"The Will to be Dreary"

When I woke up this morning it was as though someone had pressed the pause button on spring – and that was before I stepped outside into the damp, chilly wind. The woods were still turning green, but the sky was a dismal gray. I began to think of what errands I could cross off my list so I could stay in and read a good book. So, when I saw the phrase “The Will to be Dreary” in this week’s Read Like the Wind, the books newsletter for subscribers to The New York Times, I expected it would offer me the perfect incentive in the form of some new book recommendations.

It turned out, however, that the reviewer Sadie Stein was quoting Dorothy Draper, a new name to me, but whom she described as the “legendary grand dame decorator.” After “Do a little spring cleaning” and “Exercise your green thumb,” on her list of things to consider doing tied to different kinds of books, Stein suggested “Pull yourself together, dammit.” It was under that heading that the phrase appeared:

“The Will to be Dreary” is a morose little imp which whispers to us that something which we know would be fun would be too much trouble, will take too much time, is too expensive and probably wouldn’t be as amusing after all as just now you think it would be. Now don’t listen to that voice. Tune it out.”

Stein said she has this quote pinned above her desk for “those many days when I’m tempted to be antisocial.” As someone with those tendencies myself, I think I’ll follow her example. But today I’m happy to be staying home with a book.