I’ve wanted to get a new writing desk for six months. The nearby OfficeMax store had a computer desk that was more like a narrow table for $55 USD. (The other local OfficeMax stores carried the same desk for $80 USD.) As a member of the OfficeMax MaxPerks award program, I get coupons from time to time. The typical coupon is save $15 USD on a $75+ USD purchase. If I didn’t have $55 USD for a new desk, I certainly didn’t have $75 USD for a new desk and whatever else to save $15 USD.
OfficeMax recently sent me a coupon for $50 USD off the purchase price of ANY DESK in stock. The coupon was loosely worded. I went to the store, picked up the desk, and presented the coupon the cashier. Not surprisingly, the coupon didn’t scan. I think the coupon was for the $150+ USD desk sets that covered the showroom floor. The manager came over, read both sides of the coupon, found the word DESK on the box, shrugged his shoulders, and entered the override code. I got a new writing desk for five bucks.
My old desk was a computer desk with a sliding keyboard tray and a bottom panel to store the computer and printer. I got it ten years ago to replace a monster desk that didn’t survive moving to different apartments a few times. Back then I was still working in the video game industry, playing video games at home, and taking computer programming classes at school. For what I was doing then, that desk was perfectly suitable.
When I became serious about being a writer, I got a folding table for my typewriter. (Yes, Virginia, I’m that old.) This worked out just fine. I seldom wrote or edit on the computer desk itself. That work got done behind the steering wheel of my car during my lunch break, at the kitchen table, on the floor or in bed. After I gave my old Mac Mini to my friend for his birthday last year, I no longer needed a computer desk. I did need a new desk that was comfortable enough to write and edit on.
The desk I got for five bucks is five inches wider, five inches less deeper, and an inch lower than my old computer desk. I’m closer to my wall-mounted monitor, have free leg movement underneath with no bottom panel to block my feet, and the height is comfortable for writing and editing by hand or keyboard. The only drawback is the black finish that makes the dust too visible and I have a feather duster nearby to make the dust less visible.
The new table helped wean me away from editing on paper to editing on computer, something that I been trying to do for ages. With most of my short story submissions being sent by email, now was the time to embrace the mythical paperless office.
At five bucks, this new writing desk was a steal. Thanks, OfficeMax!