Losing Your Computer Hurts

So, I was regaining my writing habit (though I have yet to be as dedicated as I was at the beginning of 2009), when my laptop broke. It was nothing major, a loose jack, but the end result was that when the battery ran out it couldn't be recharged. So we sent it away for repair (free of charge do to blessed warranties). This effectively killed my writing habit. I had hoped to write while at work, but that time was dedicated to actually working, so that didn't happen (which I am sure makes the people who cut me checks happy).

During that time I did buy a brand new notebook. I have had a story in mind since about 2001. I tried to write in beginning in 2002 on several different occasions, but none of them panned out. I eventually gave it up to wait until I had written some other things. During this time I also re-conceptualized the book into a tv show and a movie, fleshing it out a little more, mostly in my mind. I decided that I would take the time without my laptop to rework this story even more, filling in the names of countries, people, religions. The new notebook is dedicated to this.

This is actually a change for me. I usually make stuff up as I go. However, having a reference guide for my world and having to invent nothing (or next to nothing) mid-writing is definitely appealing. I don't plan on starting this book anytime soon. I have received my laptop back and have too many other projects already started. However, it will be nice to know that when I am ready to write it, it will be ready to be written. Plus, by then, I'll have some more experience and it will be better than if I started writing it now.

Finding Ideas

For a while now I've been longing for an idea book, a place to write down my wonderful ideas. I've had notebooks, notepads, spare scraps of paper, and a whole lot more for the past ten years. Notebooks and pads always seemed to be used for whatever I need them for. They're also inconvenient to carry with me all the time which means I won't have them when I want them, and I'll have to hope I still remember my idea later when I get back to my notebook.

The problems with scraps of paper is obvious.

so, I needed an idea book and I finally got one! It's a leather bound book that is no larger than my hand. The inside pages are grid paper, but that doesn't bother me. It has a ribbon book mark to keep my current place, and an elastic band to keep it closed. It fits nicely in my pocket and it is now one of three must have items when I leave the house, along with my keys and wallet.

The greatest feature of this little book is that it works! It write down ideas and I get more ideas. I'm usually not a fan of writing things down (it weakens the memory), but spending brain power remembering an idea for months (or years) until I can put it into effect is taxing. Now I write down the ideas as they occur to me and I have brain power to spare creating new ones.

It's almost like a dream journal. If you write down what you dream, you'll soon find it easier to remember your dreams. If I write down my ideas, I get more of them.

Maybe someday you'll see the results of the book.