Five Things...

The Writer's Idea Book is providing me with much inspiration for blog posts - thank you Jack Heffron. Today's is this: what five things would you take to a deserted island? I came up with some things which surprised even me, leaving aside the obvious, like suncream and a boat, and assuming it's a low-tech island, with nowhere to plug in a coffee machine or my laptop, or connect to the internet, so that endlessly watching the West Wing and tweeting about it isn't an option, nor is Skyping all my friends to make them jealous of my wonderful (if enforced) holiday.

1. My Bible.

What can I say? A great opportunity to deepen my relationship with God.

2. My guitar.

Yes, I know. I've never mentioned my guitar before. In fact, I hardly ever remember that I own one. But under a sunny sky, with no one to hear me except the odd bird, and lots of time to kill, I'm sure I'd be eager to reacquaint myself with it. Maybe even write some songs. Who knows.

3. Reams and reams and reams of paper and many, many, many pens (I hope it's not cheating having these two things count as one).

With none of the aforementioned high tech distractions, I might actually get Inevitable written. And who knows, maybe its sequel. And The Muffin House. And some poems and short stories. If I'm going to be there for a really long time, I could even get going on my autobiography. Well, I'll be famous after I return from my long stint on a deserted island, and I'm sure everyone will want to read about it: day after day after day of the same thing - what's not to like?

I wonder, though - would my ideas run dry, with no real life or real interaction to fuel it? Or is it really true that writing begets writing?

4. Scrabble.

Yes, okay, I may not have thought of this if I hadn't been looking around my lounge for inspiration. But the thing is, Scrabble would be a good way to keep my brain active, and to set myself some measurable challenges. And then I could use the words I come up with as writing prompts, which obviates the problem mentioned in the last point.

5. Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

I am assuming Amazon.com do not deliver to this island, so if I am going to take one book, I may as well choose a long one that will make me feel virtuous, and that, let's face it, I would never get through unless I was stuck in that exact place for a very long time, with no West Wing DVDs.

How about you? What would you take?