Comments on: Question of the Week: Snippets

By: Aurelio

Aurelio — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 15:03:37 +0000

I have a large lower desk drawer stuffed full of varied bits of paper and no-longer-sticky sticky notes. They are concepts, book titles, story ideas, and funny dialog I’ve overheard in public. “It’s not the eggroll, Harry, it’s the last 30 years!” These are mixed in with cartoon drawings and doodles and phone numbers with names of people I no longer recall.

I find that I actually do use some of these things from time to time.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 23:21:58 +0000

I have some kind of organizational dyslexia. I can keep all kinds of details straight in my head, but once I begin to extract them–usually in list form–I begin to panic. Which notebook should they go in? My personal journal, reserved for lamentations and melancholic whining? My “novel notebook” containing information on my latest notebook? My “journalist” notebook, full of chickenscratch interview stuff…or one of the many half-filled notebooks tucked into the crevices of my bookshelf? After hyperventilating and pulling out my eyebrows, I often opt to write upon my person and transfer to computer. I would really love a “cure” for this disorder.

By: Darrin

Darrin — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:11:07 +0000

Oh, yes, snippets. Those restless orphans. I end up scrawling some of them onto whatever scrap paper is handy. And if one of them strikes me when I’m on the subway and I can’t reach a scrap, I’ll chant the thing in my head over and over again so I won’t forget it. It’s awful when three or four of the suckers come at me at once. That’s a lot of chanting.

The ones that make it back to my apartment will get transferred to a file on my PC. I have the same concerns as Andy in that I think I will never have the time to flesh out all these snippets. It’s a “hard knock life” for some of the snippets, I guess.

By: Ric Marion

Ric Marion — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:12:56 +0000

Snippits – stopped writing them down years ago, since I could never organize them well enough to find them when the time was right.

Most of the great first lines end up in the journals – now a huge stack filling two filing cabinet drawers. Blue letter size pads – legal but shorter. Sometimes the first line will fill a couple pages and then, as with us all, we go back and wonder what all the excitement was.

Ric
http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/RicMarion/

By: Gail Siegel

Gail Siegel — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:01:30 +0000

Memo to Joe: Take a deep breath. It only gets worse.

By: Joe

*Joe* — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:25:44 +0000

It’s kind of a repeat of the
COMMENTl I posted to your question of the week from way back in early September but I’m the write things down on a scrap of paper, ticket stub, parking ticket kind of guy. Fortunately I never throw anything away or pay my parking tickets so it’s there waiting for me in my jacket pocket till I’m ready to use it.

Sometimes it goes through a wash cycle or two though.

Man, you are freaking me out with that story about Green Hand. My little girl Moira will turn one year old in another two weeks. I lay awake at night worrying about whether I’ve padded all the sharp edges in the house. Tell me it gets better. Lie to me if you must.

By: Noria

Noria — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:48:32 +0000

I write them down when they occur – on the day, in the margins, anywhere on the page for that week. Then I’ll fold over that page for future reference. For whatever reason, the fact that I’ve written it down in my engagement book helps me to remember it. It’s a way of psychologically tricking myself into remembering.

By: Anneliese

Anneliese — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:23:05 +0000

Noria:

Do you write your ideas down on the day that you have them, or do you sorta-like “schedule” them on a future date, like a month in advance?

*Anneliese

By: Susan Henderson

Susan Henderson — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:53:55 +0000

I’m jealous of all of you with fancy moleskines, especially those signed by beautiful Neil Gaiman (who owes me an email). I’m like Gail, more of a back-of-the-receipt girl. I’ll respond to everyone individually on Friday’s Weekly Wrap.

Thanks for all the kind words about Green-Hand! Especially from those of you who are parents and know how it is.

By: Juliet

Juliet — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:47:13 +0000

For what it’s worth, my son fell on the ice two weeks ago. Clearly had a headache etc. Slept for the better part of 14 hours. Saw doc the next day who said “just keep him slow and safe.”
Apparently doctor is on some kind of meds that make him feel that kids are controllable and will sit still for the next three weeks.

Headache finally goes away. No lingering signs of damage or trauma.

Friday night, I keep child awake till all hours out at my Book Launch (went well, thanks!).

Saturday afternoon, ex-husband calls “There’s been an accident…”

Yes, ANOTHER fall. This time on rollerblades. No helmet (this was ex’s issue, not mine. I’m a helmet nazi when it involves anything with wheels or ice).

Another bang on the head.

Kids fall.
Kids bash each other with foreign objects, and, at one of our birthday parties, a foreign kid.

As mothers, all we can do is assess what the situation is, an do our best to manage it.
Getting him to the doc sooner wouldn’t have changed a thing.

So, relax.
And de-stimulate that Guiltomatic gene that comes with being a parent.