Sooo…tonight we are going to put my new desk together (in theory) and then I’ll be able to write again (also in theory). That’s assuming we can figure out the drawings. We bought a desk and a filing cabinet at Ikea and last night we put together the filing cabinet. At Ikea they have figured out several ways to keep the costs down. One is to put all the hardware in one bag and make you sort it yourself. Another is to give you EXACTLY what you need and not a screw more. And thirdly, they use pictures instead of words on the directions so they can sell the same product in many countries without having to have the instructions translated into a bunch of languages. Great for visual people, not so much for word people.

Being writers (my husband is a songwriter), it became crystal clear to us that we would’ve happily paid a little extra for the written word. Pictures mean very little to word people. One screw looks pretty much like the other, and if it fits in the hole, or sort of fits and can be forced together with a hammer, then it must be the right screw right? Wrong. Of course, you don’t find that out until the end when you need the short screws and you have four long ones left over. Luckily, Ikea has dealt with word people before. They have stock numbers on each illustration of each piece of hardware. So…in two to three weeks, we’ll receive four screws in the mail and be able to finish the filing cabinet.

Wish us luck with the desk.

Are you a word person or a visual person?