I used to work at a regular desk. Now I have a virtual desk. I lean back in my teal blue recliner with my wireless keyboard on my lap and optical wireless mouse on the arm of the chair. I need to keep my swollen right leg elevated or it gets more swollen. I need to keep my merely slightly (now) swollen and wrapped left arm supported or the weight of it pulls at my shoulder and back. I used to have a laptop computer, but when I tried to sit up and hold onto the computer, it slid out of my right hand and crashed to the floor. When I finally got a new computer (desktop with a flat panel monitor), at least we were able to reload it with the data from my laptop’s hard drive. If I drop my lightweight keyboard, I won’t lose any poems or stories. Now I have a bag of loose handwritten notes, poems, essays, stories, jokes, bits of dialog that I need to transcribe. At least I still have one typing hand and most of my mind. They are really all any writer needs.

© Sue Barton 2004