Organization, Routine, Writing = Sanity

Does anyone else covet organizational office supplies? I do.

The other day, I was in a meeting at the office, and two of my co-workers had these big hold-all folio type folders, and I wanted one. One of them had a legal pad, pen, business cards, iPad Mini, looseleaf paper, and other things all organized and in their own places. The other had pretty much the same, but instead of the iPad mini she had a calculator (with its own pocket) and a little hand-held calendar to write her appointments in. I immediately decided that I needed something like this.

Now let's look at the facts. I work for a small publishing company. Out of everyone at the office, I probably spend the most time at my desk and the least time in meetings. I don't meet many new or potential clients; I rarely hand out business cards. Most of my work is done directly on my computer. I barely leave the office for anything other than lunch or a post office run. I don't need something to carry everything with me.

But that doesn't stop me from wanting it.

I love being organized. As I've written before, keeping things clean, putting things in a proper place, and alphabetizing anything have always been a part of my life (the title of this post was inspired by a Pinterest board of mine). And routine is comforting. I don't want every little thing to be planned out, and I definitely don't want every day to be exactly the same. But routines help me to know what to expect and when to expect it.

Lately (read: the past two days) I've been trying to organize and routine my writing. I know people's opinions on this differ: some say sit down at the same time every day to write, others say write when inspiration hits and don't force it when it doesn't. I don't want to stifle any creativity, and I certainly don't want to keep myself from writing when it's not my set writing time, but so far I like having a time that I know I will be writing.

My morning setup

For the past two days, I've gotten up an hour earlier than usual in order to shower, eat, and then have writing time before I have to go to work. One hour is not a ton of time to really sit down and get thoughts in focus, but until I get used to waking up earlier, I've got to take baby steps. Yesterday, after eating and fixing my cup of coffee (yikes! I just realized I haven't even fixed my coffee yet!...OK problem solved. Back to work), I spent a little time reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's a simple book, really; just a writer, and writing teacher, talking about writing. I particularly love reading about all her anxieties, all the voices that go through her head telling her she can't write, or inspiration will never strike again, or she should be making the grocery list instead; it's nice to know other people go through this process too.

I am also trying to keep writing a little more present in my daily life, by carrying a bigger purse—see? I want to need to carry everything with me!—with Bird by Bird, my notebook, my iPad, and pens, along with my wallet and normal purse items. I don't know if I'll keep this up; it's a little heavy, and at least yesterday, it resulted in me carrying a bunch of stuff to lunch with me that I didn't need just because I needed my wallet.

I don't know if I'll ever be a true morning person, but right now, I'm happy with getting up at 6:30, giving myself that one hour to have my own time and do my own work before the day gets going with work, obligations, and everything that I can't control. My time after work always seems so disorganized: needing to go to the grocery store, having to make or find something for dinner, realizing the car needs gas, or just being too tired to focus on anything but watching a new episode of The Following. Mornings are calmer, quieter, and less likely to get interrupted. I'm going to do my best to keep them that way.