love, read, write

Notebooks are one of those things that everyone has or buys at one point in life, opens up the first page, and decides to write something in it to change your life or something, and then leaves 99% of the book completely untouched for the rest of eternity.

Actually, I can't really tell if everyone else does that. But I know for sure that I have a stash of unfinished notebooks that have the first page filled out with something along the lines of: "September 2, 2007. I am excited to start this notebook. I'm going to write my ideas in it."

I guess it takes dedication to keep writing in something regularly and get an entire notebook filled up with thoughts, writings, or whatever it is that you wanted it to be.

(Coughblogcough)

Recently, though, I've gotten myself an idea notebook. Basically, it's a notebook--not ruled, but just plain white paper--that I put my ideas in. My ideas aren't restricted to writing because I'm pretty interested in other areas (drawing, apps, and god forbid, if I'll ever get into this area, inventions), but it's not really a date-based notebook as much as it is simply an idea-based notebook. I can leave the notebook untouched for a month if I don't get any ideas for a month, and I can write ten entries in a day if ten ideas pop into my head in one day. I've already gone through two notebooks. (They're pretty small.)

I usually find that notebooks are useful for recording story ideas or seed moments. I remember in sixth grade my English teacher told us to keep "seed moments" in mind and that they'll become the seeds of our writings in the future. To be honest, I never quite understood what she meant. Now I definitely do--there are times when I remember a small moment in the past and I suddenly want to write about those three seconds, or that one minute. It becomes a seed moment.

I usually write down seed moments, story ideas, and drawings in my notebook. It's quite a useful thing. Sometimes I don't have my notebook around me, so I have an idea notebook set aside in my Evernote account (a very useful tool, I assure you) that I can quickly jot things in when I only have my phone around. (Actually, Distant Love was inspired one day on the bus right after school. It just kind of came to me as I was sitting alone in the front seat and I decided to write it down in my phone.)

I find that I usually need to write down my ideas and thoughts at that moment. Sometimes I tell myself "it's okay, I'll remember it later" but never. Not once. Has that actually happened. I always forget. I'd remember later on that I had this amazing idea for a story, and then I'd just never know what it was. It drives me crazy sometimes. Ideas tend to come to me at the most inconvenient of moments.

That's why I have my phone and my notebook now. It's very useful.

What's your way of recording your thoughts?