Only an editor could have eight different writing instruments out on her desk and actually use them all. All the time. (Sorry—assISTANT EDITOR.)

I know you think I’m anal, but I really do need the big yellow highlighter for highlighting general text, the big pink highlighter for highlighting really important general text, and the fine-point purple pen for putting little stars around really important general text and underlining key phrases. And of course I need the small pink highlighter for my layout sheet. And the blue one. Equally important is the finely tuned, high-performance Pentel PD345 mechanical pencil with 0.5 lead for instances in which notes must be erasable. For instances in which they need not be erasable, my trusty Paper♥Mate medium point red pen is ready to draw clear, visible marks that are none too chubby, none too scrawny. But in case my marks need to be especially dark—for a fax, for example—I trade in my red medium point for my black uni•ball Signo Gelstick—0.7, natch.

And sometimes I use my regular no. 2 pencil with the eraser tip if I don’t need to write something very small but it needs to be erased.

And my purple uni•ball Signo Gelstick—0.7—is still in the rotation, although it fell out of favor after the magic of writing in purple wore off.

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I won’t bore you with further details.

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Of which there are many.

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And not because I don’t want to. Or because they are “boring.” But because I’m suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome completely unrelated to excessive non-work e-mailing.

Completely. Un. Related.