The Well-Appointed Desk

I don’t often post about what people do (or might do) with all those pens, pencils and paper but I like Neil Gaiman and I liked this list so I thought I would post it. If you need a little jump start on a project, maybe this will help you get going.

1. Write
2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
5. Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
6. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7. Laugh at your own jokes.
8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

(via Brain Pickings)

1. You have more than three cups on your desk – and they’re all full of your “daily use pens and pencils”.
2. Roller ball, fountain, gel, ball point, liquid ink… you have at least one of each and can describe the difference and why you prefer one over the other
3. You have an entire shelf full of unused notebooks, yet still buy more.
4. Fountain pens mean a new collection — inks!
5. You become weak-kneed when you spy a great looking tape dispenser or stapler.
6. There is more than one calendar within view right now (planner, diary, journal, wall, etc all count)
7. There’s no such thing as too many blank note cards.
8. You have your own stationery cupboard.
9. Nothing makes you happier than a trip to the nearest office supply shop.
10. You write a blog about your addiction.

How did you rate?

(this list was modified from original list by Office Supply Queen which is awesome but I took some creative liberties with it)