What's At Your Desk? LWC Writers Share Their Top Five

This winter, LWC will celebrate five years of LWC. We are starting the celebration a little early by doing a weekly top-five series. Each Wednesday LWC members will post their top-five answers to a specific question. This week's question is:

What are the top five items you like to have at your desk as you write?

Alan Hooper:

1. The New Websters Grammar Guide.

2. My Filing Cabinet - to the right of my desk.

3. My home-made paper rest - to my left on my desk.

4. My small bookcase holding all of my latest writing masterpieces - to the left of my desk.

5. A coaster - taken from the Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix AZ. Many types of beverages have sat here.

Cece Dockins:

5. Yellow Legal Pads - I write almost entirely on a laptop. When I'm stuck, I pull out the old yellow legal pad and write longhand. It seems to jog my brain and get my creative juices flowing again.

4. Inspirational quotes- When I feel like I can't write another word or I'm wasting my time, I look at inspirational quotes that are plastered all over my desk. Perserverance!

3. Death by Pen memo block - I use it to write down a sudden idea or concept for a story. It's humorous as well as functional.

2. Secret stash of Red Hots candies- The brain needs food, right?

1. My muse - She's in the form of a Storytelling troll that I bought in Gatlinburg. Crazy yes, but I can't write without her. I even rub her head for luck and offer her Red Hots when the writing isn't going so well.

Jennifer Ballard:

1. A cup painted like a giraffe with the neck and head sculpted into a handle and a gray cup painted like an elephant with the trunk made into a handle - one for coffee and one for tea.
2. My phone.
3. My husband's cat who likes to try to lay on my keyboard (my cat ignores me).
4. A dream catcher that hangs in my office window.
5. A picture of me and my horse at a show.

Ed Chinn:

1. Coffee (before 6:00 a.m.), water, and (some days) a glass of wine. It's 5 o'clock somewhere.
2. One of my 2 cats. Something about the purr connects me to ancient and primal rhythms.
3. One (or more) of my grandchildren. They remind me of what matters in life.
4. My iPhone 4…mainly so that lady I love upstairs can text or call me.
5. $1,000,000 in cash. No, it's not there. But, I'd LIKE to have it at my desk as I write.

Mary Ann:

1. Picture of my husband on our only cruise.

2. My trusty Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus (free from Eric)

3. An aura spray to bring inspiration as I write

4. Picture of Sammie, my seventeen year-old cat

5. My eye-level writer's reference shelf

Karen Aldridge:

1. A "Cool Cats" blanket that hangs over my desk chair. I've had it for almost twenty years, and it reminds me to just relax and not take things too seriously.
2. Some groovy tunes and my headphones - I can't listen to music when I write, it breaks my concentration, but when I need a break, I pop in some tunes or hit YouTube or Napster.
3. Water, water, water, and more water - I take a lot of bathroom breaks.
4. My chill-out chair. While it's technically behind my desk, it is part of my writing process. I write, print, then sit in my chill-out chair (my favorite chair in the world though it's so old and ripped I have to drape blankets over it) and edit with my green pen.
5. Anything that helps me with my current WIP. For example I'm writing a fantasy novel currently, and I have a roughly drawn map of my fantasy world that stays on my desk so I can refer to it often.

Bryce Martin:

1. I like to have a sharp pencil. I like pencils. Plus, I feel it's important to slow down sometimes when you're taking some side notes regarding your ms. A sharp pencil helps since I slow down to keep from breaking the lead (graphite?). I keep pens too, of course.
2. A clipboard. As with pencils, I like clipboards. I like the sturdy backing. if I need to make a note or two and my desk is cluttered...
3. A drink, and it is almost always black coffee. I keep it sitting in a back corner behind my computer screen to avoid spills.
4. A magnifying glass. My eyes are good, but experience has taught me that one comes in handy in ways I usually do not anticipate.
5. I use junk mail envelopes (ones where the backs are blank) to make notes as I go along.

Mike Hudgins:

Five cups of Community Coffee.

Karen Phillips:

1. Pens - I like the G2 gels
2. Index cards
3. Scratch paper
4. Dictionary, regular or flip
5. Coffee or te a

Trisha Petty:

1. Edwina my muse and friend.
2. My girl clock I got when I found my perfume.
3. My crystal castle to remind me everything on this earth is temporal.
4. My hat that warns my husband I am creating and leave me alone

5. This is my board to remind me of goals accomplished good friends and good memories. To pray for...remember and smile.

Sheryl Griffin:

1. pad of sticky notes
2. pens
3. cup of coffee or tea
4. calendar
5. my to do list