Paperwork

I once heard an anecdote about someone whose method of organizing papers resembled the psychoanalytic process. Their filing system was like the unconscious: a dark and confused jumble from which - after much struggle and searching - that which had been presumed lost for good would miraculously surface.

Right now this is also an excellent description of my year-end paperwork-organizing efforts. The possibility of final clarity and coherence appears only remotely likely, and there always seem to be key pieces of information that are buried, lost or in some cases so complicated that they are likely to remain an eternal mystery. Add to this, tempting distractions such as perusing through the beautiful catalogue I picked up at Art Basel Miami.

However, shuffling through papers can be a welcome diversion, particularly when the economy is tanking and the future seems uncertain.

Last week I spend several days in Washington, DC and Manhattan visiting clients. Here are a few comments representative of the week's business discussions:

"I can't see you this week as we're bunkered down in meetings to try to figure out how much we lost in 2008"; "We're expecting 6-7% layoffs and have no idea what our publishing plans are for 2009";"It's going to be like the great Depression! There are going to be bread lines! In Manhattan!"

All of this may have contributed to the fact that I got violently ill the night of Mondadori's annual Holiday Party. I said a quick hello to a few clients (several of which had just been laid off), and then rushed over to a friend's apartment and tossed my cookies. When I had recovered sufficiently to converse, I learned that my friend (one of my most high-achieving pals, too) had just been laid off from her job at a major international bank.

So for this week I am hiding my head in paperwork. Everyone in publishing seems so panicked that it's hard to have meaningful discussions right now. Let's see what Santa Claus brings for Christmas and the New Year. I've got my list, which begins with "Some Really Nice New Book Projects, Please...."