What Is On Your Desk?

What is on your desk and what does this say about you? The other day I was chiseling characters in my mind. As I stared at my desk, wondering what objects say about the characters that possess them, a familiar phrase from an often-heard commercial popped into my head: “What’s in your wallet?” My imagination tweaked this into “What’s on your desk?” Want to know what is on mine at this moment?

1.A Starbucks vente chai latte. Fuel for my writing engine.

2.A large bottle of water. Chai is tasty, but not all that healthy or hydrating.

3. My laptop, with a passed out Siamese cat lounging beside it.

4. An electronic mouse—for the computer, not the cat.

5. A datebook with lots of “to do” stuff scribbled in the squares, which is freaking me out. Memo to me: Move the datebook out of sight.

6. A scented candle that isn’t lit. Not yet, anyway. Where did I put those matches?

7. Multiple scraps of paper with random notes.

8. A telephone that I will glare at if it interrupts me, unless the call is from someone I like or am expecting.

9. A pocket watch that belonged to my great grandfather and requires winding every eight hours or so. There’s something ready, set, go about winding a watch at the start of the workday.

10.Books that I hope are filling the room with inspiration the way that the candle will fill the space with a harvest sent. Once I find those matches.

What’s on your desk? And what does it say about you? But maybe as important is: What’s on your character’s desk and what do these things say about him or her? What's in his or her wallet, closet, or junk drawer? Hmmmm.