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Can You Write Under Any Circumstances?

Bang Bang Bang!

Anne Marble
3 min readNov 29, 2023

This morning, a crew arrived to install a new furnace. Bang bang bang! In and out. Up and down. This is a test to find out if I can write under those conditions.

And can you write under strange circumstances such as seeing your old HVAC system strewn about on the lawn like defeated soldiers?

A photograph showing parts of an old HVAC system spread out on a lawn. There are fallen brown leaves on the grass, especially at the top right of the photo.
R.I.P. Old Furnace. (Source: Photo by the Author.)

What Can I Do but Write?

It’s not like I can vacuum. They’re going in and out of the house, and into the back yard and the front yard. Up and down the stairs. (At least the section of the floor they’re using is covered with protective plastic sheeting.) I can vacuum later.

It’s not like I can sort through the books I want to donate or trade in. I’d have to go up and down into the basement to do that. I would get in their way.

It’s not like I can do the laundry. The washing machine and dryer are located in the basement, right next to where they are working. I would collide with them constantly.

It’s also cold because 1) they have to open the front and back doors often and 2) the old furnace is spread out on the lawn.

So let’s see if I can write. It looks as if I can manage something resembling a sentence. It may even be coherent. Semi-coherent. And if needed, I can put on that hoodie.

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Anne Marble
Anne Marble

Written by Anne Marble

I’m a writer and a copy editor with experience in editing science and engineering articles. Click Lists to find my most popular articles. And hidden gems.

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