THE WRITER'S VIEW: CHRIS REYNOLDS

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Chris will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

My desk is a special desk because, like my chair, it is height adjustable. I’m only short and I get horrible back pain if I sit at a normal sized desk. This is because the desks you see in offices these days are the standard height for writing with a quill and parchment, so the writer doesn’t have to hunch too far over the desk. The best position for typing, however, is to sit up straight with your feet on the floor and your elbows supported and level with the keyboard. Despite lots of research to back this up, furniture makers still churn out standard height desks (720mm / 27 inches) by the truckload. Apparently, desks of the correct height for the computer-user look ugly and squat when put in office spaces and, therefore, don’t sell. At least, that’s what I heard. Either that or all office managers get a commission from their local chiropractor.

I decided to save my back and splash out on something suitable for a five-foot-tall person. The chair is also a top ergonomic model which goes low enough for my feet to touch the floor and has arm rests which turn inwards so I can rest my arms on them (for some mad reason, normal arm rests are at such an angle that you can’t rest your arms on them and type at the same time - perhaps chair manufacturers are in league with osteopaths). The type of chair I have is about £700 new, so I bought mine second hand on eBay - from a nice man in Milton Keynes.

There’s a lot of junk on my desk. The sellotape, parcel table and cut up bits of paper are from where I’ve been doing a bit of ebaying of my own (people snapped up my second hand nail varnish, but weren’t interested in my Doctor Who CDs - the world is weird!). Underneath the roll of sellotape at the nearest corner is my glasses case. Yes, I’ve succumbed to the need to use reading glasses, which is making me feel old. My eyesight is generally pretty good, but when I get tired, focussing on stuff gets difficult. The optician thinks I need the glasses, although that could just be a ploy to get me to pay him lots more money.

Behind the glasses case is my running hat. I am one of those chubby red-faced blobs you see out on the pavements, jogging away in a desperate attempt to keep fit. I started running seriously in October and it’s been a boost to my wellbeing. It’s taken a while, but now I feel refreshed when I come back from a run and I think it helps me concentrate on my writing too. I’ve been more productive since I got into running and I would really recommend it for anyone who has an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. All I need to do now is resist all those cakes and things and I’ll be a bit less blobby.

You may notice I have a little friend sitting on top of my computer monitor. This is Shammy - for reasons which will become obvious - and was a Christmas present from my parents. Her under belly is made of chamois leather and she is designed to wipe the screen clear of dust. I decided she should live on top of the monitor so she is handy for when the screen needs a wipe. Every now and again she falls down the back, but I always stick her back up there. You may notice, she is not the only cuddly elephant who lives in that corner of the room.

Despite the untidiness of my desk, I see that all my pens and scissors and things are actually where they’re supposed to be; sitting inside the desk-tidy. I think that’s pretty impressive. There have been many times when I’ve bought myself a desk-tidy with the intension of, well, keeping my desk tidy - only for it to sit empty while the pens, pencils and highlighters go walkabout all over the room and, eventually get lost. I’m not sure why the red plastic one does the job, but I’m glad it does. If only it could keep everything else tidy on my desk …

Finally, in the far corner behind the table lamp, is a pile of books. The top two are copies of Mind Secrets by Chris Reynolds. Have you read that one yet? I’m told it’s very good!

About the Author:Chris Reynolds is a lover of adventure stories. Chris spent her time growing up avidly reading them, watching them on TV and writing them in her school exercise books. She was often frustrated that stories written by other people didn’t go the way she wanted them to, so she decided to write her own. In the interim, she has worked for the BBC and independent radio as a journalist, written for magazines and some published non-fiction books. Now her stories are available for all to read, following the release of her acclaimed debut novel Mind Secrets.

Chris lives among the Chiltern Hills, north of London.

Find Chris online at:

http://www.chrisreynolds-writer.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/ChrisReynolds01
Twitter: ChrisReynolds_1

On the run and without his memories, Michael escapes from a man called Carter onto the unfamiliar streets of London. There, he meets a gang of teenagers with the power to sense the thoughts and feelings of others. They live in fear of ‘the cure’, a mysterious process which takes away their power and, some believe, destroys their personality. Suspecting the cure caused his memory loss, Michael goes undercover to investigate the truth behind the doctors of the cure clinic. What he discovers leads him to a conspiracy that runs to the heart of government and reveals the shocking reality of his own past.

Mind Secrets is a compelling thriller set in a contemporary world and will appeal to anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to have mind powers.