At any given time I am in the process of writing 3 or 4 stories that will probably be long enough to be novelettes, and several poems, and flash fiction, and outlines for stories and one liners that inspire stories.
These drafts live in Word docs, notepad text, scribbles on post-its hastily thrown into notebooks and journals. I probably have a dozen little notebooks with snippets of characters, conversations, what-if ideas and none of them are completely filled up because if I can’t find it when I need it, I grab a new one and scribble it there…or I send myself a text message, which I then cut and paste into an idea document.
I do the same thing with some of my paintings. I have a couple of canvases that I have been working on for over a year and some that are done the moment the paint dries. And one or two that I mull over for a couple of years until just the right image presents itself and then I am on a rampage to paint it before the image is gone from my mind – there are also sketches in many of the notebooks and journals… like my writing, some element will present itself and I will jot it down so as not to forget it.
Am I able to find these little gems when I need them? Not usually, and then I get sidetracked when I do find something that sparks some other train of thought. You get the picture. I am sure there are other more organized writers and artists out there. But I am not one of them.
So if you see me scribbling away in tiny tiny writing in a little notebook that I pulled from my purse while waiting at the Doctor’s office… I am probably noting a scrap of conversation, or a description of a character that intrigued me as she or he or they were called into their appointment. 🙂
