Writing Journals

In answer to Kingmonkey's question in the comments of my last post, I do not keep a writing journal. I have a notepad that has a whole story written out in summary form tucked under my desk and a collection of word docs tucked into a folder on my computer with more said summaries. I even have some drafts saved in my yahoo email that have story ideas in them.

In other words, when the idea hits, I put it down anyway I can.

I did try carrying a small notebook with me for awhile, but my scrawl is pretty bad thanks to a mucked up wrist. I blame it on hours and hours of scribbling in notebooks when I was a teenager. I used to write constantly and I think my poor wrist paid for it in spades. I would try and write ideas in my little notebook only to not be able to read them later.

When the ideas hit (and if they seem good), I try and write them down as soon as I possibly can. I readily admit I've lost a few stories because I didn't scribble down the idea immediately. Like seeds, you need to plant them and nurture them to get the full story to grow. I've lost a lot of good story seeds because I didn't take the time to write them down. I hate that.

I have been using yWriter in the last year. I think its a miracle program. It has increased my productivity by allowing me to focus on the story in a way I never had before. It is just an amazing program that I wish I had years ago. I think I may start transferring story ideas into yWriter so I can have more freedom with their development.

One of my frustrations at this time is that I have so many story ideas banging around in my head demanding attention, that I'm not sure which one I should work on next. I definitely feel the need to create a new novel soon and I'm not sure which idea I'm going to foster.

Meanwhile, more ideas keep filling my head and I definitely need to figure out a better way to keep track of them when I'm away from the computer. A notebook is the easy answer, but lugging a big one around so I can actually read what I write down is annoying.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.