Not gonna lie, this is a really nerdy post, but it’s a huge part of my writing process so I thought I should share that with all of you. This isn’t a fancy name for something else; this is quite literally a three inch binder that I cart around with me that has everything I need for multiple of my projects.
So, how did I get the idea to start carting around this binder? First of all, let’s back up a second. I used to have a notebook that I would write down all of my writing ideas down in, and then I could transfer them to their respective notebooks when I got home. This started when I was in high school, and it worked okay, but I would’ve much rather just had that project’s notebook with me. Second, I was finding that I had some downtime at work, and it was getting difficult to keep track of everything that I was writing down, and then I would want to look back at my notebooks to reference something, and I just wouldn’t have them with me. Thus, the writing binder was made.
When I first made my writing binder, I took all of the various notes I had, plus the notebook for each of my projects, and put them in a binder with dividers for each project. I also put in some sticky notes and little pieces of paper in case I had general notes to write down, and I began hauling that thing around.
Now, one thing that is essential to each of my projects is a specific notebook dedicated to each of my projects where the bulk of my notes about a project goes, but there’s also various pieces of paper behind those notebooks, each holding a variety of information. Side note about the notebooks, I always pick a specific colour theme for my projects, so that means a pen colour, a folder cover in my Google Drive, and as close to a notebook colour as I can get. Some may think of this as neurotic, I like to think of it as organized.
However, one thing I am nitpicky on about my binder is when a project gets added to it. I’ve talked in previous posts about my Whimsy Pages, which is where all of my ideas get added to for a project before anything starts getting plotted. Not only does that need to be done for a project to get added, but I also like knowing that there are still ideas that I want to keep working on. For example, I did a Whimsy Page for two project ideas I had at once: one was a coming of age healing novel, and one was a fantasy project. However, I couldn’t get the first project out of my head, and soon a notebook was started before I brought it into the binder. With the fantasy project, I did the Whimsy Page, got really excited about it…and nothing has come of it yet. Granted, I am working on six projects right now, so there isn’t really space for that kind of commitment at the moment, but still.
Honestly, my writing binder just serves as a way for me to have all of my notes in one spot that’s easy to take with me. I’ve recently upgraded to a bigger binder as there were too many projects in my old one, but other than that, not much has changed with the binder.
The nice thing about the binder is that I’m able to add or remove things from it very easily. When a project is done and removed from the binder (which hasn’t happened), I keep the papers, either by putting it into a different binder, or storing it in my filing cabinet. Don’t worry, I’m pretty good about getting all of my notes into my computer (right now, I’m seriously slacking on that, but again, I’m working on six projects), so I don’t really need to hold onto the paper copies of all of my notes, but I think it’s really cool to see how my brain was working when I was writing a project, even if it’s a total mess.
So, yeah. That’s my writing binder. I use that thing every single day, and actually, one of my new projects had to get its own binder because I wanted to plot a bunch of lore in the background, which I’m sure you’ll hear more about later.
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