Tools

While working on a project, I came across this cartoon and thought the guy in it sounded a lot like ME! I can be pretty quirky when it comes to my writing habits and tools. I know I'm not alone in that!

As a writer, I feel that I do my best work while sitting in a particular place in my house with a certain type of pencil and notebook while wearing the same well-loved tan sweater that I've had since college. When I need a boost, I drink coffee from my favorite Wonder Woman mug. 

Many of my habits were established as a kid. I asked my parents to move my desk away from the window so I wouldn't be distracted by the stuff going on outside and because I needed to sit facing my bedroom door to avoid the chance of having someone sneak up on me and read over why shoulder when I wasn't ready to share my work. Some things haven't changed!

Growing up, we had a baby blue Smith-Corona electric typewriter that my mother used to type up her college papers. I remember hauling the heavy typewriter in it's clunky, brown plastic case to my bedroom to use it when she wasn't. I imagined that all grown-up writers used something similar to type up their novels. The use of the typewriter was reserved for stories that I deemed special or that earned the right to be typed in ink on thin typing paper that I'd pick up at the local five-and-dime with the allowance my folks gave me. 

My preferred method for writing was (still is) with a Black Warrior pencil in a notebook. The notebooks have shifted from old-school composition books to Moleskin notebooks and sometimes I use mechanical pencils instead of my favorite black wooden ones because I don't have to worry about sharpening. The scratching of my pencil on paper as I write is soothing and takes me back to my childhood desk. It brings a lot of creative flow back for me and feels much more organic than using my laptop or my tablet.

I mark up my work with Papermate felt-tip markers when I edit. My preference is blue ink because it doesn't evoke the harshness that a big slash of red ink across my writings would. The same marker is used to jot down notes or questions to myself on things that may need to be changed or that don't make sense.

I like to keep things simple and uncluttered. It helps me to focus on what I need to work on. Most days, this is what my writing space looks like, give or take a few pieces of paper or books:

What tools do you use when you write? What does your writing space look like?

Smiling,

~Valeka