Hello all! Thank you so much for joining me. I thought for this month’s post, I’d share my workspace or a.k.a. where the crazy happens. I feel like my workspace should look something like the inside of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory but with Big Cats wandering around instead of Oompa Loompas. No Big Cats, just one small furry trouble-maker with floppy ears and a waggly tail.

I’ve numbered some sections because I have a lot of stuff in several spots. I have a lot of stuff period. I’m like a magpie. I like to collect shiny things for my nest. Okay, so here goes. Click on the image to see the full resolution. This is where Dex was born folks. For some reason the creation of Frankenstein’s monster popped into my head just then. Only instead of black and white with me wearing a white lab coat, I’d probably be wearing neon legwarmers and Def Leppard would be playing in the background instead of an ominous soundtrack. Let’s move on.

1. My butt is in this chair a good portion of the day. My lovely parents surprised me with a new chair for Christmas. It’s a LaZ Boy, and has padding in all the right places, especially my back which is really important for me.

2. Logitech Wireless Wave Keyboard and wireless mouse. This sucker was pretty expensive, but I’m really picky about my keyboards. They have to feel right and the keys have to make a certain noise or it bugs me. As with everything high tech I own, I still don’t know everything it does. Occasionally I press a button and freeze. I stare at the screen and wonder what I just pressed.

3. Doggie blanket. This is where Olly naps when he needs to recharge his batteries before continuing his busy schedule of puppy shenanigans. He will then move to his puppy bed. Sleep. Try to destroy bed. Play with toys. Beg for a treat. Beg to go outside with the pretense of doing his business only to call every dog in the neighborhood for a barking match. He will then return to his blanket. Repeat.

4. Desk calendar. I need to have it in front of me to remember. De dates, guests, THIRDS Thursday, Newsletter, it all goes on here.

5. Notebooks, notebooks, and more notebooks. I have a thing for stationary. I have more notebooks, journals, pens, and stationary than I will ever use but I cannot stop buying it. I needs it. My Charlie mug has Sharpies, highlighters, and colored pens. The hot chocolate container has pens I’ve picked up at cons, a nail file, scissors, and an awesome Mary Calmes magnet.

6. Why yes, that is Destructive Delta wallpaper on my shiny new monitor. Why? Because I’m a big nerd. Anyway, I’m so excited about this monitor because it’s all shiny and new. My old monitor was dying and I had to keep leaning in which wasn’t helping my eyesight any, go I got me a new LCD 24.7” HD narrow-frame monitor. I do a lot of graphics as well, and with the old monitor my Photoshop windows were always fighting for space. Not anymore.

Under my monitor I have random bits and pieces like sticky pads I picked up at GRL, my black and white detective rubber ducks, some THIRDS stickers, file tabs, stapler, and sticky tabs from Rowen Speedwell in an awesome little ruler/magnifying glass box. The modem is that black box next to it and one of Amy Lane’s bookmarks is standing against it because 1. It has an awesome design. 2. It blocks out of the glow of the blinky lights which are bright enough to land a plane by in the dark.

7. My Kindle Fire HD 7. I only got it a few months ago. Right now it’s charging so I can continue reading Rhys Ford’s Cole McGinnis Mysteries of which I have waited too long to read. I decided this year I was going to read way more books than last year. The number was pretty appalling. Anyway, Rhys’s books were on sale, and I love me some Rhys Ford, so I bought the whole series, and woot!

8. My Contigo 32oz water bottle. I love that thing. Keeping it topped up and near me guarantees I remain hydrated. It has an auto seal button which means I won’t accidently spill it because if it can be spilled, it will be spilled. Next to it are my lubricant eye drops. I had laser eye surgery a few years ago so it’s important I don’t let my eyes get too dry, or I get headaches.

9. My Epson printer/shelf. Yes, that’s a DD sticker on it. I wanted to see what they looked like on something and didn’t know where else to stick it because I never stick things on my monitor and it just looked like it needed to go there. Again. Nerd. There’s colored roller ball pens, because again, stationary obsession. Tissues. Wrist guards because when I’m writing away furiously because I’m behind on a deadline it can get uncomfortable and sometimes a little painful, so those help. To-do pads, and chocolate. I don’t need to explain chocolate.

10. More journals. My author copies of my paperbacks without Hell & High Water because my cousin popped in for a visit and I gave him one of each book in the series and only had one H&HW left, so I gave it to him. I know what you’re looking at and we’ll get there. From left to right at the front, small glass vase with awesome voodoo doll keying of Thor and Loki which I got for Christmas from the fab Lex Chase. She also got me a Care Bare dressed as a reindeer which is on my bookshelf. THIRDS mug with nail file from Piper Vaughn, Shira Anthony Blue Notes pen, photo booth pics form last two GRL retreats.

 Really pretty Japanese cup which was probably part of a set once. Found it in a thrift shop for fifty cents. Now it’s a flower vase. Okay, on the books and journals. Left to right. Two beanie huskies which I’ll be giving away when Healing Hunter’s Heart comes out. A cougar beanie which I’ll also giveaway at some point, and Puppet Ash. Puppet Ash will not be given away. He’s my baby and the inspiration behind the Puppet Ash scene in Hell & High Water. He is real.

11. Storage boxes. The bottom is filled with pens. It really is. Just pens. Most of them from conferences I’ve attended. The top box has random things like cough drops, Emergen-C packets, tape. Underneath, my writing schedule, ruler, random letters, box of Band Aids, notebook for blogging ideas which has like three topics jotted down., mini stapler, stickers.

12. Notebooks, headache tablets, business receipts for 2014 that really should have been filed away from Jan 1^st, 2014.

13. From left to right, Storage box, shot glasses from different states I’ve visited, Shira’s Blue Notes and Mermen of EA series pens, Bates Motel actual motel style mug, 60s camera I got in a thrift shop when I visited Kansas. I think it cost me $3. It looks new so it might still work. I just liked how it looked. Mississippi Mud bottle I kept from my brother. Never tried the stuff but again, I liked how it looked. LOTR collector’s edition. LOTR Rohan Collector’s journal. Alice in Wonderland collector’s mug with signed Amy Lane bookmarks. Lots and lots of squishy stress objects. Stress cow, stress horse, stress star, dragon, you get the idea. Kim Fielding’s awesome unicorn rubber duck.

14. Random notebooks, blank DVD, CDs, pins for a corkboard I no longer have.

15. Paper swag, so THIRDS bookmarks, character cards, postcards, my RWA magazine, a clipboard, book cover posters that I keep meaning to give away but need to get tubes for, lovely sewing kit from Eden Winters. Another box full of pens. Drawer underneath has notebooks where I do my plotting.

So this is where it all happens. It gets de-cluttered, cluttered, things shift around, but every day I come to my little corner of chaos and I chat to you guys, and post pictures, and let the fellas roam free to cause havoc. If anyone has any questions about my writing process, ask away. There is method to my madness, I assure you.

About the Author

Charlie Cochet is an author by day and artist by night. Always quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, no star is out of reach when following her passion. From Historical to Fantasy, Contemporary to Science Fiction, there’s bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!

Currently residing in South Florida, Charlie looks forward to migrating to a land where the weather includes seasons other than hot, hotter, and boy, it’s hot! When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found reading, drawing, or watching movies. She runs on coffee, thrives on music, and loves to hear from readers.

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