Inside the storage locker at my weekend writing spot are the following items that I keep on hand in case I might need them at a moment’s notice:

• 1 black sweater
• 1 used plastic bag, for covering laptop if it rains
• 1 Antioch Review magazine
• 1 You Can Write for Children Writers Digest Guide
• 2 Open City magazines
• 1 large pencil case containing: 1 obligatory pencil (red); 1 stick of deodorant; 1 travel-size bottle of lotion; 1 plastic spoon; 1 plastic fork; 2 pairs of wooden chopsticks; 1 pen without cap; 1 cap without pen; a one-dollar bill (torn); 1 tea bag; 1 possibly three-year-old granola bar; 1 stale Hershey’s Kiss; spilled Nerds; 3 Starbucks straws; 6 Dayquil pills; 1 tower of rainbow-colored sticky notes; loose change amounting to 71 cents
• 1 Paris Review magazine
• 1 Vogue magazine
• 1 incomplete copy of first literary fiction manuscript ever written (unpublished)
• 1 full copy of second literary fiction manuscript ever written (unpublished)
• 1 Tin House magazine
• 3 old drafts of short stories (all unfinished, all unpublished)
• 3 New Yorker magazines, including one Fiction Issue
• 2 New York magazines
• 1 draft of a manuscript for an embarrassing freelance project based on a movie about to hit theaters this summer (published)
• 2 O Henry Awards anthologies
• 1 pair of Chinese slippers
• 1 pair of thermal slippers, a gift from Mom for my month at MacDowell
• 1 outline of a young adult novel written under a house pseudonym and published a few years ago
• 1 copy of The Paris Review Book of People with Problems
• 1 copy of The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms
• 2 A Public Space magazines
• 1 set of colored markers (half missing)
• 1 copy of Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir
• Numerous spare Starbucks napkins (loose and crumpled)
• 1 Bust magazine
• 1 pair of socks (mismatched)
• 1 CD backup of hard-drive from 2005

I think the above list reveals a lot about me. Also of note, the locker is the small size: square, about a foot high. It’s crammed so full I can’t fit too much else in there.

You might find it interesting—or pathetic—that I took 15 minutes to make this list, when I am well aware that what I really should be doing is revising.