What does your writing area say about you?

It’s a sunny Thursday evening in the west of London, a rare sunny day in a summer that has been punctuated by bad weather.  I’m sat on an uncomfortable chair in front of an old wooden filing cabinet that has a pull out writing shelf that I put my laptop on when writing.

On the main part of the filing cabinet are my microphone, pop filter, headphones and mixing desk for when I record podcasts.  Behind them, an angle-poise lamp (with low energy lightbulb to salve my eco-conscience), a Beanie Baby skeleton called Creepers (my NaNoWriMo mascot from last year), small plush Cthulhu toy, a Crookes radiometer and the latest addition to my desk, a large gargoyle candle stick.

There is practicality to my work area.  The desk and chair are by the window, allowing me the maximum of light, which can be supplemented by the lamp.  The recording equipment takes a back seat to my writing equipment, but can be brought forward when needed.

The radiometer keeps me grounded in reality, a testament to my fascination with how things work, the practicalities and realities of the physical world.  The gargoyle candlestick is a reminder of my interest in the Gothic.  I have collected gargoyles from the age of 18, I love them as architecture and I always find them useful to evoke the frame of mind I like to have when tackling darker stories.

The two plush toys?  One is a grim reaper style skeleton, the other a representation of the Elder God Cthulhu, created by HP Lovecraft, one of my favourite writers.  They are part of my fascination with the supernatural, the otherworldly, the dark and sinister, in contrast to the radiometer, which is of the material world, and which relies on the light, rather than dark.

But because they are plush toys, they remind me that ultimately, I’m supposed to be having fun doing this, and that I should never take myself too seriously.

And the uncomfortable chair?  That tells me I need to go shopping for better furniture…

Have a look at the area you do most of your writing.  What does it say about you?