What do writers collect? by Molly MacRae

If you were to ask me if I collect anything—stamps, coins, rare first editions, beer cans, that kind of thing—I’d say no. Our conversation would move on, but in the middle of the night I’d wake up and rethink my answer. Because here’s a list of things I’ve collected over my writing life. The list isn’t all-inclusive or alphabetical, but it is partially annotated.

Books

Voices. For example, the voice of a friend, driving one dark, foggy night along a winding country road, who said as she took her hands off the steering wheel, “I felt murder in my hands.”

Characters. For example, that same friend.

Overheard conversations. They’re the best, aren’t they? You don’t necessarily hear the context and are left to wonder (see entry under Voices above).

News clippings

Hope

Readers (one hopes)

Advice. Any kind of advice. It doesn’t even have to be good. I’m happy to ignore any kind of advice at all.

Coffee mugs and teacups

Thick skin (again, one hopes)

Other writers. I love knowing other writers, learning from them, listening to them, discovering commonalities, having lunch.

Pictures of writers writing

A picture I've had since 1993. No idea who he is. Or the writer. 

Pictures of writers knitting

Deadlines

Books about how to write

Grammar and style books

Terrific book. Dreyer's wit makes it even more fun.

Quotations about writing from writers

Recipes for chocolate desserts. Contact me if you’d like a recipe for Tunnel of Fudge Cake, Chocolate Whiskey Cake, Puff Pastry Triangles with Mini Chocolate Chips, or Double-Dark Chocolate Devastator Cookies. Or all of them.

Back issues of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I’m slowly passing them along to local Little Free Libraries.

Cats, one or two at a time. I’m between cats, now, and have been for several years. I need a cat.

Penguins, apparently

Still life with penguins

Questions. Some of my favorites are “What if?” “And then what?” “Says who?” “What else?” and “Why?”

Situations. Especially funny or uncomfortable situations. Funny and uncomfortable are even better.

Writerly truths—for example, “Nobody but a reader ever became a writer.” To this I would add, “Nobody but a listener ever became a writer.”

Listening skills

Words—those to use and those to avoid

Names. The obituary page is a good place to find names—wonderful first names like these in our local paper: Stub, Pearless, Phyleta, Lear (female), Lingle (male), and Oakney. And these last names: Wurmnest, Mayworm, Tipsword, Brimberry, Vermillion, and Stump.

Notes from workshops

Small notebooks

Pens

Short pens and pencils

Small pieces of paper for quick notes

I haven’t set out to collect most of the things on my list. I have them, find them, sometimes buy them, or they’re given to me. I keep my favorites, the ones that need to be fed, the most helpful, and the most useful of them. There’s no need to explain the ones that need to be fed, but “favorite,” “best,” “most helpful,” and “most useful” are subjective. The person using those descriptors gets to decide which things they apply to.

Given all that, I’d call myself more of a haphazard keeper than a collector. What about you? What do you collect and/or keep?