East as A, B, C . . . from BB
I can’t find any paper clips. Well, to be honest there are a couple of those little ones lying around, but I like the nice big ones better. Not that I’m usually clipping together pages and pages of materials, but I just like the longer length of them. I feel my papers are more . . . secure?
And why this seeming paucity of paper clips? Well, they’re holding together the multiple copies of the pages I took to my Friday critique group: the Wasatch Mountain Fiction Writers (WMFW]. And they’re holding together the pages I took to the ABC Writers Guild critique session on Sunday night. And some are still clipped to the critiques I got at WIFYR [Writing and Illustrating for Young Writers]. Last June! And I’m afraid to admit that I have some groups of papers still clipped together from much longer ago that those.
I’ve got paper clips on groups of papers from last year. And the year before that. And . . . well, you’ve probably got the idea. Mind you, I heard and/or read all the critiques. But you never know when you might want to look them over again. I’ll stop wanting that last, fond look (because some of them did point out some of the positive things about my writing) when the book(s) is/are published. Until then, you never can tell . . .
And what about the paper itself? If it still has a clean side, I could reuse it. I believe in saving paper. So I’d have to take the paper clips off, sort through them. I’m getting more and more paranoid about my garbage having identifying information in it, so I’d have to take the time to shred them. And my shredder is jammed. Again. Maybe I could use a paper clip to unjam it. Oh, wait. I haven’t got a nice, long paper clip anywhere around.
All right, back to the “paper itself” thing. Some of those pages were used on both sides, but some of them might have had a half sheet that was still white. I could tear them in half (or even use my paper cutter), tear the half in half, giving me some nice little quarter sheets, convenient for writing down plot ideas, snatches of conversation, telephone messages, phone numbers, etc., etc., etc.
But, again, I’d have to sort through it all.
Admittedly I need to sort through it all. I have paper grocery bags around my desk: papers to shred (once I unjam the shredder); papers to sort; papers to add to the recyclables (after I’ve sorted through for re‑usable sheets . . . and half sheets . . . and quarter sheets). (And sorted through for paper clips!)
But right now, I have to run off some copies for my next critique session. If only I had some half‑used sheets of paper, so I don’t have to break into another clean ream. But if I find some paper, then I’ll need to find some paper clips!
Help! I’m drowning in paper. And not an unused paper clip in sight!
See you day-after-tomorrow for Wednesday’s WIPs!
The ABC Writers Guild 