I’ve been on a cleaning and de-cluttering kick, focusing on the kitchen, mostly. But the other night I decided to tackle some papers.
See, I have a computer hutch. My monitor sits pretty close to the front, and I have a tendency to shove “important” notes under it.
And then I add more “important” notes on top of those.
And eventually I have to tilt the monitor to get more “important” notes under it.
And somehow stuff migrates to behind the monitor. (I’ve yet to figure out exactly how that happens.)
Sooner or later, though, I have to do something about the pile of “important” papers – usually after I’ve survived an avalanche or two.
A couple nights ago I decided that the time had come, mostly because I couldn’t find my bamboo crochet hooks, which I was sure were behind the monitor. (They have since been found – on a shelf in the hutch, where I put them so they wouldn’t get lost in the mess of papers,)
So, I dove into the pile of “important” notes.
I found several old work schedules – one dated from the end of December.
I found random phone numbers with no name attached so I have no idea why I wrote them down. One of them did have something written beside it. It looks like it says “Protection Center” but that makes no sense.
I found notes like: “Patchwork Writing.” I know that was supposed to be a blog post but I don’t know what I was going to say. And a search tells me that I wrote a blog post with that title back in August, so the question now becomes: “Is the note that old or did I have another idea along those lines?” And if the note is that old, why didn’t I cross it out after I wrote the blog post?
Then there was this interesting note: “Pellar — white witch for a village.” Stunning in its simplicity and its total lack of any useful context. Is Pellar male or female? What village? Why is s/he important? I’m pretty sure Pellar wasn’t meant to be a main character because I’d have at least some sort of vague memory about what I was going to do with him or her. But was Pellar supposed to go in something I was working on or in something new? And either way, what was it supposed to be a part of?
There were random names scribbled in corners of papers, like the above mentioned old work schedules. Those I can at least explain, though – when I come up with a name that I like the sound of I write it down for future reference. (Somehow, however, when I actually need a name none of the names in my lists ever seem to be “right” for the person, place, or thing that I’m trying to name.)
Then there was the word “Sentinels” written all by itself on a paper. Really? I expected me to remember what that meant?
“Did I put in V asking C and T about sharing their room that night?” Um…. I don’t know if I did or not, but at least I knew what this one was referring to. I wrote sort of a side scene to Book Two of The Academy of the Accord and I need to check to see if I put it into the current version.
Then there’s a list of fairy tales. Why was I making a list of fairy tales? I think maybe I was going to modify them by doing a gender switch, which means it’s actually a list of plot bunnies, but there’s also a note across the top of the page that says “Good idea for a theme.” A theme? For what? Sometimes I worry about me.
I especially worry about me when I find things like a recipe for something involving ice cream and the oven. That can’t possibly end well.
I found two or three pages with notes and ideas for book promotion. (I really need to get them all in one place – I know there are other ideas scribbled down somewhere.)
A couple “to do” lists from the end of December turned up in the pile of “important” papers. There wasn’t anything all that important on them and I have no idea why I was saving them.
Oooh! Notes for a talk about NaNoWriMo. They were probably a good idea at the time, even though no one showed up for the talk.
“Fairies/bubbles.” Other things on that piece of paper helped figure that one out – it was some notes on memoir writing. I don’t do that and no longer go to the memoir group. I’m sure I must be keeping them for some reason, though.
Two pieces of bright yellow paper contained a couple more plot bunnies, or maybe two parts of the same plot bunny. No names for characters, though, and I only vaguely remember what I was thinking. I’m pretty sure the pages are related, though.
Then there were half a dozen or pages of lists of random words. I think I’m supposed to combine them to make prompts for Wednesday Words. That’s what I’m going to do with them, anyhow. (I should write them on individual scraps of paper and put them in a basket or something and draw out sets of three.)
Almost everything under there, though, related to writing. Even the “to do” lists from the end of December had writing-related things on them.
I’m still not sure about that recipe, though.
Novel Notes 