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1. $ Gift Certificates - Not exactly techy, but easy.

2. $$ Portable Backup Storage - Encourage writers to backup their masterpieces with portable storage.

4. $$ Ergonomic Keyboard - Try it, they may like it and improve their health at the same time. (Keep the receipt just in case)

5. $$+ Digital Voice Recorder - Often times writers dream the stories they are writing and or their imaginations become alive just before they lie down to sleep.  Having a voice recorder handy helps ensure they capture the thought-on-the-spot.

6. $$+ Update Writing Software - Find out if your writer gift recipient is using the latest version of their writing software or if they’ve been wanting to try something new.

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This beautiful sterling silver ring incorporates writing and love – taking jewelry to a new level.  Imagine leaving secret love notes for your sweetheart to carry with them throughout the day.  Just slide your note (written on mylar paper that can be cut but not torn) inside the ring and your thoughts will be close to your loved one all day.

At $300 it is a bit more expensive than the traditional “note on a napkin” that you may leave in your sweetheart’s lunchbox.  But, unforgettably cute and unique none-the-less.

The Love Inside No.5 - Made to order in your size by artist Colleen Baran at Etsy.

Recently arriving at LitCentral’s office was a package from our friends at Field Notes. The company, based out of Chicago and Portland, produces a quality memo book that rivals such competitors as Moleskine. There is genius hidden behind the marketing of this product, as it has taken on a cult-like following in a very short amount of time.

Design
Inspired by vintage farmers’ planting books and other practical, historic, mostly-midwestern American design.

Field Notes Three-Pack ($9.95) includes the following features:

    * Three 48-page memo books.
    * Each 3-1/2″ wide by 5-1/2″ tall.
    * Rugged three-staple saddle-stitch process.
    * Perfect 3/16″ (5mm) graphed paper.

Bonus goodies are included with every order and may very.

Field Notes are a very durable notebook made for anyone who needs something handy and accessible to capture the abundant overflow of their brain droppings.  But for the purpose of Founders’ Blog we’re going to explore the benefits of Field Notes with regard to writers.

Screenwriters, Writers and Field Notes
Writers don’t just have ideas for stories, they have ideas for characters within those stories, and dialogue, and locations, and subplots, and so on… What I like about Field Notes is the 48-pages are a small but significant commitment to a particular subject or idea.  With Field Notes you’re not presented with a giant notebook that may end up collecting dust because you have no idea how to begin filling so many pages. In the past I’ve been guilty of buying expensive journals and filling them with umpteen different subjects that eventually end up lost because there’s no search button or sequential order!

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There is an insightful article over at Guardian News and Media which has researched the working spaces of 68 famous writers. Within the article each modern writer elaborates on their choice of space, furniture and gadgets. Posthumous articles by various journalists cover the work spaces of writers such as Virginia Wolf and Rudyard Kipling. It’s interesting to see some of the geek’dm, and antiquated work spaces used by the best.  

Having just posted an article myself about the best ergonomic chairs for writers, I offer Sarah Waters (Author of Tipping the Velvet) the prize for best chair.  She also has several maps plastering the walls which qualify as art in my office as well.  Charles Darwin’s Victorian digs surprised me, as I expected to see a bunch of dead specimens in jars and carcasses hanging from the wall. 

Check out  the article and see where the musings of many great writers have taken place.

Sarah Waters’ Writing Room

I’m not sure if I want this alarm clock, but I do know that I need it.  Yep, I am one of those perpetual snooze-button-hitters.  My alarm goes off on my Blackberry at 6:00 am every morning and I hit the snooze every ten minutes until 6:50 am.  That’s no longer possible with Clocky. 

This geeky little wheeled alarm clock started out as an engineering student’s project to wake her up.  How does it work?  You set your snooze time anywhere between 0 and 9 minutes.  Clocky will allow one hit of the snooze button before he shrieks and rolls away.  He works on both wood and carpet and can jump up to three feet!  Want to turn Clocky off?  You must get out of bed and chase him down.  How’s that for curing (or annoying) us Snoozers.  Rise and shine!

Clocky comes in various colors with a price tage of $49 and is sold in multiple locations such as Think Geek.