Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Here is a little secret about me:

When I walk through any store that sells writing instruments and writing surfaces, I stop and wonder how it would feel to write words with those instruments on those surfaces.

It doesn’t matter what type of store it is. Grocery stores sell “school supplies.” I stop and look at the pens and pencils and the different notebooks, pads, and paper. I stand there staring for five minutes. I don’t know what people think I am doing, but my mind is racing through the different combinations of pen and paper. My fingers tingle trying to imagine the feel of each. When in grocery stores, I try to avoid the school supplies section.

I have to go to the Office Depot to buy printer supplies. I run away from the pen and pencil section. I run away from the notebook section. Given all the possible combinations in a huge store like the Depot, I would never leave.

I don’t know anyone else who has this same tendency. Perhaps there are millions of us out there all hiding this little secret.

Is this tendency odd? Is it an affliction common to people who like to write?