Writing 101 (2): Idea Hoarder (inspired by "Words Fail Me")

Today, I was browsing randomly in the bookstore and I've decided to get this book:



Well, it's not the kindle edition. I got the paperback. It's a book about writing. Don't ask me. I hate nonfiction, especially exposition, but reading all about the English language never bores me. I relish discussions and conversation explaining and arguing which preposition is more suitable for the verb and so on. Not that I'm an expert, but it is always an enlightening and satisfying moment when I get an answer, or acknowledgement that I knew was correct.

Anyway, I'm not done with the book (I just bought it, geez!) but I particularly liked a chapter where the author Patricia explained about organisation. As it turned out, she encouraged budding writers to hoard their ideas and keep them somewhere. You never know when you need them.

It's something I wished someone taught me before I threw my stash of laughable drafts away.

Anyway, after reading the chapter (actually I'm only halfway through the chapter but I'm pretty motivated now), here is my plan:

1. Write.
As Patricia T. O'Conner suggests, words, phrases, ideas, conversations, punchlines... Everything, anything. Write them down.

Noted with much gratitude. Looks like I'm going to be walking around with something to jot down all the time. Maybe it's time to buy a voice recorder. Nah, that would be too creepy. I'll lose friends at that rate.

2. Keep all plot bunnies 
Even if they are fanfiction or fiction, I'm going to now keep all my plot bunnies in a nice place. No more "Bah, that's stupid." *toss it to one side* EVEN IF it's stupid, I'm gonna keep it.

3. Keep a vocabulary notebook. For real.
I don't see this happening anytime soon, but I had a vision of collecting a compendium of new vocabulary words. Yup, I'm not going to upload them on the blog like before, because it'll be hard to maintain. It's not happening because I don't have the guts to get started. Seriously. I wish I can, but I barely know where to begin. It's supposed to be an attempt to improve my vocabulary, but now I see that it's necessary. Maybe I've got to do one for English and one for Japanese. Stay tuned... IF it ever happens.

So that's all I have planned so far! I'm going to head outta here and capture all my lost plot bunnies. Have a good Sunday ahead!

Picture taken from:
Book Cover