What’s on my desk

I recently read an article telling me what I should have on my desk to be a productive writer. I’m okay with taking advice, but I don’t handle anyone telling me what to do. For some reason, the article felt more like the later rather than the former, which naturally means that I go totally teenaged rebel and won’t listen to the ‘advice’ no matter how good it may be. Instead, I decided to let everyone know what I’ve got on my desk. And just so we’re clear, I’ve published three books this year and am nearly finished with my fourth manuscript (intended publish date in January). Here’s what’s on my desk:

1. A huge bottle of lotion. Seriously, it’s huge – 1000 ml. Between having skin allergies and living in a land that’s constantly under construction, I need to moisturize my dry hands constantly. I’m still working on putting something under the gigantic bottle for the drips. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make a mess.
2. Lip balm. Although some people think that I’m constantly thinking about kissing lips or something, I’m not. I just have dry lips. Okay, I admit it, I’m a middle-aged woman with orthodontry work and this wreaks havoc on my lips. There, now you know.
3. A cloth for my glasses. I used to get annoyed because every time I was at the optometrist, he was giving me several clothes (with various logos for marketing purposes), but now I have these clothes spread all over the house. Why are my glasses always so dirty?
4. A gazillion different types of notepads and sticky notes. I like to leave myself little notes to remind me of things I need to do. On a typical day, you’ll see several notes stuck to various surfaces (my calendar, my mouse pad, my notebooks, etc., etc.). At some point I realize that I’m never going to get around to doing whatever is written on the sticky note and throw it away. By the next day I’m re-writing whatever task I threw away the previous day on yet another sticky note.
5. More pens than even God knows what to do with. In addition to always being in search of the perfect handbag, I’m searching for the perfect pen. Call me weird. It’s okay, I’m used to it.
6. Paper hole punch that works as a book end. I do sometimes actually use the thing to punch holes, but mostly I pile the papers that need holes punched in them on top of the books and forget about them until the pile falls over.
7. A hard drive because Internet back-up scares me. I’m sure I’ll get over this fear once I live in a country where the Internet is not used as a means to silence Westernized citizens. Who knew the Internet could be held hostage? Trust me, it can.
8. A roll of toilet paper. I have allergies but I also have a habit of forgetting to buy tissues, thus a roll of toilet paper is always within reach.
9. A huge pile of notebooks. I’ve become completely and totally addicted to notebooks. I’m always searching out cuter ones. I love the ones with inspirational sayings on them.
10. An agenda to keep track of my TBR list and obligations for the Readsalot blog. It’s also a great place to attach sticky notes!
11. A Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus because – again – the Internet is not to be trusted. For some reason, flipping the pages of the book is often enough for me to come up with the word I’m looking for. It also smells good.
12. A coaster because I tend to spill a lot. The coaster doesn’t really solve my klutziness but it helps when there’s coffee dripping from the sides of my cup.
13. Various USB sticks and flash drives because I’m totally obsessed with my fear of losing the Internet here. See points 7 and 11
14. A huge monitor. I just got a new all-in-one Dell computer. I’m completely in love with the huge screen and it makes my husband jealous – bonus!