Writing aides

We all use them and they come in many shapes and forms.  Having taken a week away from my WIP, I returned to it this morning and, as always, found it difficult to get going again.  Writing romance is a bit like being in a relationship - absence may or may not make the heart grow fonder but it is definitely out of sight, out of mind sometimes!  So as I sat there 'making notes' I got to thinking about the props and aides that writers rely on and I discovered that I am a real creature of habit - I don't need many aides but they are always the same ones, viz:




Coffee (obviously)
A cocoa bar (it used to be chocolate before I became a vegan)
Notepad and pen (essential for those 'why' questions)
A diary (as I like to record my word count and my thoughts about my progress, or lack of it, every day)
My invaluable little pink timer (this really works for me if I'm stuck. Setting it to a twenty minute countdown magically gets me writing, anything, even if I end up deleting it eventually)

I've also realised I work better perched on my breakfast bar as opposed to sitting at the table in my carefully prepared writing corner. Well, for one thing, it's nearer the coffee and cocoa bar, I suppose. And the view out of the window to the bird feeders is conducive to writing, although equally good for procrastination too!  

I guess at the end of the day, we writers find the ways and means that work for us, whatever they may be.  What are your favourite aides?