Today is Black Friday when everything’s on sale. Here’s my shopping list of things you might want to buy to equip your office.

Becoming a professional writer doesn’t take very much equipment. You can really get started with the very basics of tools…

1. A laptop computer with a ton of memory and a fast chip. I have a Sony Vaio.
2. Amazingly fast internet access. I have cable.
3. An all-in-one office machine with a printer, scanner, fax machine and copier. Mine’s an HP Officejet.
4. A phone with speaker phone (mine doesn’t have it, darn it), call waiting, a robust long-distance plan, call forwarding and voice mail. You should also have a cell phone to forward calls to.
5. Microsoft Office (I choose office because it’s the most common — all your clients probably use it).
6. Stapler, tape, pens and pencils, paper clips, etc. These are very cheap at back-to-school sales.

Once you have the basics, you can add a few extras as you see fit. Here are the items on my second tier of needs…

1. Steno pads for notes.
2. A nice portfolio for face-to-face visits with clients.
3. Other note pads for daily to do lists.
4. A highlighter (I have only one — I love them and need more).
5. Labels for direct mail efforts. I like the Avery Easy Peel Clear Mailing Labels.
6. Thank you notes for clients.
7. Accounting software — I use a free program called Microsoft Accounting. Works just fine.
8. Organizational tools like color-coded folders and color tabs for the steno pads.
9. A big-screen monitor and separate keyboard and mouse for the laptop.
10. A shredder.
11. Recycled paper (I use both sides).
12. A backup system for files. I use Mozy.com and love it.
13. A time-tracking system. I use Pelotonics, which is also a project management system.

More of my favorite freebies
More about what’s on a copywriter’s desk