If she cleans houses like she writes...

...I bet there's some beautifully clean houses around.

I LOVED Nancy Peacock's A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, & Life. It's just what it sounds like: essays by Peacock, who has also published two novels, about her double life spent cleaning houses for cash and writing fiction for her soul. I loved the way she described her pain-in-the-ass cleaning clients:

"The Ages house was a problem right off the bat. For one thing, Dr. Ages, recently retired and therefore home, was a prick. There is no other way to say it. He was a mean-spirited, tight power-tripper who used his money as a relationship tool. He also liked to take a poop and then leave it there for me." (p. 55.)

Literally, on so many levels, you could not make that shit up.

I also love the way she describes her writing;

"All of us have a certain amount of work we have to do to keep our lives afloat, and whatever work I choose to do, my writing life is there. Even with a room of my own, writing is not a separate enterprise. It is not a jewel I keep in a velvet box and take out only when conditions are perfect. Writing is more like the yellow rubber gloves I pull on every day. I need my gloves to keep my hands from getting too dry. And I need my writing to keep my life and my mind moist and supple." (p. 136.)

It's awesome. If you know a writer, or are a writer (ditto with housecleaning), get them this book. Immediately. Siupport this woman. We need more housecleaning authors, fewer James Pattersons and Jodi Picoults.

Comments

[Sarah]

The physical work helps to balance out the mental, and vice versa. I'm sure it's harder to balance the writing and the working lives (as opposed to shutting yourself up for months, a la Jonathan Franzen), but it's ultimately healthier.

[Citizen Reader]

I think you're right, Sarah. I still think the most common-sense, helpful thing I've read about fighting depression was by the woman who wrote "Get It Done when You're Depressed" (Julie Fast): it only takes 20 minutes to clean a bathroom. Keeps you busy, distracts you, gives you feeling of accomplishment.

I sometimes forget this because I have such an adversarial relationship with cleaning. (High tolerance for filth + laziness = hatred of cleaning.) But I do like movement. I always liked that about circ at the library, as opposed to reference, which is more sitting around. Boo. If only everyone had more of a chance to mix up the physical and mental in our jobs--what a wonderful world it would be!

Does Jonathan Franzen shut himself up for months?