A poignant tableau of a writer’s first desk

After years of tabling an essential decision, a scribe stands up—and sets down her story

I bought my first piece of furniture.

It’s a simple, $39.99, faux-wood desk from Target.

Finally, a desk of my own.

For the past few years, I’ve been a writer without a desk. This has left me with two options:

As you might imagine, not a whole lot of writing gets done after I leave my desk here at Ragan.

When you’re living life without a desk, you learn how to treat writing spaces more effectively – not to mention creatively. I imagined that I was “living off the land,” like a modern-day Harriet the Spy. I’ve written on napkins at restaurants (a sure-fire way not to get asked out on a second date), at libraries, on trains, on buses, in cars, while standing up, at parks, in coffee shops, and on park benches.

I’ve been resisting buying a desk for years. Because I sit at a desk eight hours a day, I figured the last thing I needed was to buy furniture that would make me sit more.