My mobile office

This great bag is my mobile office.

It has been sitting in my wardrobe for a long time, holding odds and ends like pieces of fabric and abandoned knitting projects (I keep trying to knit, forgetting that it’s the knitted result I like, not the knitting). When I finally said goodbye to the unfinished projects and saw the bag empty, I remembered how much I liked it.

At the same time, I was craving a bit more ease and order in my writing and working life. My daytimes are mostly spent working and playing with my children. But windows of opportunity to write always present themselves. An hour (or maybe ten minutes) can open up when everyone is busy and no-one needs me, especially as the kids get older.

I have a lovely old writing desk in my bedroom, and I do use it regularly. But for the most part I work and write wherever I am, in whatever time I have. The problem with this was that everything was spread around different places—the kitchen bench, the dining room, my desk, bedside table, handbag, and car! It was frustrating to sit down with my notebook, knowing I might not have long, only to find I then needed my laptop, research notes, a book I’ve been reading, my camera, or my planner.

Enter, The Bag.

I now keep everything in this bag, and I only ever have to make one trip. It goes with me to my bedroom if I’m having a post-lunch rest. It sits by the kitchen bench when I’m cooking tea. If I head out early morning to write before my husband leaves for work, the bag comes with. As the weather gets warmer and the ground dries out, it will accompany me outside (might need to add sunscreen and insect repellant!).

Clearly I’m in love with The Bag. But, it’s actually everything that came before the bag that makes The Bag so awesome. It was the frustration at not feeling organised, and also the desire to use the time I had. It was realising that I enjoy being organised, and being kind to myself about the reasons why that’s been hard. And it was about being willing to have everyone’s needs met in my family. Ensuring I’m present for the kids when they need me, and allowing myself to meet my own needs for self-expression when the opportunity arises.

When those things were all clear to me, the idea of having The Bag popped into my head. It wasn’t so much about searching for a solution, as being willing for things to be wonderful.

That might seem like a strange way to look at things. After all, we live in a culture that has reduced much of our lives to an equation. Something like, Problem + Working Hard = Solution. I’m so tired of that way. It feels rigid and reductionist and abstract, and none of those things excite me.

I prefer things that are fluid and emergent. I look for beauty and magic. I reject the idea that this bag is a solution to a problem. Strangely, impossibly, I entertain the thought that the bag came looking for me.

Mary xx

p.s. I didn’t know I thought any of this until I started writing about The Bag, which is one of the reasons I love writing so much.

p.p.s. We have been reading and rereading Harry Potter aloud for months now, so I’m not kidding when I say maybe the bag came looking for me. If you want life to feel magic, it pays to surround yourself with people for whom magical lives are the norm.

p.p.s. The bag currently contains: laptop, phone, wallet, camera (not pictured), notebook, planner, current book(s) being read (in this case Nga Ururoa by Geoff Park), sunglasses, and half a dozen sharpened pencils.

#whatsinyourbag?