Note to self: always write down the interesting things as
soon as you hear or think them.History drawls a veil over exactly when I started to do this: I should have wrote it down, that moment I first put pen to paper knowing I would otherwise forget that witticism, perfect line, cunning plot, great title, cracking dialogue.
So I never go anywhere without a notebook, and if you want to be a writer, neither should you. My most recent acquisition is this fab personalised one from The Dog's Doodahs.
Some people complain I am 'stealing their ideas'. These are usually people who will never do anything useful with the ideas they have, and ideas that are doomed to die young and unfulfilled. Plagiarism? No? It's a Public Service!
You have to be careful, occasionally I don't write enough and just find random words staring back at me that mean nothing:
the Darth Vader of fairies
synchronise your mothers
regurgitated garnishes from previous incumbents
Apostrophe wife
fake town?
I still keep notebooks, especially for journeys, but some are too lovely to use. And now I jot ideas on my phone or iPad, too, ready to transpose into a Word document... which now runs to over 70 pages. You do the math.
Then be afraid.
Do you make notes?
Yes I too have notebooks too lovely to use and rely on my Pukka Pad from W H Smith for scribbles. The iPad and a writing app I occasionally use on there are where most of my jottings go these days.I still don't write things down when I overhear them - I should.
ReplyDeleteDo you find everyone buys you lovely notebooks because you're a writer and then you save them for 'best'? Me too!
DeleteI'm the world's worst note-taker. And this is probably the most valid of my many prepared excuses for not having written the novel...yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to hear you say that, Martin, and not just because you're such a long way away! ;-)
DeleteNo. But I always mean to...
ReplyDeleteIt's a good habit. But maybe you don't need to? You seem to be doing pretty well without! 8-)
DeleteActually, I do take notes, but not the way you do. I work as a radio operator, so I'm tied to my position by a pair of headsets for 8 hours a day. We're allowed to use the internet, so I look up which nursery has the plant I need for that shady spot in my garden, or the next books I want to grab from the library, or recipes for the next dish I want to try. I keep little pages of notes and then tuck them into my wallet so that on my days off I know exactly where to get the things I'm looking for. Once the list has served its function, out it goes - to make room for the next one.
ReplyDeleteActually, I do that too, Marcheline (and hello, by the way! *waves*) - especially in the library where I work. But shhhhh... don't tell anyone!
DeleteYes, yes, yes. I'd have an idea or something would spark one, and then I forget about it - and it's in the back of my mind that I had one, that it's there somewhere, but it often just fades. I use a Notes app on my phone to jot down ideas. Very occasionally, I'll use the Drafts folder of my messages too. I lost a whole bunch of messages when my phone crashed. The Notes were OK but the Messages weren't. Sad Face.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've lost stuff that way too! One thing about a notebook - they so very rarely spontaneously combust the way digital stuff can!
DeleteI use notes and draft emails too! I have a couple of draft emails; I tend to use them for links or quotes - things I am copying from somewhere else. I have one for me, one for the blog and one for other people (as in, links to send someone next time I'm emailing them). I was wondering last week if anyone had a better system for organising such things.
ReplyDeleteI have a note in my phone which is just a list of potential words for the blog, and another one which is scraps of writing... I try to remember to annotate them, as they do end up rather surreal otherwise. "Poni hoax she's on the radio" mystified me for a while, until I googled it and discovered it's actually a band and a song.
You sound very organised! But I feel sad for all the lovely notebooks we have abandoned in favour of all these devious digital means.
DeleteI wonder if 'synchronise your mothers' is a band - maybe it ought to be!