Writing Wednesday: The Idea Notebook
When I was 16, Walter Dean Myers came to Tulsa as the winner of our local library’s Anne V. Zarrow Award for young people's literature, and he gave a talk to a group of young, aspiring writers, which included me. One of the things he talked about this tiny notebook he carried around with him everywhere. He was never without it, because an idea might strike him anywhere, and he wanted to always be able to jot ideas down.
This struck me as the most marvelous and practical idea I had ever heard, and I immediately went home and picked out a notebook to be my idea notebook. I haven’t been without one since, and I highly recommend them. In fact, I recommend having several and putting them in strategic places, because of the one unyielding truth that I have learned to my own heartache:
When you have a cool idea, you always think you’ll remember it. But, especially depending on what you’re doing when you get the idea, there’s a huge possibility--nay, probability--that YOU WILL NOT.
Seriously, I know I’ve lost some really fabulous ideas because I thought, I’ll remember that when I get up, when I get home, when I get out of the movie. And I didn’t. (What’s even worse when you remember that you had an idea, but you can’t actually recall it. That’s the double-whammy of disappointment.)
To combat this problem, I keep my main idea notebook on my bedside table. But I also have a tiny one in my purse at all times. My husband even bought me a voice recorder for when I’m in the car and have an idea but can’t stop driving to write. If I’m ever without my notebook for some reason, I force myself to dig through drawers for paper, or ask bewildered store clerks if I can borrow a pen. Then I take those scraps of paper home and copy them into my idea notebook. I’ve even been known to call and leave myself a phone message or send myself an email with the idea in it.
Even with all these precautions, there are still times that I tell myself I’ll remember something, don’t take the time to write it down, and then forget it. But they’re far, far fewer than they would be without my notebooks. So, if you don’t have an idea notebook, I’d recommend getting one.
How do you keep track of your ideas?
This struck me as the most marvelous and practical idea I had ever heard, and I immediately went home and picked out a notebook to be my idea notebook. I haven’t been without one since, and I highly recommend them. In fact, I recommend having several and putting them in strategic places, because of the one unyielding truth that I have learned to my own heartache:
When you have a cool idea, you always think you’ll remember it. But, especially depending on what you’re doing when you get the idea, there’s a huge possibility--nay, probability--that YOU WILL NOT.
Seriously, I know I’ve lost some really fabulous ideas because I thought, I’ll remember that when I get up, when I get home, when I get out of the movie. And I didn’t. (What’s even worse when you remember that you had an idea, but you can’t actually recall it. That’s the double-whammy of disappointment.)
To combat this problem, I keep my main idea notebook on my bedside table. But I also have a tiny one in my purse at all times. My husband even bought me a voice recorder for when I’m in the car and have an idea but can’t stop driving to write. If I’m ever without my notebook for some reason, I force myself to dig through drawers for paper, or ask bewildered store clerks if I can borrow a pen. Then I take those scraps of paper home and copy them into my idea notebook. I’ve even been known to call and leave myself a phone message or send myself an email with the idea in it.
Even with all these precautions, there are still times that I tell myself I’ll remember something, don’t take the time to write it down, and then forget it. But they’re far, far fewer than they would be without my notebooks. So, if you don’t have an idea notebook, I’d recommend getting one.
How do you keep track of your ideas?
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