When you’re a writer, people sometimes think stationery would make a great gift. In general, this is a thoughtful gesture. However, I now have too much of it.
My stationery lives in two plastic boxes on my bookshelf. Put together, they have roughly the total volume of a medium-sized cabin bag.
The upper box contains mainly pens, pencils, erasers, Tipp-Ex, glue sticks and similar items, plus my Dymo label-maker. The lower box is a store for paper, notepads and envelopes.
Despite most of my work beginning as pencil on paper, I find I don’t use very much of it at any one time, so it largely sits there untouched. I’m also not one of those writers who doesn’t want to spoil a new notebook by writing in it. If it’s in the box, it’s there to be used. Envelopes are especially a problem. I sometimes find I need just one in a particular size, but I can only find multi-packs, so there are spares left over.
I have given away bits and pieces to pals over time, but the amount I have never seems to diminish. However, I don’t want to give away the whole lot because it’s handy to have around when I do need it.
Gavin Cameron 