It's the little trinkets...

I like stuff. My best friend gives me a hard time because I like trinkets, the weirder the better. I thought I'd give you all a glimpse at the things that will help keep me inspired during my NaNoWriMo journey.

First, and most important, my single cup coffee maker and my 12-year-old-super-glued-handle Garfield birthday coffee cup. It was the only gift I got for my 20th birthday, and it was from my roommate's grandma. Now that I think about it, I should write that crazy old woman into my story...


Next, there's Craig. Craig is the gargoyle who watches over my office. He's named for my brother, who gave him to me when I was working at the university.


Here's my desk. As a whole, everything on it makes me smile:Funshine Bear pen, Funky Man pen, hula girl pen, crazy Mexican wand that came in a floral arrangement, My Little Pony unicorn (my SIL found my favorite one from when I was a kid and made me a mini-sized one, too), my Cameron University mug (graduate alma mater), Cleveland Browns mug (I used to claim them as "my team" because I asked my brother who was the worst team in football, and he told me the Browns, so I decided to root for them--this was back in 93 or 94, I believe), a "spirit" rock and tin from 2 of my best friends, a pic of me and Candice, a friendship box from Jennifer, the "this is what we're going to look like when we're old ladies" post card that Can sent me when I moved, and the butterfly picture holder from a $1 crap goodie bag she gave me for my birthday one year (come to think of it, hula girl pen came from that batch, as did the flower billboard tacks that you can see beside the pic), oh yeah, and Post-Its (they make me very smiley!).

Buddha (no explanation needed).


Here's my $1 globe from Target. I bought it because I'm geographically challenged, so I like studying it when I'm stumped. It's located on my handy-dandy dictionary and thesaurus as well. I know I can look all that up online, but I still like doing it manually for some reason.


Jimmy and Boomerang. Jimmy is the pool ball, and he's a long story (maybe I'll tell you all one day). The boomerang is from my longest-time online friend, Chris, who lives in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.


Miniature dark chocolate Tolberone bars are the single greatest confection invented in this century so far...


A drawing from Little D, complete with the stick wo/man's knees makes this mama happy.


Inside this notebook are my character sketches and plot ideas. I prefer to do the outlining by hand (mind you, it's not necessarily a strict outline). I also like to use the really nice pen set that Mr. Daisy stole me from his workplace (don't call the MPs out, folks, they give these away to important people, and I'm pretty damn important, I'd say!). Oh, and do you notice my "Chat Noir" memo pad? I love that evil looking cat.


If I hit a really big mental block, then I can call on three of my most knowledgeable writing partners: Strunk, King, and Oates. Everyone knows that The Elements of Style is the go-to book for all things technical. However, if I find myself having difficulties in other aspects, On Writing by Stephen King and The Faith of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oates (one of my favorite authors) will likely get me back on track. By the way, say what you will about King, but the man knows how to hammer out some novels (though I personally prefer his short stories).


And finally, there's Barack. Actually, he has nothing to do with my project, but everyone knows that Obama makes everything all better!


(Forgive me for the quality of the images, but I took them all on my phone because I'm lazy.)