Flaubert

"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work." - Gustave Flaubert

What. Did you think you could muck about in a pile of rubbish all day, tripping over yesterday's laundry and dirty dishes, then just stumble into le mot juste for that poem you're writing? Think again, mon petit chou-fleur! 

The modern writer may not need to keep their inkwell and parchment tidy, but our work spaces can still sometimes be a hopeless mess. At least mine can. I photographed my space to illustrate the point, but then I lost the photo under a pile of bills, sketches, post-it notes, and other bills.

Somewhere, in the mists of time, Flaubert is laughing.