Notebooks

Hey! I'm posting again! Finally! It's been almost a month and I have no excuse for not posting. I'm sure if I thought really hard I could think of one, but you don't come here to listen to my excuses, you come to read about writing! If you're not, well... I don't know what to say to that.

I have a notebook that I carry around almost all the time. When I have to wait at a train station or my fast food is not fast, then I can whip it out and work on the latest chapter to some story I'm working on or jot down funny things people say. I'm serious, I actually do write down funny things people say (or I think of). Sure, you hear about writers doing this, and it sounds like a good idea. But in the moment, you figure "that's too much work I'll remember it later". Been there, done that. But do you know what happened? I didn't. I FORGOT!
I decided that those writers must have a memory that doesn't remember things, just like mine! And since I started carrying a notebook I have written down some pretty awesome stuff. And a lot of it has been going into stories.
Another thing to jot down is anything that inspires you! The most random of things can spark a story. For instance, remember Lemon Crayon?  That idea came from a conversation with my dad. It was his idea, but I wrote the story. I've come up with a lot of other stuff like that from random little things.

I hope all of this has convinced you to start carrying a notebook around with you! It comes in more handy than you would think! Take my word for it.

My note book

I have a notebook. It's a plain, red, 70 page notebook that I got for about 50¢. I have filled up about half of the notebook already. Every time I need to write something down, I write it in that note book and put the date at the top. The notebook has everything from stories to to do lists. Try this for yourself. Use only one notebook for all the stuff you write down (except for homework) and write the date on every page. Once you fill your notebook, get another one and do the same thing. Put all of the note books you've filled on a shelf or in a bin so you can look back at them every so often. After you finish a note book write the date of the first entry and last entry on the cover with a marker. It would say something like this:

2010

August 3-November 29

You could make a new years tradition of going through all of the things you wrote in the past year. Encourage friends and family to do the same. You don't have to write in it everyday. Just when you remember. You don't even have to write a complete short story. One of the pages in my notebook says nothing but "Time and Space" at the top. I have stories in there with no beginning or end. Write whatever you want! I also have pages where I simply wrote about a character. If an idea is nagging at your mind, write it down! Your note book will be full in no time.

Two paragraphs.... close enough...