Okay, with only 13.5 hours before the start of NaNoWriMo, I thought I would share my writing space with you. It is a little corner of my lounge room, right next to the front entry (which can be a real distraction) and the front windows (to the left), which provide great natural light.

 

desk small

You can see to the left of the laptop my little red moleskin notebook (taken everywhere) and my favourite writing pen. It has a metal nib, a bit like a pen you might use with a well of ink and makes me feel all “writerly”. The folder is my “bible” – where I keep important details, pics etc, along with my plot outline, character notes etc. When I need a break from my computer I can sit down with that.

To the right of the computer are reference books, including No Plot? No Problem!, Writing the Private Eye Novel, The Writer’s Journey plus a couple of others to reference for punctuation, style etc. The book “shelf” is full of my older notebooks, half-written projects, bookmarks, notes and the like, and also has my digital voice recorder (great for taking notes while driving) and my printer (and yes, that is Darth Vader stuck to the front, like a bug on a windscreen).

On the wall to the left of my desk are notecards with ideas for events, set pieces, interesting characters and the like. The idea is that if I get stuck at any point I can just look up, pick one of these and chuck them into the novel!

Above my desk is my inspiration wall. I have been sticking pictures, notes, lists and maps to that all month, building a picture of my world as I go. A couple of times I wrote down random names as they came to me (like Inspector Crox and Tuppence Brewster) and slowly they grew into characters! You will also notice the “Do As I Command” poster – that is awesome guys!

 

So, that is where I will be slaving away for the next thirty days!