Well, on my desk type deal there's my laptop in the middle. And then next to that is about ten million notebooks stacked up that are filled with scenes I've written or names I like that I wrote down or lines I could use in a story, ect. I place five or six pens on top of the stack of notebooks. I usually have some kind the drink I'm drinking somewhere on my desk, and a few framed pictures.

Hope I helped answer your question.

The thing that works best for me, odd as this may sound, is a second computer. Well, not the computer so much, as the place where I keep it, and the fact that it isn't connected to the internet.

A doctor once told me that one of the best things you can do in order to go to sleep at night is to avoid things like reading in bed or watching television in bed. the idea is that you train your body to go to sleep when you go to bed. I've found that the same is true for writing. I use the computer that I'm on now for e-mail and internet, and, from time to timme, games. So when I try to write on this computer I find that it's easy to get distracted. So I have a second computer in another room that I only use for writing. The system isn't perfect, but it is helpful.

I avoid having too much around that computer. I find that the more I have around me the more opportunities I give myself to be distracted. But what I would recommend is a cork board or a dry erase board for writing notes. You don't want to start out a story where a character has green eyes and is a little over five feet tall, and end the story where they're nearly six feet and have brown eyes. well, maybe you do, but you don't want to have it come about by accident.

If there is a particular quote or piece of advice that you find inspiring, you might put that up. I keep pen and paper handy, mostly so that I can make a note to research something I'm not sure about.

That's really about it. But this may not apply to you, I tend to get distracted more easily than most.

Computer, front and center. Cup of pencils and pens. Scratch paper, Post-It notes. US map. Printer and paper. Good light coming from the right, since I'm left-handed.

Also--and this may be the mark of a writer--I have (pausing to count) six dictionaries, two thesauruses, a rhyming dictionary, a biographical dictionary, a medical dictionary, a dictionary of art and artists, two books of quotations, a bible, the complete works of Shakespeare (those last four together are the best source of titles), an anatomy book, Writer's Market fro a few years ago, The Chicago Manual of Style, The St. Martin's Handbook (my two favorite grammar and usage references), The Elements of Style, a coaster for my beverage, a stapler, envelopes, a paper clip dispenser, and various folders containing clippings and notes.

I also have a kitchen timer, to remind me when I need to get back to other things.

Yeah, it's a mess, but it works for me.