You Can Tell A Writer By…Their Tools of the Trade (Part One)
A little while ago, I was putting together my new website (OK, my friend Lindsay Nyre was putting it together), and trying to think of images that spoke to who I am as a writer. Then I looked around me, at the Powell’s coffee mug on the kitchen counter, the “Everything Private Investigation Book” (by Sheila L. Stephens) on the back of the toilet, and the Edward Gorey sticker book I use as a mouse pad. I realized my environment says volumes about who I am (hmm, sounds like something a writer should know, doesn’t it?). Case in point: my refrigerator holds cool writer-centric magnets (including one from Left Coast Crime, which will be held in Portland next year!), a list of restored hours for the Multnomah County Library, dinner ideas with a note for my second book (“Pet cam”) at the top, and a postcard for Gigi Pandian’s books that also has a recipe for daal.
My fridge
So I thought it would be fun to ask my writer friends to share images that said something about who they are as writers. I got such cool and varied responses! So many, in fact that I’ve decided to break this post into several ones that I’ll put up every other week. This week features our tools of the trade:
From Julie Brokken:
An artist-poeta’s briefcase… GRiN!
From Christine Finlayson:
It’s not a mug or magnet, but spiral-bound notebooks that show I’m an author. You can find these in every room of our house and a growing pile of them in my office, full of brainstorms, thoughts, and important notes about works in progress. These paper notebooks (old-fashioned as they are) hold some of my best ideas and I treasure them because of it!
From Bill Cameron:
And some of my favorite tools:
Stay tuned for more in two weeks!
