Writing Notebooks

Okay, so Keri posted this on the WriYe Tumblr thing. I liked the idea, so I figured I'd answer her question of: 

what’s in your notebook?

Well, my notebook is a series of documents in my Google Drive. I just went through and reorganized it too!

I now have folders for

Stories -- Anything that is actually written out is put here.
AugNo -- Anything from AugNo is put in here. (Mainly because I always label it "AugNo.")
Planning -- Which is actually things like character sheets or other planning like documents. They are NOT filled in.
Notes -- This is where all those things that I have in the planning folder get filled out.

So in my Notes folder I have things like character sheets, plot sheets, and even timelines. I even have single lines that I like to start stories. There's lists and just idea dumping in there as well.

I have also used Microsoft's "One Note." I really like it when I'm starting with an idea because it lets me just put stuff WHEREVER on the note page versus everything being so linear.

But seeing Keri's pretty notebooks, I'd maybe like to do an idea book again. That of course would mean buying yet ANOTHER notebook! (This is one of my favorite things in the whole world!) But alas, I don't usually go anywhere to need to carry a notebook any more. And if I ever get around to calling my wireless carrier, I might actually be able to use my tablet somewhere OTHER than at my house! Then I wouldn't need to buy a notebook.

So that's what's in my writer's notebook!

Okay, I know this wasn't posted on Wednesday, but I'm going to tag it as such, because I was going to write it out last night but life happened.

January 2014 Goals UPDATE!

Overall 2014 Goal: 50,000 Words

0,028 / 5,000 Words

Challenges

1. Complete 7 days of Consistency at 140 Words a Day. (0/7 days)
2. Complete New Moon, New Year Challenge. (28/900 words)
3. Complete Full Moon Madness Challenge. (0/1,000 words)
4. Complete 5k Weekend Challenge. (0/2,500 words)

Other

1. Make January 5k Weekend Icons.

2. Make ALL 5k Weekend Icons.

3. Post January 5k Weekend Challenge.
4. Post January 5k Weekend Winner Goodies.
5. Add at least 14 items to 101 Things in 1001 Days List
6. Finish reading Divergent.

WriYe Reading Challenge 2014

Okay, I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to be able to complete this, but I'll fill in what I can on this list now. 

Horror/Thriller: "Under the Dome" by Stephen King
Mystery:
Mainstream/Literary:
Sci-Fi/Fantasy: "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
Romance:
Steampunk:
Young Adult (any additional genre accepted): "Teen Idol" by Meg Cabot
Banned Book: "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
LGBT:
Non-Fiction (subject is your choice): 

Okay, this list is WAY incomplete! I'm going to work on it.

And as for the Author Alphabet Soup, I think I'll make that page. I think I'll just update that page as I read books.

January 2014 Goals

Overall 2014 Goal: 50,000 Words

0,000 / 5,000 Words

Challenges

1. Complete 7 days of Consistency at 140 Words a Day. (0/7 days)
2. Complete New Moon, New Year Challenge. (0/900 words)
3. Complete Full Moon Madness Challenge. (0/1,000 words)
4. Complete 5k Weekend Challenge. (0/2,500 words)

Other

1. Make January 5k Weekend Icons.

2. Make February 5k Weekend Icons.

3. Post January 5k Weekend Challenge.

--

Okay, I realize that if I do JUST the three challenges listed, I will have 4,400 words for the month. I also realize that with my overall goal at 50k, I only have to write 137 words a day, which comes out to 4,167 words a month. By only doing the three challenges, I will surpass that. But I know how I am. Hopefully January will be good to me, like it has in the past. This post may be updated with other challenges as they are posted. Also, I did already make the January icons. I added it just to cross it off!

Wanna Hear About My Distractions?

Wanna hear about my distractions? Sure you do!

Let's see: 

1. I have a three year old. I homeschool him.

2. I have a 8 month old. Need I say more? Well, I do. She was born premature. She also has a rare condition and sees about 4 different specialists because of it. I feel like I run her to more appointments than I can keep track of! Not to mention, she has daily therapy with me and once a week with her therapist.

3. I have left my husband and am now a single mother. I live with my parents currently.

So between those three MAJOR distractions, I don't seem to have a lot of time to write. In fact, since March, I haven't done a whole lot of writing. I think it was just the stress of everything. But now I am squeezing in writing time. I have been blogging more than writing lately, but I did finish something for the AugNo Anthology. I'm not ENTIRELY sure how proud I am of it, but being I was squeezing in writing time after the kids went to bed before I crashed, I think it was a good jumping off point.

I also managed to write about 12k for NaNo this year. I was pretty impressed with this. I did some of it on my phone because I downloaded the Google Drive app and decided to write in Drive. Yeah, there are issues with using the app, like it doesn't word count and I'm doing it from my phone and even with SWIPE, it sometimes is difficult to get the correct words out

As you can see, my distractions keep me pretty busy. That's why this blog is titled "Easily Distracted." Not because I have ADD or anything like that, but because my life tends to explode and I am distracted from writing. Hopefully 2014 won't be as crazy as 2013 was and I'll be able to write at least 50k in words. I'll be doing a yearly goal post here soon. But until then, this should hold you over!

Inspiring Inspiration

Where do you get your initial spark of inspiration? Is it from anything important? What else about inspiration intrigues you? What is your advice to other people to kick start their inspiration?

My inspiration comes from various locations. Sometimes it's dreams. Other times it's things that are actually happening. For example, I wrote about 500+ words yesterday on something that had happened that morning that was in my Facebook feed. And then there are times that books will inspire me. I think that's where my post-apocalyptic story came from: The Hunger Games. Not that it's fan fiction or anything like that, but it was definitely inspired by the books. As for my fan fiction, well that usually comes from my own fantasies of things. Sometimes it comes from something someone said or did.

The thing I LOVE about inspiration is that it can come from ANYWHERE! There was a show that was on when I was a kid (I don't even remember the title or much about it). It was an art show. The guy on it encouraged kids to carry around an "idea book." This way when they saw something that they liked, they could draw it. Well, I liked this idea for my writing. There have been times that I have literally carried around a notebook to jot ideas into. Now I have an app on my phone that if something strikes me, I can jot it down in there. (In fact, I think there are a few lines for that post-apocalyptic story sitting in there right now.)

The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone about inspiration is to observe the world around you. Maybe it's that person in the coffee shop. Maybe it's some random thing that was put on the news. Maybe it's something that everyone is talking about. Just about anything can inspire your writing. It's kind of like during November where we are told that if we are writing out in the world and we are stuck to just find someone around us and write them into our story. So if you need some inspiration, get out of your house/hobbit hole/room and go observe the world. There's a lot happening that will make you want to write!

Update on Books I've Read

Okay, so since the last time I posted here are things that I have finished reading on the list:

1. "The Princess Diaries" Series -- Finally finished all 17 books!

2. "Shade" trilogy

3. "Star Trek: Terok Nor" trilogy

4. "Vampire Academy" book one -- Finished this one as well!

5. "Left Behind" Series

Here are other books I have finished since the last post:

"Roswell: A New Beginning"
"The End of Molasses Classes"
"Pukka"

It's not a whole lot, but I am getting books crossed off my list.