What I Keep on my Nanowrimo Writing Desk

I can’t believe it’s already November, and yet I’m so excited for this month to finally be here!

Even though my birthday is at the end of October, November has always been my favorite month. It contains pretty much all my favorite things about fall - sweater weather in Texas (finally), pumpkin flavored treats, Thanksgiving food… and of course, Nanowrimo.

I wasn’t planning on doing Nanowrimo this year since I did a lot of writing in October and wanted to keep focusing on a chapter by chapter approach. But the excitement of Nanowrimo prep has won me over once again. And considering the fact that I’ve kind of been at a slump with my latest story, maybe this is exactly the kind of push I need to get inspired again. Since I now have 20,000 words, here’s hoping maybe I end up with 70k and a finished novel by the first of December.

Anyway, today I wanted to give you guys a peek at what my Nanowrimo writing desk will look like this month. It’s fairly simple - just a few of my favorite items to keep on hand while writing away.

Writing Resources and YA Books

My favorite place to write is Barnes & Noble, because writing in a bookstore means you’ve got tons of resources right at your fingertips. Of course at home I don’t have access to all those books, but I still try to keep a few of my favorites nearby. That includes some writing reference books, a couple YA novels if I ever need a distraction and reminder of how the genre works, and a cute little writing exercise book. Because sometimes you need to take a short break from your story to get the writing juices flowing again.

A Calendar

I haven’t used this adorable clipboard calendar much throughout the year, but I expect to get a lot of use out of it this month to track my daily word count. I’ll also be doing this over on the Nanowrimo site, of course. But in case I don’t have time to update online on a certain day, having this calendar will help me write down my final count before going to bed, not to mention include any other quick notes I might want to remember for the next day.

Hot Tea and a Mug

Caffeine is pretty much a necessity for any Nanowrimo participant but since I don’t really drink coffee, my drug of choice is hot tea with a milder level of caffeine. I got this mug for my birthday last year, and I love it (pretty sure it’s from Barnes & Noble, and I believe they still carry it). Writing and reading go hand in hand, so it’s the perfect mug to have on hand for the month.

Journals

If there’s one thing I probably have too much of in my room, it’s blank journals. When people find out I like to write they tend to give me them for my birthday/Christmas, but, hey, I’m not complaining cause I love them. :) But that, in addition to my inability to resist cute journals, has led to quite a collection. I’m trying to be more proactive about actually using them, and one use I’ve found lately is to use them to supplement my writing. Sometimes I need an actual page to plan things out - like character names, setting maps and so on. These two journals are so pretty that I’m not sure I’ll actually use them for that (another reason I never use journals is because I think they’re too pretty!) but I have quite a few more to pick from, so we’ll see!

Wall Art

Last but not least, I try to brighten up my writing desk area with some pretty art, like Starry Night which popular as it is, never gets old to me. Sometimes people don’t view writing as an art - an inherently creative process that requires a great deal of imagination - but it is. When we write, we are creating a form of art. And I’ve found that having other art forms (such as paintings, or music) can be a great source of inspiration and motivation.

So what about you? What do you keep on your writing desk, and are you also joining the Nanowrimo madness this year?

#2016 #writing