A Writer's Process

I went to the laundromat the other day. I was DREADING it. In fact, I spent a whole week pretending my wash machine was not broken and tried to ignore the piles of wrestling clothes and such. Eventually I got tired of hand washing the important stuff (and when you have teenage athletes, it's ALL important stuff), so I took to the laundromat. It's funny how something very ordinary and something so dreaded can actually live inside your brain because of the strangeness of it all. It's like the first time you ride the subway. There is a bit of understanding that has to go on so that you can cope and do the right things. So, I am not sure of the exact brain science of it all, but I felt compelled to write about my time at the laundromat and thought it was worth writing about.

Here is a rough idea of how I take something pretty ordinary and make it interesting by subtracting, adding, and swapping.

FIRST DRAFT:

I had to go to the laundromat. I put it off far too long because it sounded like just too much work and I had a million things to do that week. When the pile got too big, I loaded up my car with 4 big baskets of laundry and my laptop and a book….I planned to camp out there.

It had been at least two decades since I had been to a laundromat in town. I didn’t know if there were card readers or what! The laundromat I used to go to required quarters, no wifi, and no creature comforts, that’s for sure. 

But, it turns out, there are certain things at the laundromat to pay attention to; there were many rules. They had a place for baskets to go along the wall and a place for collecting clothing donations was on the other end. There was a SEVEN load washer! I had to ask the attendant whether it needed 7 pods also (it didn’t….that would have been a bad mistake). I ended up using the 7-load washer and then two smaller load washers for my whites. then i split up all the clothes into several dryers so that they would be done sooner. The card readers were a pain though. THey were faulty and so the attendant used free swipes given to her from the church attendee across the street. 

I came there to work but I was in danger of being roped into conversation by a lady who obviously was a regular. She was used to scoping out the parking stalls in front, shaking her head at the people who tried to park there to then get coffee next door. She was sure I had just run a race because I was in running clothes and shoes. Haha. She folded her clothes in perfect squares.  While I was working on my laptop, the attendant walked around asking everyone if they needed help and what to do and what not to do,

Even after I removed and folded my laundry, I stayed a little longer because it was so peaceful and I was getting a lot done. I even came back the next week, a little fascinated by what happens in the laundromat when I’m not there to see it. 

Here is my annotated/edited piece:

MY FINAL DRAFT:

There are certain things at the 

laundromat worth paying attention to;

the baskets go along the wall. 

Clothing donations go along the opposite. 

The 7-load washer does not take 7 pods. (Close call)

The card reader is faulty, and if it is during

your turn, you get a free wash from 

the church patron across the street. 

The parking stalls in front of the laundromat 

are for customers only. 

The woman folding clothes wants to know if I am running in a race. 

I look down at my leggings and sneakers. She tells me the people who

park in the stalls to go next door instead, for coffee, are inconsiderate losers. 

She folds her clothes in perfect little squares. 

And the attendant walks around dropping wise words like dryer sheets in every load: 

Namely, don’t dry the comforter too long 

or you will hate the smell, like burnt feathers.

My washer is fixed now but I get in my car and 

come here again the next week, 

to this world that spins 

whether my washer is working or not.

Vergara, Camilo J, photographer. Time-lapse, Park Ave. Laundromat, ruins, Harlem. United States New York Manhattan New York State Harlem, None. [Between 1970 and 2014] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020701465/.