If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2026)

‘‘I sit this morning at my desk, like writers long before me, trying to decide to read or to write, or to simply sit here, staring at the page’ … A Poet’s Journey (2026) Image © Dreamstime 2026

After delightful and thought-provoking visits to Brazil and (separately) to Paris in May/June this year,¹ it was a pleasure also to return home. Both Tony and I had to deal immediately with massive email mountains of business that had been postponed while we were overseas. And we both had writing commitments to complete to urgent deadlines.

So it was back to the writing-desk. That destination would not be such fun, if that was all that we had to do, year-in, year-out. But, after a period of travel, it was positively soothing to be back at one’s personal grindstone.

Bob Metevier’s poem, A Poet’s Journey (quoted above) catches the open-endedness of sitting at one’s desk. Should the next task be to read? Or to write? Or simply to sit, staring at the blank page (or screen, in today’s technology)??

Over the years, I have known all three of those responses. Once (many years ago) I had a bad period of writer’s block, which really unnerved me. However, I am pleased to record that, since then, I have learned to sustain a regular flow of research-plus-writing. So these days I don’t simply sit and stare at a blank screen.

One secret for sustaining my writing productivity is to be happy with one’s desk-space. It can be utterly depressing if the desk is located in a room that one dislikes, and is kept in a state that makes one feel uncomfortable.

My desk-space is therefore personally organised to suit my preferences. I keep the main writing desk scrupulously tidy. (Each to his or her own!) And, close at hand, I have a large work-table, where I can stack all my working papers, notes and books – as tidily or untidily as I please. Then to focus my attention at the start of each work session, I place on the writing desk all the relevant documentation for the immediate task in hand. That way, I know my priorities – and I stick with them.

A further element that greatly improved my working environment was organised a few years ago when my eyesight considerably worsened. My desk and keyboard are located in front of a fairly big window. Hence the light coming into the room was constantly varying, as the sun rose and set, while clouds hurried or crawled across the sky. Increasingly, however, my deteriorating eye-sight was being disturbed by the ever-fluctuating light.

To remedy matters, I got a handyman to install a dark blind across the window and a low-hanging light directly above the desk. That way, I sit and work in a little pool of constant lighting. It’s great for my concentration.

I can therefore record that I daily sit happily at my desk. It would not be so much fun if that was all I had to do in life. But it’s not. It’s something that I freely choose to do, amidst my other commitments. And I cross my fingers that the writing muse will long stay with me, as I sit each morning at my desk …

ENDNOTES:

¹ For further details, see PJC BLOG/185 (July 2026).

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