Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Today’s topic is: What are 5 must-have things you keep on your desk, and how do you use them?

And remember to pay a visit to my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

This week’s topic is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. Why? Well, in truth, I don’t necessarily have one singular place where I write. There is the desk up in my home office, my most stable location. The sofa in the lounge is another option, as I am now (in front of the fan as we endure a heatwave here in the UK). I’ll write at lunch at work. Or quite often, in a coffee shop. I’ll even write on my phone if I am on a long journey, with no access to my laptop and with time to kill.

So what are the five must-haves on my desk? Here’s a rough stab off the top of my head:

• My laptop or smartphone: These form the basic tool for my writing. I type my books and stories in Google Docs, giving me access to them virtually anywhere in the world as long as I have an internet connection. Or not, as they can be accessed offline with edits being synced to the cloud once the connection reestablishes itself.
• A notebook: Okay, this one is a lie, more accurately this should be described as “a stack of notebooks”. There’s one for annotations and extra notes for editing, one for short story ideas, and one for scripts and ideas for my podcast. I have another where I scribble quotes about reading, writing and books that inspire me. In short, I have a bit of a problem with notebooks. Especially ones with eye-catching covers.
• Pens: These work particularly well with the notebooks from point three. A selection is best. Ballpoints for writing notes, crossing things out and annotating my manuscripts. Then there are highlighters. There is nothing I find more satisfying when I am editing than streaking bright flashes of neon ink across the page. It softens the blow of all the errors and awful passages I come across.
• Headphones/Speaker: I don’t work well in silence. Some ambient music I’ve curated into a YouTube playlist sets the tone for me when I’m writing. It helps me enter the world I am working to create. I don’t just see what my characters are doing, I am along with them for the ride.
• Coffee: This is possibly the single most important item on my table. If I’m at home, there’s a mug at hand. At the coffee shop, obviously, there’s a coffee or three. Coffee is my go-to, and I have to have one every morning. Unless I’m writing later in the day in which case it might be water, but I am a morning writer so in almost every case it will be a lovely, strong coffee.

What would the key items on your desk be?