I confess that I have an abnormal addiction to office supplies. Pens, paper, mechanical pencils, notepads, journals, paper clips, you name it. I can't walk out of Office Depot without making a purchase, whether it's a bag of rubber bands, a packet of legal pads or a fresh box of manila folders.

I have a notebook in every room in my house, one in my car and one in my purse, just in case I have a story idea and can’t make it to my desk in time. I usually have a pen tucked behind my ear or stuck in my ponytail ala Pebbles Flintstone. When I see a blank journal that I find attractive I buy it, even though I couldn’t fill the ones I already have if I wrote for two hours every day for the next ten years. I have boxes of manila folders and expandable files waiting to be opened.

I think it has something to do with September. I remember as a kid getting ready for the new school year, my book bag filled with folders, freshly sharpened pencils and clean, college-ruled notebook paper just begging to be filled with my stories and essays. Each year, I would vow that this time I would stay organized. This time, I would put the science notes in the science folder and the English notes in the English folder. This year, I would save all of the quizzes so I could study for the cumulative final. And this year, I would record every homework assignment in my pocket calendar and never again be scrambling at the last minute to complete a project.

But it was always the same. In less than a month, I had geometry theorems mixed in with grammar notes. I was daily showing up to class without my science book (isn’t second period home ec?) and had taken to writing homework assignments on my hands (I had the first palm pilot). My locker looked like a paper factory blew up.

It’s more than twenty years later and I’m still not organized. I have trays on my desk for current files and yet I’m continually digging through the towering pile behind my chair to find the folders I need for the day. I have a three-tiered bin on wheels to hold the projects waiting to be reviewed and the press kits overflow onto the floor and under the desk (I think they breed when I turn the lights out). I have plastic bins, desktop organizers, filing cabinets and shelves and I still have to hunt for paper clips, scotch tape, computer paper and rubber bands. I have three calendars within arm’s reach, but I never know what day it is.

But that’s ok. It’s September, when school and office supplies are on sale and everyone gets a chance to try again. This time, I’m really going to get organized. I just need a few more file folders and another file crate, and look! Wal-Mart is having a sale on paper clips ...

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