Jane/Sadie/Susannah here, gearing up for a weekend filled with family, friends, and memories and wishing the same for all of you …
All the talk this week about desks and what we read outside the cozy genre makes me want to combine the subjects. I have a big ole pile of books, which is currently parked on top of my roll-top desk, where I do my day job as well as much of my writing work. Now, this is not my only pile of books (puh-leeze), but it’s the one I look up at most days. Here’s a sample of what’s up there:
The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Donald Maass
The India Fan, Victoria Holt
Caroline: Oxbow’s American Bonaparte, Ethel Comins
Hope Blooms, Jamie Pope
The Rain Sparrow, Linda Goodnight
Writing Screenplays that Sell, Michael Hauge
Our Fans’ Favorites, The Stratton Mountain Boys (this is a CD of traditional German music that we play during our Oktoberfest meals–not sure why it’s there!)
Murder in Chelsea, Victoria Thompson
Pregnesia, by Carla Cassidy
Crazy times, I know. I’ve also included in the picture a couple of other fun things, including my work mascot, Beans the bulldog, a snow globe from my hometown, and an official bottle of Vitameatavegamin from the Lucy and Desi museum.
What’s the craziest thing on your desk?
Nothing crazy on my desk, but I do have an I Love Lucy mug on there that always makes me smile.
If you can ever get to the Lucy and Desi museum in Jamestown NY, I highly recommend it!
That’s quite a collection of books! Since I cleaned it off yesterday, not much crazy, but I do have a very tiny Buddha statue under the lamp to remind me to breathe. And the case for the CD I listened to as I cleaned my desk, a favorite with Emmy Lou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt. I listened to it twice in a row, in fact! Otherwise a few journaly notebooks, a box of kleenex, some dark chocolate, emergency cough drops, and my daily list notebook and pen. But ya shoulda seen it yesterday…
The Trio CD (Volume I or II)? I have both and love them. Three of the most beautiful female voices ever. Dark chocolate–that’s what I’m missing 🙂
Yes! Oh – and my laptop, of course…
Oooh. I have a recording of Linda Ronstadt and Emmy Lou Harris (Tucson Sessions) that I have loved for years, but didn’t know about this one. Must find and thanks for the info!
Triss, the harmonies these women create will make you shiver, I guarantee! Here’s one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNxwVFqHiB0
A replica of a Revolutionary War cannon that I bought at Valley Forge a few years ago (it doubles as a pencil sharpener). Also one of those bendy wooden artist’s models (the six-inch size).
Ooh, fun stuff! I’m not an artist but I can see how that bendy model could come in handy for writing fight scenes–especially if you had two.
I have a singing bowl on my desk. And a little wooden cow to remind me of my dad.
Now I have to look up what a singing bowl is! I might need one.
I’m reading The Emotional Craft of Fiction too — such a great book. I have a whole array of crazy things on one corner of my desk including: the Wonder Woman bracelet my husband gave me for Christmas, my mini US Marshal pin from Marc Cameron, a paperweight that looks like a giant diamond ring my daughter gave me for my unsold series, a cool glass pen holder my mom gave me with my CIA pen in it, a tiny treasure chest that Shari Randall gave me, my Sisters in Crime pin, my MWA pin, along with a few other things.They don’t take up that much room and they make me smile.
You ARE Wonder Woman! We all need one of those, I think.
Vitameatavegamin, I love it! Most of the things on my desk are pretty mundane, but two things add a little interest: a magnet that reads, “Keep Calm and Write,” and a pen that’s shaped like a witch’s broom from Tonya Kappes that I picked up at Malice one year. Maybe I’d be more creative if I added a few things.
And I might be less distracted if I didn’t have so much stuff on my desk, LOL!
I have a ton of things on my desk that don’t seem crazy to me but I know how they’d look to a stranger, like: a stuffed Rainbow Dash my daughter got me when I decided being a person sucked and I wanted to be a pony instead because who doesn’t love ponies, a pile of corks from champagne bottles popped to commemorate different stages in my (young) publishing career, a few octopods from my friend Heather to remind me to embrace life, a pile of crime stickers, and a chocolate rose from my anniversary two weeks ago.
It would only look strange to a nonwriter. I would just see story possibilities if I saw a desk with those things…
As I’ve said before, I don’t have a writing desk. But on my desk at the day job I have a tiny figure of Marvin the Martian pointing his ray-gun. I like to think he’s there to chase away the people with silly questions. 🙂
We are sisters from another mister. I have often wished for an Illudium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator.
A witch’s cauldron–black plastic–which contains many things–none of them magic.
Oh, I don’t know. If the things in the cauldron have meaning for you, they’re magic!
I’m afraid I’m rather boring. Nothing too strange on my desks at home or at work.
I have plenty of strange stuff for everyone. Maybe I’ll send you something, LOL!
Or maybe your definition of “strange” is different from the average bear 🙂
A stuffed animal from my summer course at Oxford in 2000– he wears my ID badge and reminds me that yes, I AM a writer! Enjoy your weekend. Loved the Holts~
If you write, you are a writer, auntiem! I’m a big fan of Victoria Holt 🙂 Someday I would love to write a Gothic.
Crazy because it’s always empty: a note holder that’s fashioned from a giant (3 inch, I measured) brass paper clip stuck into a 2x2x1-inch base of Connemara marble (the real thing, green, from County Connemara, Ireland). I really ought to use it to display something special! –kate/ C T Collier
That sounds like fun! I’d love to go to Ireland someday.
The real crazy things aren’t on the desk but surround me in my office/museum of travels, but I do have a stuffed chicken from Peru that holds down my Rolodex.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn17/ginnyjc/0843c299-cf8c-4baf-91fa-6e6a0ddb55d8_zps1vkj5s32.jpg
I love the stuffed Peruvian chicken! And I am very impressed by how neat your desk is 🙂
I have a calculator on my desk since I am currently engaged in a family business! I have that Victoria Holt book in my collection. It is so difficult to find her books in bookstores here, but I’m always on the lookout in bookstores. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!