I forgot about. Or when I stick my hand into a pocket of hand-me-downs or garage sale finds and realize that someone forgot to take some money out…
June 11th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Oh, btw, Kaleb, if the Lasagna Burglar happens to read this blog, he now knows that you have some green stuff that could buy a lot of lasagna.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Don’t worry Cat, I promptly went and spent it on more writer junk :p
June 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Now the burglar knows where to look besides the freezer.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I’m kind of a writer too, I mean I write a ton in my spare time and would love to be published, so I completely know what you mean with all the pens and notebooks all over the place. Even when I do clean I find more of the the next day or something. I agree, it’s bizzare how much stuff can accumulate.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I love how you add pictures to your posts!
June 11th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Heh! That happens to me, too. I go and clean up my room and find spare change and money randomly floating around. It’s nice!
June 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
HaHa. Its like my cousins car. We cleaned it out and found over 50 bucks in change.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I love finding oodles of money I had forgotten about. I realized I have way more change than I thought. BTW, I have gone a year without being fully unpacked. One of these years I’ll actually finish unpacking.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Kaleb! In the midst of cleaning my own disgustingly messy room I decided to take a break and read up on some blogging. This entry had tears streaming down my face, it was so funny to me, as I am literally and figuratively in the exact same boat. It all started when I couldn’t find my pens… even as I write this I am chuckling!! Thanks for the comic relief, my friend, albiet unintentional!!
June 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I think it’s a human thing not just a writer’s thing. Cause I have a junk desk and a couple junk cabinets and yearly clean them whether they need it or not;-)
June 11th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
[...] the usual post-less Sundays. It gives me a chance to answer email and get caught up on things, like cleaning out my writer-junk or studying for exams. But never fear: I’m back, and with me are The [...]
June 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am
I also think us writers have an obsession with taking pictures of our messy abodes (yes, abodes).
Examples!
Pictures of my Dorm freshman Year:
1. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Aeternus_Sanguis/DSC00445.jpg
I was obviously a very healthy eater… with my Hot Cheetos and Pizza.
2. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Aeternus_Sanguis/DSC00448.jpg
I still had boxes… and that was towards the end of the year. Also sleep overs involve pulling all the cushions off the couch to make a bed for my guests.
3. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Aeternus_Sanguis/DSC00450.jpg
I have a bad habit of half drinking drinks… and not throwing them away.
4. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Aeternus_Sanguis/DSC00453.jpg
And despite the mess what did I do? Stopped to pose for a very unattractive picture with one of my copies of Twilight.
What silly creatures we are.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I totally know what you mean about the writer’s pen. Each of my stories have their own pen. My current story, I cannot write without my purple pen and unless it’s on college rule paper. I also have a million unused notebooks in my room that I just can’t seem to get rid of. And that’s the only thing I have in my room that’s unbearable. I just cleaned it out the other day (happy dance) so now I don’t have to worry about it!!! Hip Hip, Horray!!!
June 12th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I recently cleaned my room and LOST $50
thats not supposed to happen
Hmmm… Kaleb, how did my $50 end up in your junk drawer, along with the $2 my dad owes me?!
lol
omg I have a desk piled sky high of notebooks, pencils, pens, books, notecards, and various other things to write on/with. Its nuts! Haha
June 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
To tell you the truth, i want to be a writer, I don’t know where to start though. I have an idea in mind and i can’t seem to get it interesting enough. Maybe im not a writer, but i do find myself cleaning out my room and finding where all the pens and pencils and paper went. The handfuls of extras… not to mention the humongous pile of notebooks scribbled in with all my ideas for awsome books. Oh and the not so occasional pieces of paper strung around with also the scribbling in. What do you think is important in a book Kaleb?? Can you help me?? Writers block!!!
June 13th, 2008 at 3:59 am
hm … im kinda like a writer in training, but i already have that addiction to pens and paper. when i was younger and my mum needed a pen, all she had to do was go looking through my drawers and she’d find near 20 of them. we’d get a new pack of pens every week, and theyd be gone within a day or two…
June 13th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Yeah, I’m an aspiring writer and my junk just gets out of hand… Occasionally, I’ll take a break from writing (and the internet) to purge it. I usually find money, as well.
June 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Looks like it’s time for a book burning! I mean junk burning…
June 16th, 2008 at 12:04 am
You definitely should clean up more. There might be more money hiding somewhere there…oOo..
June 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Wow, you should clean more often haha. Spare money!
I noticed in one of you pictures a flip video camera bag (It’s just one of those odd things I notice that everyone will think i’m a psycho for) What color is your flip camera? And if you use it for making you’re youtube videos, I’m not giving mine enough justice, because you’re videos have really good picture quality haha.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am
I’m quite late on this, but perhaps getting a cliched giant piggy bank is the answer (instead of the drawer). My giant piggy bank is a giant coke can almost completely full. Just make sure it’s out of the way so you aren’t tempted to spend…