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Things On My Desk And Bookcase.
Sep. 5th, 2009 08:48 pmI'm one of those writers who collect objects--no not objects: I collect personal talismans. Things that have something to do with the story I'm working on or hold some personal or nostalgic significance.
For instance, I have a $1 Canadian coin--a "Loonie"--at hand as I write the loon story. I have a piece of limestone from the ruined Washburn "A" flour mill, something I fidgeted with all through writing Dark Water Blues.
There are other things: Streetcar tokens, a stone arrowhead, a tiny origami crane made from the foil liner of a pack of cigarettes, a polished amethyst (my birthstone), a lynx carved from turquoise, a plush Energizer bunny, a pair of 19th century wire frame reading glasses, a Hopkins Raspberry Festival button, a Sacagawea dollar coin, plastic rosary beads, a flat rock I gathered from the Mississippi River, the alien polka band. All of them have some meaning or significance to me.
I like to keep them nearby, where I can reach out and touch them. I'm very tactile. I like to feel things. Touching gives me a sense of a thing--of its age and weight and history--where seeing it does not. I suspect that has something to do with my horrible vision. That said, I also collect photographs and such that have some tie-in to or helped trigger a story.
What about you?
For instance, I have a $1 Canadian coin--a "Loonie"--at hand as I write the loon story. I have a piece of limestone from the ruined Washburn "A" flour mill, something I fidgeted with all through writing Dark Water Blues.
There are other things: Streetcar tokens, a stone arrowhead, a tiny origami crane made from the foil liner of a pack of cigarettes, a polished amethyst (my birthstone), a lynx carved from turquoise, a plush Energizer bunny, a pair of 19th century wire frame reading glasses, a Hopkins Raspberry Festival button, a Sacagawea dollar coin, plastic rosary beads, a flat rock I gathered from the Mississippi River, the alien polka band. All of them have some meaning or significance to me.
I like to keep them nearby, where I can reach out and touch them. I'm very tactile. I like to feel things. Touching gives me a sense of a thing--of its age and weight and history--where seeing it does not. I suspect that has something to do with my horrible vision. That said, I also collect photographs and such that have some tie-in to or helped trigger a story.
What about you?
