Writer's Nook: Sophie McKenzie

Writer's Nook is a new feature at A Dream of Books where authors talk about their personal writing space and the objects or inspirational things they like to keep around them. 

I'm thrilled to welcome Sophie McKenzie to the blog for the very first Writer's Nook.

I love writing stories and, wherever I go, I tend to carry sections of my work in progress with me. I might be writing, editing or planning – and I might be carrying the relevant chapters on my laptop or as printed out pages. The point is, it’s all portable. 

Having said that, my favourite place to work is definitely at home at my desk, sitting down in front of my iMac. I like the big screen on this computer. It means I can see more of my manuscript – the one on the screen in the picture is part of the sequel to Split Second (pub. Sept 2013) - than if I’m working on my laptop. I also like having all the editing functions – from word search to cutting and pasting – at my fingertips.

To be honest, most of the surrounding area isn’t that important to me. Looking at my desk today, I can see it’s really a bit of a mess. There are probably a load of things here I could throw away. However, the following items are really important:

The router. Easy internet access means that if I want to find out something I can usually research it in a matter of minutes. For Casting Shadows, there’s a scene at the start where River and her dad are birthing lambs. Once upon a time I’d have had to wait for the right time of year then visit a farm to see a lamb being born to find out what that would involve. But all I had to do the other day was a quick search on the net.

The sharpies. Kindly provided by my publishers and handy for signing books.

The pen pot. Full of pens for when I’m editing or annotating a print out.

The ‘to do’ list. To help me remember all the writing and promotional work I’m supposed to be doing.
The cup of tea. To sustain me through the writing day.

The little Buddha. To help me keep everything in perspective when the story I’m writing isn’t going well.

The row of previously published books next to my printer. To remind me as I write that if I did it before, I can do it again!