When my iPad is charging, I die a little

I cannot believe how essential my iPad has become to my existence. The battery lasts forever so I've only charged it twice since I got it. Last night, I charged it during the evening hours.

Brrrrrrr. Even a few hours without my iPad is unbearable. I couldn't believe how many times I went to reach for it, only to realize that it was charging. I was lost.

I've become a fierce user of dictation. I talk to my iPad all day long -- and I've learned how to get the most out of dictation. There are hardly any errors, of late. So all day (and night) long, I'm talking ideas into my iPad. It's been stellar, truly. There is no easier, simpler way to get your ideas into your computer, than talking to it. And when the notes are on my iPad, they're also on my desktop Mac, my Macbook Air and my iPod Touch. And even if I lose all of those devices, the information is saved in the cloud. Heaven!

I'll never charge my iPad again while I'm awake. The loss I feel is too keen. I need my iPad to survive. That's the way it is, and this transformation only took a couple of weeks. Desktops are dead. Laptops are dead. Long live the iPad!

Keep a tape recorder by your bed

How many great ideas occurred to people as they were falling asleep and were lost forever when they couldn't recall them in the morning?

The first time this happened to me, I thought, "Oh, I can remember that," and promptly fell asleep, losing my idea for all time. It drove me nuts the next day. I could still feel it but it was just out of reach. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't latch onto it.

As writers, our ideas are our lifeblood so losing them is a real tragedy. After seeing too many ideas disappear into the mist, I became determined to find a way to capture them. The next day, I bought a handheld digital recorder at Amazon and it has lived on my night table ever since.

Has it saved me? Many times! It is so great to wake up, vaguely remembering the outline of an idea, and then be able to pick up the tape recorder and play back my thoughts. And there it is: that great idea -- saved!

This came up last night when I had a wonderful notion about the ending for a short story I've been planning to write. I love the concept of the story but I had hit a brick wall with the ending. Nothing seemed to work. Well, it came to me last night just as I was drifting away and I managed to reach for the recorder and mumble my idea into it before slipping into unconsciousness. Now I can write that story! 

Pads and notebooks are great but if you're like me, when you're falling asleep you don't want to turn on the light and sit up to write an idea down. It's so easy to push a button in the dark, speak my piece and drift off to sleep.

Save your ideas. Figure out systems to record them. And then write, write, write.

Five notebooks

I keep five notebooks for recording story ideas. Could I write all my ideas in one book? Yes, but I work on several books at once so that would only make it harder to find a specific note. For this reason, I use a number of notebooks.  That's a photo of my current workbooks above.

There is a separate notebook for each book I'm currently writing. One is for Xmas Carol, which I'm still working on. (The book is out to readers at this time and I got a great call this morning from a reader who just reached the climax. Lookin' good!) The Xmas Carol notebook is the large blue-green one on the right end.

A second is for Ink, which Is also a current project. It's the medium-sized yellow notebook. I've got another book just for new story ideas. It lists idea after idea, and this is where I go when I want to write a new short story. I can't tell you how happy I am about the ideas in this book. There's good writing ahead! The book for new ideas is the medium-sized avocado notebook.

I also have a large black notebook for the third book of The Worlds Trilogy. The story isn't written, nor is the plot set in stone. It too is a work in progress, though it's only in the planning (i.e., thinking) stage.

And finally, I have a small copper notebook to carry on my infrequent forays into the world, dog forbid an idea occur to me and I find myself unprepared to record it.

Each notebook you see above is a Clairefontaine Basics notebook. The paper is unbeatable and is so friendly to fountain pens, which I always use when writing by hand. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have leather covers handmade for these notebooks at Renaissance Art. It's not as expensive as you might think.

(Note: they don't make perfect items, instead producing friendly, unique covers with all sorts of imperfections. I love them. Each is like an old friend, wrinkled here and there. In other words: perfectionists beware. Me, I think I've bought about 10 of their covers and I'm perfectly happy.)

This is my arsenal. Whatever idea occurs to me, no matter which book it concerns, I have a place where I can record it. This is very helpful when I sit down to write the book or story.

On the other hand, I also notice that each thing I write down in these notebooks essentially transfers the idea permanently to my brain. I can go to the computer the next day and start writing, often without looking at my notes. I think this says something about how the brain works. Perhaps by writing the words manually, they go directly into secure storage in the brain.  It's as if my contact with the idea is more intimate when I print it in a notebook by hand. I'm just musing here but it seems that way to me.

Write your ideas down in an organized way. Trust yourself. Know that your ideas are good and worth recording. This way, when you want to write something, you won't find yourself saying, 'But what will I write about?"

Works for me. What works for you?