What's in my workspace? — Mary Lucia Darst

I'm a doctoral student and classical musician, so my space is set up for writing an academic thesis and working on audition videos.

My Traveler’s Company (parent company Midori) brass ruler. It’s thin enough to be a bookmark and heavy enough to weight book pages gently. It has a crimped edge to allow for fountain pen nibs.

A Platinum Plaisir fountain pen. I have several fountain pens, but I keep coming back to this one. It’s well-balanced and amazingly light. The nib is so smooth it glides across the page.

An egg timer from Flying Tiger Copenhagen. It has a loud tick, and I use it for pomodoro sessions while I write my doctoral thesis.

A gel wrist rest that goes with my vertical mouse. As a viola player, I always try to avoid straining my hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, or back. So, I switched to a vertical mouse with a coincidentally matching wrist rest.

What's in your ...?

We want to hear about unusual and unusually useful items that you have in your desk, bag, closet, fridge or where ever you keep things. It can be anything really: work bag, pantry shelf, beauty drawer, toolbox, etc. Start by sending an email to claudia@cool-tools.org with a photo of the things in your chosen space (you can use your phone). If you get a reply from us, fill out the form. We’ll pay you $50 if we run your submission in our What’s in my ...? newsletter and blog.