Special thanks to Linda Conrad for sharing this article with CataUniversity!

Anyone else addicted to the Clean House show on cable’s Style channel? There’s just something about watching clutter and dirt disappear that does this Virgo’s soul good. I can’t seem to get enough of seeing others find a place for everything. I know I can’t work or rest until my office has everything in its proper place.

For those of you out of country or without cable that might not get the Style network, Clean House is a TV show where professional organizers (who are also actors and comedians) are invited to come into a super messy house. They prod the occupants to get rid of stuff they don’t need in a yard sale, then they clean and paint and redecorate. It’s a before and after show of the first magnitude.

So, it’s spring again. Although I’m uber busy, I’ve been watching too much Clean House before I fall asleep at night and getting the usual urges to clean my own house. Especially my office. But I was also sick with the flu for a while and then I had jury duty. Putting it off was easy. Until…I received a huge carton of author copies for my April release for Silhouette Romantic Suspense, IN SAFE HANDS. I had no choice but to clean off a spot for them.

While I was cleaning, I began thinking about how much I love my office and some of the things inside it. I don’t know if everyone loves office supplies the way I do, but to me the smell of a new ream of paper sends me into ecstasy. The feel of a good ball-point pen in my hand is nearly erotic. I’ve always been this way. Even as a little girl, the best time of year for me wasn’t Christmas but the start of a new school year and those brand new pencils and notebooks!

I thought I would list a few of my current favorite office supplies. Many are terrific for the writing business and I don’t know how any author could survive without them. Others are meant for anyone who has a good home office.

Starting with:

Yellow legal pads. I buy them by the case. First, the bright canary color makes me smile and those straight green lines cater to my tidiness desires. The mere idea of filling up all that clean space with new story ideas or notes on characters or outlines for new workshops gives me a thrill. I use legal pads for everything: snatches of dialog that come to me in the shower, grocery lists, brainstorming plots, balancing my checkbook, keeping track of page counts. I know some authors argue they can do most of that better on their computers and with a lot less desk space. But I can take my legal pad into the garden and keep one next to the shower in my bath and never worry if the thing gets wet. Plus, I just like the way it feels in my hands.

Colored file folders. I’ve got nothing against manila. There’s a place for it. But color-coding my filing system makes my life so much easier. Yellow is for new plotting ideas. Red for dialog bits or research notes I’m collecting. Blue for articles or workshop ideas to write later. Green for handouts or notes I’ve taken at the workshops I’ve attended.

I never have to wonder where something is, and it looks so cheery every time I open a cabinet.

Jumbo paperclips. Keep your cheesy, sometimes-rusty, tiny metal paper clips. And you will never find one of those alligator snapping wire disasters meant to hold a gazillion pieces of paper in my office. Jumbos on the other hand are smooth, keep things neat, and are easy to use for two pieces of paper or many. I’m just sayin’.

Reference books for everyone. What would I do without my trusty Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary- Eleventh Edition? And ever since a writing buddy told me about the Flip Dictionary edited by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD, I couldn’t do without that either. Trying to think of a word and it eludes you? Don’t say it’s old age. We all do it. Maybe you can describe what you’re thinking about but don’t know the name for it? Then you need the Flip Dictionary. Plus, it’s a mini-encyclopedia. Need a listing of all the varieties of cheese in the world? How about a list of the terms for different style wrenches? What a great tool!

Reference books for writers. I think I might need a new copy of The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale. Mine is so battered and torn from being used that it’s barely holding together by threads. This book is an absolute must for me. My other absolute must to use while designing characters is Are You My Type, Am I Yours? Relationships Made Easy Through the Enneagram by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele. It describes nine personality types and what types would make the best (or worst) lovers, soul mates or partners. My advice to writers is always pick two types that make the worst matches, it’s more fun that way.

Then there are the novels I have stashed in and around my office. Piles of ‘Keepers.’ Piles of ‘To-Be-Reads.’ Piles of ‘I’m in the middle of this one.’ I had to weed those out too in order to find clean space. But novels don’t really count as Office Supplies. (Maybe as reference books, though) However, when I start talking about novels, I usually can’t stop. And I do have to stop. Perhaps one day I’ll do another article on what to do with too many novels.

Take a look around. How does your office look right now? In need a good cleaning? Or are you one of those who can’t work unless the place looks like a disaster? With stacks of paper and seemingly no order? (These people are said to be geniuses) Perhaps it’s time to rethink your relationship to office supplies. Or watch an episode of Clean House.

This article has been adapted from a blog originally appearing on Tote Bags and Blogs.

Linda’s Silhouette Romantic Suspense series, The Safekeepers, wraps up in April with IN SAFE HANDS, a Romantic Times Top Pick! Don’t forget to drop by Linda’s website to find out what’s Behind the Book for the series, and register to enter her ongoing contest to win books and gift certificates! http://www.LindaConrad.com

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