Our 99th Tuesday Free Write together. What a pleasure it has been. I would also say there have been almost as many cups of tea, espresso and hot chocolate drunk. Each of the writers have their favorite brew.
There have been some groans as we discover the prompt, but we still pick up our pens and write for ten minutes. We share.
Sometimes we are in different countries and bless the internet so we can continue. This week's prompt was inspired by a photo of Albert Einstein's desk.
Rick's Free Write
This is not my desk.
It could be.
What looks like disorder is not. Not to me. I know, pretty much, where to find a certain piece of paper. Or book. Or pipe (under a paper most times. Even though I don’t smoke.)
I worked with a similar soul at a university publisher in South Carolina. George said his stacks of books and papers was not a filing system, it was a ‘piling system.’
In the rare times when I get (formally) ‘organized,’ everything in folders, all neatly aligned in a filing cabinet, I can’t find anything!
My ‘system’ tracks with the way I write. I like to assemble all my research notes, interview transcripts, URL links, etc. and totally immerse myself in the topic.
This requires everything to be on the desk within reach.
At the end of the project, I may collect the documents and file them away. Or not.
My wife is the polar opposite. OCD, at least for papers within sight. She has almost given up on reforming me, conceding my desk will always resemble a war zone.
By the way, my computer is much the same. Multiple tabs always open. File folders in semi-organized order. (At least the computer alphabetizes everything.)
Slob or Genius? Ask Albert.
D-L's Free Write
"Honey, while you're up can you get the data spread sheet from my desk?" Jim asked.
Julie sighed as she looked at the desk, not that she could see the desk under the piles of paper.
"It's near my phone."
"I can't see your phone." She moved some of papers.
"Don't move anything."
Julie didn't say anything. At first There were several Excel spread sheets. "Does it have a title?"
"No, but it's next to the article on data collection."
From Julie's position at Jim's desk, she could see into her office area and her desk was visible. On it was a laptop, one blue folder and a card with a list written in ink. She did that in case of a power shortage. All her files were backed up three times.
Jim let out a long sigh, stood up and walked over to the desk. His hand reached out and picked up the spread sheet he wanted. "See. It's right here. I don't understand why you couldn't find it."
Julie said nothing, but chanted her mantra under her breath. "He's a good man. I love him. Desk maintenance is not a reason for a divorce" over and over again.
Julia's Free Write
His desk, as usual, was submerged in papers and stuff. Over the years, he had learned though that if he tidied it, he couldn’t find a thing thereafter.
Amongst the papers were other objects, objects not necessarily found on a modern (read younger) person’s desk.
But even if he tried to not smoke, the pipe was comforting. The jar contained not tobacco, but his current favorite sweets – hiding there so that his secretary wouldn’t make remarks.
An old-fashioned clip board held the most important bits of his current task. One photo, curling at the edges was all he had in the way of clues.
“Life”* on the bottom of the frame was in direct apposition to his tasks: find the murderer.
Sherlock Holmes he wasn’t, but then again, his mom wasn’t really expecting him to explain the dead butterfly. His white shoes weren’t pristine anymore.
Notes:
*The word life was cut out of the prompt.
Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the top stories about the airline industry. He is the author of The Robot in the Simulator. AI in Aviation Training.
Visit D-L.'s website https://dlnelsonwriter.com, She is the author of 15 fiction and three non fiction books. Her 300 Unsung Women, bios of women who battled gender limitations, can be purchased at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/300-unsung-women-d-l-nelson/1147305797?ean=9798990385504
Visit Julia's blog. She has written and taken photos and loves syncing up with friends. Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/
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