Regular readers of this column may remember how I wrote last year about not making any New Year’s resolutions. You know, like losing weight, exercising more, or getting organized.
But as I sit here looking at my paper-laden home office, one word comes to mind: firetrap.
Many folks assume that when you work as a writer, you work on one story at a time.
They are wrong. Very wrong.
Many times, I’m working on six or more stories at once. When I write for national magazines, I might be crafting a Christmas story in the middle of August.
And let me tell you, it’s a bit tough to get all jolly when you’re sweating to death in 90-degree weather. Sure, I can crank up the air conditioning to make it feel snow like, but there’s no way I’m setting up a tree.
But I digress…
Because I’m working on many stories, I’ve got lots of files, magazines, printed-out interviews, pens, erasers, paper, books, a digital recorder, pencils, post-its…you getting the drift yet?
And there’s paper—so much paper. It looks like my filing cabinets threw up on my desks.
So I’ve got all this all over my desks. Yes, I have two. If I had the room to surround myself completely with them, well, I’d probably do that too.
When I finish a story, I try my best to put all my notes, etc. in a file folder. But since I’m jumping into another story or two or three…or six…I don’t usually file them away.
You know, like an organized person would.
I end up with piles of files all over the floor. And on the bookcases. And under my desks.
I want to get organized, but I don’t want to make it a resolution. Why? Because then I will surely fail.
I might be halfway through having organized my office, and then I get a couple of new sweet gigs, and BAM, the file folders start piling up again.
A writer friend of mine out on the West Coast has made his office nearly paperless. He has multiple computer monitors so that he can see quotes from interviews on one while inserting them into a story he’s working on. He can research the web, while he’s looking at his article—at the same time. He’s saving tons of trees each year.
I hate him.
Okay, only kidding. But it truly boggles my mind to think about being completely paperless. Knowing how I am, what would happen?
Would I start losing my extra computer monitors or my extra hard drives? Instead of covering my desks with post-its, would I not even be able to see the monitors because of the plethora of multi-colored post-it notes all over their perimeters? Would my husband come home to find me buried in computer wires from the 47 monitors I swore I needed? Or would I just be huddled in a corner clutching a marble-backed copybook to my chest?
I may as well admit it: I’m not going paperless anytime soon. But I think I could take some steps toward organization without making an actual resolution. So, here goes…
I hereby resolv…oh wait. I hereby proclaim or declare, but certainly not resolve, that I will be more organized in my home office in 2013!
But first, a trip to Staples…
Michele Wojciechowski, when she’s not peeking out over the piles of paper on her desks, writes “Wojo’s World™” from Baltimore.