It's that exciting moment when you have a shiny new idea. It's growing so huge that it's starting to get too large for your mind. So you reach into your drawer and pull out a notebook.
I don't know about other writers, but I do have a drawer filled with paper, pens and pencils, rubbers, and notebooks. It's a weird collection of different styles. Mainly leaning to the people that gifted me these items and not to my tastes. But that's okay. Paper is paper and I am happy to write on anything.
My newest project is a big one. Nine paranormal romance novellas. A big cast of characters. A wide range of settings and a thickly entangled plot. It gets bigger every time I think about it. And it's dark. I'm basing it on Inuit lore. Most of those myths are not happily ever after tales.
So what do I pull out of my drawer? A notebook with pretty butterflies and pink pages.
....
Yeah, I know. What was I thinking? The design does not fit the story. Come on, butterflies?! And it's not a very big notebook. Clearly I hadn't been thinking about what I was writing in when I pulled it out.
But it amuses me to write the notes for this story in that notebook. I smile to see it on my desk. I feel the little butterflies of excitement in me.
Maybe it is the right notebook for this story.
Sidenote: The black composition book on my desk holds five of my completed story ideas. I use it to reference things when promoting or answering questions. My Kindle does have an ad for Susan Kaye Quinn's book there. (How do you get your ad to show up on people's Kindles like that?) And yes, that is an old Gameboy Color. I'm currently replaying Dragon Warrior Monsters. It's a bit like Pokemon but cooler.
Hi Christine - I imagine you have a constant supply of storylines in your head .. you are so creative. These dark new ones will be interesting ... but you need a scarier notebook ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThat's fun that you picked the notebook with butterflies for your project, especially since it made you smile.
ReplyDeleteMake the notebook work in your favor!
ReplyDeleteHow do you get your ad to show up? Ask her how she did it.
I write in little notebooks like that. It would be easier to write in something bigger, but they feel like real books, which motivates me.
ReplyDeleteHilary, I definitely do!
ReplyDeleteNatalie, they're foil and shine so pretty under the light!
Alex, I'll ask her and let you know.
Diane, I feel the same way. I like the hardcover ones most.
I love notebooks! I tend to like smaller ones for the beginning stages - jotted ideas, notes, etc - then move on to regular sized notebooks or binders for when the story takes on a life of its own.
ReplyDeleteMy notes are all digital. I kept losing my notebooks. (Thank you kidlets and husbandlet.) I think the butterflies probably remind you to keep a positive angle while writing dark. At least, they would for me.
ReplyDeletelol! This totally had me giggling. I have a huge stash of notebooks, too, and a penchant for buying more any time I can find them. But I'm super picky about picking out the next one to use--not that it makes a lick of difference, but I have to *feel* the notebook I'm using. I probably need some serious help :)
ReplyDeleteI have a bunch of notebooks around my desk too. We have a pink gameboy like that around here somewhere. Good luck on the big project. Sounds exciting.
ReplyDeleteSusan Says
I buy notebooks and hoard them for when I might need or want them. I just pick up ones that look cool or speak to me in some way. I might never get around to using them all! But then, some are for my writing, and some are my Tarot journals and astrology logs . . . Some are notes from conferences . . . Hmm. I've got too much stuff . . .
ReplyDeleteButterflies, cupcakes and spooky ghosts. Sure, why not?! Congrats on landing that series!
ReplyDeleteI miss writing by hand, but everything's on the computer now. It's just so much easier that way! Longhand slows me down. I have a document that has ideas in it--I use that whenever I get a great idea.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a better little notebook than you thought for the story. And SKQ is awesome, so it makes sense for Amazon to take notice.
ReplyDeleteOoo, I love when an idea just keeps rolling. I buy my notebooks and journals on sale. Every project gets one. So mine don't match the ideas either. The one for the Rifters is houndstooth. It's so preppy and normal.
ReplyDeleteAfter I let an idea foment in my head for a while, I'll usually grab some paper and outline the chapters. I really should have a notebook for moments like that. :)
ReplyDeleteI wish longhand slowed me down, like Stephanie said, but I have the exact opposite problem. I can't write quickly or creatively on the computer. I don't know why and I don't know if it's all in my head or what. When I try to draft a scene on the computer it comes out stilted like I'm writing a brochure or something. I get so much more out of writing longhand, but it's a pain in the butt - having to transfer it all to my laptop. Actually, it works out as sort of a step in my revision process. Now that I'm more organized and have all my notebooks numbered, it helps. When I first decided to finally write a novel, I wrote in so many different notebooks, I was always searching for that scene I wrote last week, etc. I'm also very peculiar about my notebooks and my pens. I have to have a certain blue, fine tip, needle point pen or I feel like I'm writing junk. Now that's taking it a bit too far, but it really affects my mood and my writing.
ReplyDeleteHa! I love that it's butterflies and pink paper for your idea. It sounds like something I'd do.
ReplyDeleteMadeline, I usually just use one and none of it is in order!
ReplyDeleteCrystal, I'm lucky my kidlet and husbandlet don't often come into my work space!
Meradeth, nah, not crazy at all. If I feel for a notebook at a store, I'm likely to have to get it!
Susan and Catherine, thank you!
M, I have notebooks that have been sitting in the drawer for years too. I'm trying to plot more, but more often than not, the notebooks are to keep track of things as I write!
Stephanie, I should start using a file for my ideas too. Yet notebooks are so cute!
Cherie, I think it might be!
Mary, Rifters preppy and normal? Nope, not a match at all!
David, they are handy. :)
Melissa, I like particular pens and pencils too. They can affect the mood, definitely!
Patricia, hehehe!
I use notebooks to a certain extent but when my ideas start to get bigger I looovvve to organise them on my whiteboard, using different coloured pens. To look up at the board on the wall is very motivational. Mind you, I have been known to run out of space and then have to stick up sheets of paper as an extension to the web.
ReplyDeleteI love your butterfly notebook and just because its contents are dark, you are not :)
Have a lovely weekend, Christine!
I can spend a lot of time choosing the right notebook! I often wondered why that's so important.
ReplyDeleteI too love notebooks and love taking my time shopping for them. They have to have just the right paper inside too. Oh, and don't get me started on the pens! LOL
ReplyDeleteIt gets ridiculous. Writers are so funny!
Good luck with your new story line!
I love my notebooks too!! There is very little rhyme or reason in them- they're sort of reflective of my brain. I have no idea how to get your book on the screen. I've never checked. I assume it's out of my budget.
ReplyDeleteButterflies have terrified me since I was a kid, and there's even folklore of them being evil, so that notebook doesn't seem ill-fitting for a dark series, actually. LOL. (Also, Inuit lore? I'm intrigued!)
ReplyDeleteNicola, thank you. Maybe I should get a whiteboard!
ReplyDeleteLee, we writers are a strange bunch that way!
Yolanda, strange might be an understatement! Thank you. :)
Elizabeth, me too. I don't have the money for ads.
Heather, I had no idea butterflies could be an evil thing. Now it totally fits! (And I must google evil butterflies!)