Happy IWSG day, everyone! October passed quicker than I thought it would, and I can’t believe we’re into holiday season. It’s getting chilly outside, and I’ve had to dig out my gigantic fleece squirrel hoodie once more.
Despite how dramatic the title to this post sounds, things aren’t as dire as they seem in the writing world. True, I’ve made no written progress toward book 1, but after a productive critique group night, one of my cohorts suggested to another member the book Story Genius, and I’ve decided to give it a look. I started in on the audiobook, and after a third of the way in, I decided, I should probably study a printed version and take notes. So I put in a request with the local library. Two weeks later, the library says the book is in transit. *sigh* That means I haven’t taken my notes on how to improve Derek’s journey in book 1 world. But, my sis-in-law helped me hammer out some plot things for Cameron, so that’s a win.
I’ve also figured out how to represent my sticky-note brain in a spreadsheet format, which I consider a HUGE deal. I’ve used soooooo many different whiteboarding apps, just searching for one that will work for my form of messy organization. Some shrink the text to unreadable levels to keep a consistent size for the notes. Some grow the notes and won’t let you keep a consistent size. Some are a pain to push to the background or bring forward, and others don’t have marker tools. After about a dozen sticky notes, I tend to abandon whatever program I’m trying out.
The nicest one so far has been Canva, but for some reason, it’s blocked at work, meaning I can’t even access it on my personal laptop on my lunch when using work WiFi, and my phone has terrible reception in the building so I can’t even use that as a hotspot. Therefore, Canva is out.
But so far, the spreadsheet system is working for me:
I need to be able to see the offset, alternating colors to align my thoughts properly. I also don’t like writing things out by hand (M.J. Fifield has some admirable sticky-note walls that I envy), and I like to have my info accessible both at work and at home. So far, though, the spreadsheet seems to work for me, so I’m rolling with it.
IWSG Question of the Month: What creative activity do you engage in when you’re not writing?
Well, if you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, you probably know my answer to this one. If I’m not writing, I’m usually drawing. I actually just redid my map of the weekend, because I wanted to even up my provinces, adjust the location of the palaces, and make it digital friendly. The original was drawn in a sketchbook. This one was done on my laptop in Rebelle 7, which is a pretty cool application that mimics traditional media quite well.
I have another series of art I’ve been working on, but I want to finish the last piece before I post it all here. At my current rate, you should be able to see them next month.
How do you organize your thoughts? Do you use sticky notes? Do you like art?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
You have a talent, Loni. I’ve always enjoyed your drawings. As to the “sticky note brain” I can relate and appreciate.
I love your art too, and I love that map! Maps are harder for me.
I learned so much from Lisa Cron’s STORY GENIUS and also her book, WIRED FOR STORY. Definitely recommend!
And I envy MJ’s sticky note walls, too. 🙂
I love the drawing and just so you know, a spreadsheet also makes for a great colour-coded timeline if you ever need one. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
I’m envious of your ability to draw! Straight lines are hard for me lol!
It’s awesome that you have such artistic talent! I love seeing how you visualize your world and characters.
Love your map. When I wrote my fantasy novels, I wanted to make a map of the world I was creating. My attempts to draw it by hand were pitiful, but one of my friends at work was a computer artist. She made a beautiful map for me. I still have it in my files, although my novels are no longer in print.
Map is nice!
I could not begin to follow a spreadsheet like that. My brain isn’t wired that way.
Your drawings are so beautiful!
That map is amazing and I love it!
For organising my thoughts, I’ve tried several things, but I keep coming back to my simple spreadsheet.
Hi,
The map is amazing.
All my life, I’ve wished that I could draw, like my cousin and best friend,
artist and art teacher. This week, despite living in a UK dead zone – no signal at all and arthritic broadband, we’ve worked with Californian cousins too, creating a cover for my next book, House of the Ghost Child. Organisation ? IT husband’s brain’s wired for spreadsheets. Mine isn’t.
Esther
Love your art, and now you’ve given me another drawing app I need to check out. I also use spreadsheets for keeping track of plot points and timelines, but yours are likely a lot more complicated than mine!
I wish I could draw like you. You’re very talented. And it’s good that you figured out how to make spreadsheets work for you.
Have you tried Scrivener? I don’t know if that has what you’re looking for, but I like being able to have my notes and my manuscript all together like it does.
I can’t write by hand for any length of time, so MJ’s sticky note boards, while gorgeous, would not work for me, either.
Your drawings are amazing! So talented!
I love the idea of a giant squirrel hoodie!
I organise my thoughts with post-it notes, notebooks, little post-it flags and lots of different coloured pens 🙂
Ronel visiting for IWSG day Find Your Inner Dragon