The Idea Notebook

This is a page from my idea notebook. As you can see the idea on the left is very vague, while the idea of the right is a collection of possible scenes.

Ideas for the stories are, for some strange reason, plentiful when you are in the middle of writing a story that you should be finishing and nearly impossible to come up with when you are staring at a blank screen ready to start a new tale.

Call it the Murphy’s Law of writing. It’s very common and, at times, very frustrating.  

To overcome this, keep a notebook (or file in on your desktop) where you jot down the ideas as they come to you. You may want to divide your book in sections using colorful tabs -- with categories such as ideas for book plots, character studies, nonfiction writing topics, interesting tidbits that might make a good story. You can decide what topics work best for you and what you are writing.

When you find yourself staring at the blank screen and unsure of your next project, go ahead and spend a few minutes looking over your idea book. You may find nothing that speaks to you at that moment. On the other hand, you may just get an idea for the next great novel.

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