December 2008
Anatomy of a Writing Desk
To refresh my mind and heart, I sometimes leave home to write. This year, I traveled to small towns in Minnesota. Next year? Hopefully Hawaii.
It doesn’t matter where I go, as long as there is a desk waiting there. I bring all of my writerly essentials with me:
Spiral notebooks. My process is to write out every first draft by hand, even though it would be a lot easier to skip right to the computer. As author Lynda Barry says in her workshops, moving a pen across paper taps into a different part of your brain than typing. For me, writing by hand draws out the wilder, more spontaneous ideas. So I always bring 2 cheap notebooks when I travel. For more about my strategic cheapness, read The Beauty of 10-Cent Notebooks.
Note cards. I get good ideas at random times: In line at the grocery store, at a stoplight, or while walking my dog. Because it’s not practical to bring a big notebook everywhere, I carry blank recipe cards in my purse and pockets to catch stray ideas. Once a card has an idea on it, I used to throw it in one big box. But soon there were so many cards, I couldn’t ever find the ones I needed. This led me to create…
The cigar box file cabinet. I collect wooden cigar boxes, because they look cool and smell mysterious. I discovered that one squarish, fattish box in my collection was the right size to hold note cards. 
For my last 2 writing projects, I have made miniature folders for the different groupings of note cards. I label the folders by character and major plot points.
I often start a writing session by flipping through the cards, to get my head and heart back into the story. I pick out the cards that are most relevant to what I’m writing that day, and keep them on the desk as I work. The file box helps me keep track of the little bits and pieces of a novel-length story. And it perfumes my note cards with a woodsy tobacco smell.
Laptop. Of course, my editor does not want to look at my scribbly scratchy notebook and try to figure out what I’ve written. I can’t send her a manila envelope of loose note cards, either. So once a scene is down on notebook paper, I type it up. I make my initial edits at this point.
Jump drive. See the thing sticking out the side of the laptop with the glowing orange light? That is my jump drive, where I save an extra copy of every computer file. When I’m writing at the library and I get up to use the bathroom, I take my jump drive with me, in case pirates come by my desk when I am gone and run off with my jacket, winter hat and laptop. Or a meteorite streaks through the ceiling and lands only on my desk. I will mourn the jacket, or gasp at the smoking crater, but at least I will have a backup copy of my stories.
Black pens. Uniball micro tip! I bring lots because they dry out fast.
Teapot. I love tea. One day, I might dedicate a book to it. It would say:
To Green Tea,
My gentle friend
Thank you for the daily encouragement & strength
Seriously, I do not work without tea. My favorite kind is loose-leaf jasmine or oolong, which I brew in the pot pictured above. I got it at a garage sale. I take it everywhere. If I ever make it to Hawaii, so will my teapot.
Oop! Time to make a fresh pot.