my writing desk

Maybe you know, or maybe you don't.  I'm crazy about writing.  But what really drives me nuts is how little chance I get to do it.  With schoolwork and all my other responsibilities there's hardly any time to sit down and just write down some of my ideas.

So, the other day, my mom was dusting and cleaning off all these old tins and jars she never uses.  A lot of them were really adorable.  She just doesn't need them.  So I claimed one for myself, to keep in my desk.

I was having trouble deciding what to do with it, though.  Finally I came up with something.  There's dozens of story worlds in my head, so I wrote the name of each book, story, or character on a slip of paper.  I put them all inside the jar.  Every day I take one slip out, and I just write.  Not for a particular amount of time, or a certain number of words.  I aim to write a paragraph or two.  I don't bother starting at the beginning of the story.  I just take whatever I have in my head and put it down on paper.  And just making myself write a little bit, without stressing myself out about it, really helps to get the "creative juices" flowing.  Stories I haven't though about in a long time suddenly come back to life.  I may not know where I'm taking them.  I just start getting them there.  :)

(P.S. I rarely actually use this desk for writing.  For one, in the winter it's too dark in my room.  I can see OK, but the light isn't coming at an ideal angle.  I just shove stuff inside my desk [hence the pens, spools of thread, darning egg, ER wristband, and random papers I probably don't need.])