AN INDEX CARD STYLE WRITING NOTEBOOK AND JOURNAL

AN INDEX CARD STYLE WRITING NOTEBOOK AND JOURNAL (02.11.2015.W.)

Yesterday, I shared how I am trying a new writing system of outlining and using index cards to do so. I figured I would share my progress and my system so far as I write my epic love story of patriotism, "AUTUMN BLAZE."

I read how some outline a little and how some outline a great deal. Part it depends on your learning style. Well, what does that mean for me? Since I realize I am a visual and a hands-on, touchy feely learner both rolled into one, and I have tried every other method of writing, I decided to go all in with the index cards for outlining and to use as my writing notebook and journal. I am writing everything on index cards.

As of late yesterday afternoon, I had 133 index cards filled. My husband and I bought 500 over the weekend. In one day, I used 133 cards. Uh-oh. This brought on two challenges:
1 I needed more cards.
2 How on earth would I organize them?

I scratched my head and looked around in my house to see what I had:

It's a plastic shoe box or cd/dvd box. Perfect.

I will carry it around with me everywhere, not caring how silly I may look. It's practical and it's for what I do for a living. Some carry a brief case or book bag or laptop bag. Not me. I now carry a plastic shoe box. (Chuckling.) It's so me. Silly.

Now, I know me. I am a klutz and there is a good chance I will drop the box or it will slide off the seat as I drive. That would not be good to have them scatter, get mixed up, and possibly land in a puddle or in my coffee. Therefore, it's a plastic shoe box with handles to lock down the lid. Whew.

I'm moving shortly and all of my stuff may have to be in storage for weeks to months, so I need to make sure to have extra black pens on me, along with some color pens for color coding. Hence, the zippered pencil bag.

There is another angle. You'll see how I folded a couple over to make index tabs and I kept the unopened packages in there as well, so it's all in one place. Easy breezy. Simple. Useable. Organized.

As you can see, I got 600 more blank cards from the store already.

So far, I am blown away by how much I am enjoying the system. It's working really well for me. Each thought, idea, plot point, character, settings, etc. gets its own card. I can shuffle them as needed. If I get an idea for something later in the book, I note it on a card, place it where it should go, return to where I was and carry on. Before, I would have to search for those ideas in my writing notebook and I may forget to do so or it would be hard to find. This way, when I get to that point later, it's already there, and as I review in the morning about what I wrote previously, and where I am headed, it's already there.

Or, if I get an idea and have no idea where to put it, I have a section for that as well, along with an Old Writing section of ideas discarded or that I changed. I have a section for that as well in my index file system. I always keep every idea, for I may need it later, and often times do.

I have a simple one word outline for each of the different parts of the book, I have that in sentence form as well in another section in my index file system for that as well, along with my premise sentence and paragraph, back cover material, etc. It's all there. I have character sketches and character question and answers, etc. I have a section on backstory.

It's all in my shoe box. And, all of it, and I mean ALL of it, is easy to find with this system. I have never been able to say that in 14 years of writing. Never ever.

What was I will thinking before?

Whoever says you can't find stuff easily with this system has never tried this.

I am writing, possibly, a book of 1,000 pages. I need and must be as organized as possible and not lose any, or forget, ideas or facts and figures from my story (who's who and what's what and when and how and why). So, the worst part of my system may be I have to carry two or three shoe boxes. Okay. So? I have no problem with that. This organization is making it easier to write. I am freed.

I will keep you updated.

So far, this may be the best story I have ever written and it is easy and is a joy to do. (Yay!)