If you’re like me, you don’t keep a very neat workspace. I like to have the things I need (dictionaries, highlighters, file folder, etc.) within arms-length of me. Unfortunately this leads to a lot of clutter as I find I need so many resources during the course of my day. I also don’t have a lot of room for bookshelves, so I have more books than space to keep them, and this inevitably leads me to stack them on the floor. Adding to the fact that I am a slob is that my writing space is my bedroom, so I also have things like dumbbells on the floor, shoes and such laying around. In other words, my writing space is a cluttered firetrap. A horrible death scene waiting to happen. Yes, this uncomfortable thought came to me early this morning — 3 a.m. and I was still up working on my NanoWriMo novel. I got out of my chair and stretched and headed towards the bathroom to take a leak and tripped on a pair of walking shoes. Luckily, the wall was there to break my fall or I’d have surely broken my neck.
It was right then that I started to think about safety. Little things I could do to improve my working environment. It doesn’t even require expensive safety products, just some common sense.
1. Don’t put things in the middle of the floor. Likewise don’t obstruct heating vents.
2. Return books to shelves if you have shelves. If not at least stack them neatly and out of the way (preferably not in front of heating vents and radiators.
3. Have a working smoke detector and fire extinguisher handy.
4. Use surge protectors.
And finally,
5. Take out the trash at regular intervals and shower while you’re at it. Yeah, I know, when you’re hard at work, sometimes you live at your desk, but if you’ve been chained there for 40 days and 40 nights and have accumulated a nasty collection of whiskey bottles, Starbucks cups and started to grow mold around your ears, it’s time to clean house.
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