bookshelf tour

You can tell a lot about a person (and a writer especially) from their bookshelves and their workspace. Both of mine are very messy, but they are rather organized (which totally fits the rest of my life upon further introspection...) Today I offer you a glimpse onto these shelves and my desk. Proceed at your own risk.

Behold the chaos that is my primary bookshelf. It's very colorful, which also fits my personality (I love bright, crazy colors). I can't fit all of the books in. Nor are they in any specific order (other than a series). Plus, who said bookshelves are just for books? They also hold all of the OTHER random trinkets I can't find a place for in the rest of the apartment.

Meet my neon llamas. They're real llamas. They were a wedding present from my sister-in-law in Bolivia. They don't have names, which I've just now realized should be rectified. The pink one shall be called Sherbet and the orange one will be known as Mango. I so decree it. Sherbet and Mango are the faithful guardians of my signed YALLfest books. Also, Mango thinks that Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell makes a comfy alternative history bed. Sherbet is a fan of Southern gothic fiction, as well as stories about zombies and space.

Next shelf! In which you can see exactly how much I love Maggie Stiefvater. And Harry Potter. And J.R.R. Tolkien. And Neil Gaiman. And T.S. Eliot. I actually DO own the last three volumes of Harry Potter. They are on loan to my mother who waited until the end of the final movie to read the books. She, like most others in my life, has finally conceded that, "Yes. The books are better than the movies."

Also, did I mention that I loved the Redwall series as a young child? Because I did! These books saw me through the tumultuous years of pre-teen-hood. Because I was in such denial about lip-gloss and spaghetti straps, I decided to instead run off into the forest and pretend to be a staff-wielding hare named Honeydew. Those were good times. Good times.

Hiding in the corner is a really amazing series by Susan Cooper called The Dark is Rising. Read them.

What are you looking at you ask? All of my writing ever. Okay. Maybe not ever, but it's a pretty good representation of my portfolio from kindergarten all of the way through high school. Every time I want to laugh or feel better about my current writing, I dive into this sucker. I even have a snazzy stack of rejection letters. In both cases, the electronic equivalents of these piles are much thicker than the actual thing.

A nice wad of enveloped NOs.

A taste of my non-fiction collection. I feel like this shelf is a pretty good representation of my other hobby. Travel (not the Civil War, though I have been to battle reenactments as a semi-horrified yet ultimately fascinated spectator). Lonely Planet guides have never steered me wrong. If you're looking for detailed guides when you're planning a trip abroad, I definitely recommend them.

But I digress. On to where I spend a good part of my day:

The desk is a recent addition to my life. Until a few months ago my writing location of choice was on the floor by my coffee table (I wrote three novels this way.) Some friends were getting rid of this desk and offered it to me. On it I keep my ever trusty warm beverage (I can't seem to write without hot tea or coffee at my side). I also nurse a not-quite-dead orchid (it has survived for 8 whole months!!) and a pegasus made of wire. Can you spy Nessie?

So there you have it. A glimpse into my chaotically ordered life. Writers, what does your workspace look like? How about your bookshelves? Anything fun?