Food & Drink

Nom, Nom, Nom....

One word: Coffee.  Remember how I said that my sister and I love to go to Barnes & Noble to write?  Remember I said that she and I always get Starbucks while we're there?  The people behind the Starbucks counter know me there because that's how much we go there.  It's terrible, if you think about it...Starbucks is so unhealthy for you and think of all the money I have wasted at that place?  Sad thing is, I don't really care because it tastes absolutely wonderful!

I only write in two places: home or at Barnes & Noble.  I tend to not be able to write unless I have something else to distract my hands with...a drink.  Every once in a while I am able to give my hands that five-second break of typing only to fill my mouth with fabulous caffeine.  At Barnes & Noble, I get Starbucks, Starbucks, and more Starbucks.  At home, we have a Keurig coffee machine.  Yes, it is dangerous, but it is just as wonderful as having Starbucks.  The different is, I only buy one drink at Starbucks: it's loaded with caffeine and it's expensive.  At home, I may have up to 100 cups of coffee per day.  It's free and I can get decaffeinated K Cups to drink.

When I am at school, and I have free time in between classes with no homework to do, I write.  This is very rare, but it does happen sometimes.  I usually bring a cup of coffee with me to school.  Whether I filled up a thermos cup at home with coffee, or my friend and I stop at Dunkin' Donuts on the way, I usually have coffee.  By the time I get to sit down and write during school is later on in the day.  I get my homework done first.  This is something I hate, but it's something that I have to do.  Anyway, by that time, my coffee is either all gone or it's cold.  What do I do then?  I usually bring a water with me to school, as well.  This is in case I end up chugging my coffee on the car ride before I even get to school.  So, I'll usually drink my water.  I think it's boring, but that's what it is.  Or, depending on how much money I have and how much I actually want to spend, I'll go to a vending machine and get some Root Beer.  You know why I love Root Beer?  Caffeine free.

Despite all the Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and coffee from home I consume, I try to get it all decaffeinated.  I'm hyper enough and never sleep, so it's not like I need caffeine in my system...

I don't know what it is, but there is just something that makes me crave coffee or something of the sort as I write.  It's like I stated earlier: I need to give my hands that five-second break of typing to grab the cup and feed my belly.

Food?  No, I don't eat while I write.  I tend to eat a lot of junk food.  I'm also very messy when I eat.  If I don't want any sort of food residue on my laptop or smudged all over the pages in my notebook, I don't eat while I write.  I drink while I write and when I take a break from writing after an hour or so, that's when I make myself something to eat and I watch TV or something before getting back into it.

This, to me, sounds like a good idea.  Eat during breaks, drink while writing.  It's worked for me, so far.

Where In The World

Shh...I'm Writing....

Do you remember when we talked about using a computer over a pen and notebook?  Well, whichever tool you prefer to write with, where do you prefer to use it?

Do you need a quite place like a library?  Or are you able to sit at home with parents and siblings able to distract you at any possible moment, no matter what scene you're writing?  Most people can write through all of the examples above, but there's always that one certain spot where we write best.

In my house, we have a basement that has two rooms.  You go down the stairs and when you go to your right, it's where the couches are and the big screen TV...so it's basically like my dad's room.  If you go to your left once you make it to the bottom of the stairs, you'll see my desk, two book shelves filled with all my books, plus another huge desk, which is where Raph's (my turtle) tank sits.  The printer got squeezed onto that desk, as well.  We call this my room because I'm the one who always down there and no one else hangs out in that room...probably because all of my stuff is there.  The only time people really go into that room is when they're passing by to go into the laundry room.

Nine times out of ten, I will be at my desk writing on my laptop or in a notebook...mostly my laptop.  Sometimes I will write in my bedroom while lying on my bed, but I tend to use a notebook in my bed because otherwise I would get uncomfortable very easily...plus the laptop would die and I would have to run down two flights of stairs to get the plug and then bring everything back down when I'm done...it's too much work for me.

Now, there's always a special place that people tend to go to when they want to write.  Some place other than their house.  My sister and I always go to Barnes & Noble whenever we both have free time...meaning whenever both of us have the day off from work, which is not very often at all, but we try.  We go to Barnes & Noble early in the morning so that we get there as it opens...the tables at that place tend to fill up pretty quick.  There's a Starbucks inside Barnes & Noble, as well.  We walk in, go upstairs, grab a table, I go down to the Starbucks and get us a couple of Mocha Frappuccinos, go back upstairs, and the two of us get busy sipping our drinks and typing away on our laptops.

Where do you like to write? 

Updates:

I would just like to let everyone know that the Reading Page has been updated!  Go check it out! 

Quirks

Everyone Has Some Sort Of Weird Thing Going On....

Take my puppy for example.  She's eight months old and whenever she runs, she uses only three legs.  Her right hind leg tends to stay suspended up in the air while her front legs do the majority of the work and her left hind leg hops.  She is extremely fast, but we try to tell her that she'll go much faster if she uses all that God gave her, but she doesn't listen.  When she had a vet appointment, we had the doctor check it out.  He said there was nothing wrong with it.  He shrugged and said, "It's just a quirk."

Quirks are usually something that someone always does...or something that they always have.  Something along those lines, anyway.  Everybody has quirks...even dogs.  And, more importantly, our characters.  When writers come up with characters, they tend to give each character a quirk.  Maybe it was by accident, maybe it was on purpose.  However, there is always something special about each individual character.  They may always have something with them, they may always being doing something certain, or it could be a certain way they speak or something.

Some quirks are easy to point out due to the "narrator" or the character themselves state it in the actual book.  Other quirks are not that easy to figure out due to them being so subtle.  However, I believe that they're there somewhere.


Author's themselves have quirks, as well.  Some writers tend to write in the same thing in every book.  Take me, for example.  So far, in all my novels, a giraffe appears.  Either one of the characters brings up a giraffe in the conversation, there's a giraffe poster in someone's bedroom...there has been no appearance of a giraffe where the giraffe has been a real one.  Although that would be awesome.


I find quirks to be quite enjoyable.  As I read, I tend to find something unique about each character which carries on throughout the novel.  I try to do the same with my characters, as well.  I don't know if this is true or even if it makes any sense...but I think that if the characters have certain things about them-like quirks-they develop more.  The readers tend to get to them as well as you, the writer, knows them.

Lists

I Need To Make A Lists Of Lists To Make....

Remember that post I made about organization a few days ago?  Well, this post kind of goes along with it...lists.  Lists are pretty much a way of organizing.  It's not organizing physical things, but it's organizing all the thoughts that are floating around in your head.  You make a list of all those thoughts and you have them neatly and visually on a piece of paper that you and read and check off.

I make a list for just about everything.  My oldest sister got me into that one.  She makes a list of everything possible and I've started to do that, too.  But in a way, I'm glad, because I feel as though I don't have to remain on my memory all the time.  I have a good enough memory, but I tend to remember the things that I want to remember...which usually isn't a lot.

Anyway, just like the sub-title says, I need to make a list of the lists that I need to make.  It sounds OCD, but it's true.  When I clean my bedroom, I make a list of all the things that I need to do before I finally deem it clean enough to leave alone.  When I help clean the house, I make a list of every room that I need to clean and sub-lists for everything that I have to clean in each room.  I work at a pre-school.  Nap time is 1-3 in the afternoon and I usually go into work around one.  That means I have two hours to do basically nothing but watch the kids sleep and get paid for it.  So what do I usually do?  I make lists.  Lists of things I have to do, I have to clean, I have to buy...lists of my writing.

Making lists for your writing (especially if you have a lot like I do) is very helpful.  Seriously, I can't stress enough that lists are the best when it comes to organizing your writing.  I have a three-page list of all the ideas I have for novels.  I have them broken down into categories: young adult novels, middle grade, children's books, essays, movie scripts, TV scripts.  That's the list of the ideas that I plan on getting published someday.  I have a separate list for the stories on my FanFiction account that is much, much longer.  Sad, but true.

You can make a list of novel ideas, a list of ideas that you want to happen in one novel, a list of characters, a list of titles, plots, etc.  You can make a list (like me) of which order you're going to write these novels and another list for which order you're going to edit these novels.  If, for whatever reason, you get stuck on something, go back and look at your list.  Trust me, it helps.

Now let's just see if you can keep track of all the lists.

Update:

So, I never posted yesterday (January 11) due to not being on the computer at all.  I was busy for the whole day.  That means that I missed a day of posting.  So, I'm posting now and then later tonight I will be posting again.  Then I will start getting back to the "post once a day" thing.  Have a good one!

Read, Read, Read!

Once Upon A Time....

Aside from writing everyday, what else do people tell you to do?  Read, right?  People tell you that if you want to become a good author, you should read a lot.  They all say that reading helps with vocabulary, story structure, etc.

My Basic Writing professor a couple of semesters ago had just read a book.  It was called, "Hole In My Life" by Jack Gantos.  It's a memoir and it's about a man who wanted to stay a writing career.  He made it to that goal, but he did a lot of bad things to get there.  You can read it for yourself, I'm not going to get into it now...my point is, my professor told us, as we read the book, to write down any words that we did not know the meaning of.  Then he wanted us to go look up the words in a dictionary and write down the definitions.  That's usually what people expect you to do when you read a story.  I don't know about you, but I don't do that.  If there's a word I don't understand, I read around it and I can usually figure out what is going on.  Of course, there are those few times when I just get flat out confused and then I will go to a dictionary or Google or something.  So, reading is supposed to help you with your vocabulary.  The more words you know, the more words you'll put into your own story to make you sound smarter.

Reading is also a good way to look at different story structures.  There are some books that have little to no dialogue, some books have people talking left and right, some have chapters that are two pages long, and some have chapters that are about 30 pages long.  Some books have plots and characters that just have to continue on in sequels and some are perfectly fine as stand alone books.  200 pages, 500 pages, it doesn't really matter.  There must be a million different ways to write a novel and the types of books we read are only just a few of them.

Reading books is basically studying how to format a book.  Like I previously stated, there are probably a million different ways to write a book.  Although, you write the way you write.  Each person has their own style, but this just broadens their writing style a little more.

So, my other New Year's resolution was to read at least 50 pages a day.  I try to get myself to read everyday during whatever spare time I have.  Usually I tend to stay up later than I want and I read for an hour before I go to bed.  When you have work and school and such, it's hard to just curl up on the couch and read a whole book.

However, like I said, I try to read for at least one hour every night before I go to bed.  That's something that everyone should try.  At least a half hour or something.  Not only will you be learning more about writing, but it'll relax your mind and put you at ease before you fall asleep.

Write Here, Write Now

How Much Longer Do I Have To Do This....

You know how people always say that you should write everyday?  Some people say to write this many words or pages each day, or they'll just tell you write for at least an hour or so everyday.  Why?  Because the more your write, the more you'll get into it.  Practice makes perfect and when it comes to writing, you definitely need practice.

Writing is hard work.  The spelling, the grammar, the characters, the plot, the setting, the development of it all...it's a real pain.  So what's the best way to get better at writing?  You need to write a lot.  That, and novels usually take the long time to write, so the more you write, the faster your novel will be finished...it'll be crap, but it'll be finished regardless.

Anyway, people say to write everyday.  This is to get your creative juices flowing through your fingers and to wake up your muse.  A lot of people use every excuse in the book as to why they don't write everyday...like me.  Most people (like me) say that they don't have time to write everyday.

Me for example...I'm 18-years-old, a full-time student, a part-time teacher's assistant, part-time babysitter, and I also have a life completed with friends, a boyfriend, and attempting to help my mother clean the house.  I am still trying to get my drivers license, that's how little time I have.

I tell people that I have so much to do and not enough time.  Well, that's true for everybody.  However, there are some days when I sit down and watch TV and say to myself, "I should really be doing something productive right now." ...So I continue to sit and watch TV.  I understand that there are some times when you just need to sit back and relax, but I don't roll that way.  I mean, I do, but I hate it.

I made a New Year's resolution to write at least 500 words a day for this whole year.  Right now, I'm behind...way behind.  I have written a little bit, but I'm technically supposed to be at 5000 words right now and I am no where near that at the moment.  I thought that I might try writing at least one page a day...that will be at least 500 words everyday.  Probably more.  But then I think to myself that I don't have time to write a whole page everyday.  There will be sometimes where I can write for hours and hours and then the next few weeks I write absolutely nothing.  But of course...I have been writing one blog post everyday.  So far, anyway.  So, I think to myself, "If I can write a blog post everyday, then why can't I write at least one page of a story everyday?"  I have finished four books, so one would think that I would be able to sit my rear down and focus on one certain thing.  But if you think about it...when I wrote those books I worked at a children's birthday party place.  My hours were little to nothing and the schedule changed every week.  My hours were so all over the place, that I was able to make things work.  This is my schedule now:

Sunday: Church 10 AM - 11 AM
Monday: School 7 AM - 12 PM; Work 2 PM - 6 PM
Tuesday: Babysitting (that's up in the air at the moment...if not, then I have Tuesdays free)
Wednesday: School 7 AM - 12 PM; Work 2 PM - 6 PM
Thursday: Work 1 PM - 6 PM
Friday: Work 1 PM - 6 PM
Saturday: Usually free

You're probably thinking, "You can easily write Sunday afternoons, Monday nights, (possibly) all day Tuesday, Wednesday nights, Thursday mornings and nights, Friday mornings and nights, and (mostly) all day Saturday." Yeah, I thought that, too...except I have a house to keep up with (to help my mom out), friends and a boyfriend to hang out with, homework on the side, and babysitting can actually be any night.  If I had no life, then I would be able to write just like you said, but unfortunately I do have a life.

However, I don't care.  I am going to try to start writing at least one page of something every single day.  And lately I've been writing my first drafts single spaced...this is because I want to complete it and be surprised at how long it is when I put it as double spaced...yeah, I'm weird, I know.  Anyway, I'll probably write these pages single spaced...I'll get more done each day that way.  So, tomorrow is Tuesday.  I'm going to get up early, get done whatever is needed to get done, write (at least one page and then a blog post), go to work, and then hang out with my boyfriend (Tuesday nights are usually spent with him).

Meanwhile, all you people out there should be making the same effort as I am!  Happy writing. :)

Editing

Work With Me, Plot....

Editing is probably the most hated part of the whole writing process.  No one likes to edit.  It's a lot of work, it's frustrating, and depending on how long it took you to write the first draft, most people just want to kick their story out the door and be done with it.

You tell the plot to take a right turn and it decides to listen to the sexy girl voice on their GPS and turn left.  Your characters are defiant and ignore everything you say simply because they hate all the crap you put them through during the course of the story.  You soon realize that you have more typos than plot points in the story and you realize that you no longer have knowledge of the correct usage of grammar.  All in all, editing is a pain.

I was babysitting last night for three kids.  I put them to bed, looked at the clock, and realized that I had about 3-4 hours to myself to do whatever I wanted.  I had packed a book with me, a notebook, my 3DS with some games, and my completed novel that needs to be edited.  I decided to edit a little of the story.  I lasted through the prologue and the first chapter.  I then closed the folder and put it away.  Why?  I had no muse to edit at all.

The draft I am currently editing is the fourth draft.  As I read through the prologue and the first chapter, I realized that there were a lot of mistakes that I either didn't catch the first three times, or I made even more mistakes as I tried to correct the previous ones.  I added new words, new sentences, took out words and sentences, described things differently, and sometimes I even crossed something out only to reconsider and put it right back in.

The people I babysit for got a new coffee maker for Christmas.  I chugged practically all of their coffee down my throat as I angrily edited my story...a whole two chapters.  I've been wanting to continue editing this story for a long time and when I finally sat down to do it, I realized how hard it was and how much work that it was going to be, I stopped.  It was ten o'clock at night and I was tired.  Three kids plus one friend over was a lot of work...especially taking the friend home and then putting the other three to bed.  It was a hassle and the last thing I wanted to do was argue back and forth with my characters and my plot about what should change and what should stay the same.  If I had it my way, nothing would change and it would be a best-seller.  The writing world, unfortunately, does not work that way.  It sucks, but it's the truth.

I plan to have this draft of the novel edited by the end of this week...and it's Sunday, so hopefully I will be able to actually meet that deadline.  Not only that, but I have to write a lot, as well.


Editing is such a pain; however it's necessary.  It helps a whole lot and makes the story turn into a whole new story-a much better story.  Editing doesn't always have to be a pain, though.  It's a long process, which in itself can make it a pain, but here's what I do:

I write the story and wait a month.  That way, I can take a breather from the whole story.  Then (or maybe during my month break) I give the story to someone else to read and edit for me.  Usually, it's my sister.  When they finish, I look over it and add their corrections.  Some I take, some I don't.  Then I print it out again and edit it myself.  Once more, I edit it myself printed out only reading it out loud this time.  The ears tend to catch a lot more than the eyes do.  After that, I edit it while it's still on the computer.  Sometimes I read it out loud and sometimes I don't.  Printing it out is the best option, which is while only one or two of my drafts stay on the computer.  Sometimes that would be my last draft, but nine times out of ten it's not.  My last draft is the draft that has little to no marking on it at all.


So, editing is long, yes.  Editing is also a pain, yes.  However, if you know what you're doing, know where the story is supposed to be leading to, and have enough patience to stick with it, then you're golden.  How do you edit?

Outlining

This Will Happen At This Time At This Place....

Show of hands: How many people actually think that outlining helps?

To me, outlining helps.  I don't always do it for my stories (even though I would like to), but for the stories I do outline for helps.  It helps a lot, actually.

Not only does outlining keep my mind on track and helps me remember what I was going to do with my characters and plot, but it also gives me a chance to come up with new ideas.  I outline with the first few ideas that I come up with, but as I write, I might make my character say something that could lead to a totally new idea that's completely different than what I wrote in the outline.

I think that it gives my mind a good opportunity to think.  Even though I have everything planned out, the clockwork in my mind still ticks away at how to make the ideas even better.  Sometimes the ideas stay the same, but most of the time it changes. 

Well, if the whole outline is basically going to change as you write the story, then why bother outlining at all?  I don't think of outlining as though they're rules.  I think of outlining as though they're guidelines.

If I have a few ideas, then I jot them down and try to put them in order.  I come up with a beginning and an end.  Then I have to try to connect the two of them together, forming the middle through the outline.  This is where most of the ideas change.  The beginning stays the same because I have to start somewhere and if I come up with an idea for the beginning, then most likely it's going to stay that way.  I tend to always love the ending that I come up with, so those never change.  I connect the beginning and the ending with any ideas that I come up with.  If the ideas make sense, I use them for the outline.

Of course, as I write, the beginning stays the beginning and practically the entire middle changes.  A characters will say one thing that would change an entire idea.  Or maybe I'll change the idea purposely.  If a character is supposed to be in his bedroom and I decide that the conversation he's having would be better suited in the living room, other ideas will change...even if I just make that one little switch.

It's like changing the past.  You know how you want those movies and someone will go back in time to change something in the past?  They come back to find that their entire future is completely different.  Then they have to go back in time and fix whatever it was that they changed in the first place.  That's basically how ideas go when it comes to writing.  You have a whole novel planned, but you change one thing and the whole rest of the novel changes in some way or another.  It's one big chain reaction.

Having the rest of the novel change might not be a bad thing.  Maybe it'll make the novel all the more better.  Plus, you change one thing, everything else changes and you might even come up with more ideas, which will change everything else even more.

Of course, there is that slight chance that you should have just left the idea alone in the first place.  You might change one thing that will change everything else for the worst.  Take my novel, for example.  I completed it.  I edited it a couple of times.  After doing that two or three times, I changed a scene.  Everything else changed.  I edited it a couple more times after that.  I changed that scene once more back to the original plan, which caused everything to change again, but not back to the way it was in the first draft.  It made the novel a whole lot better.

See, that's the other thing.  Not only do you have to be careful changing ideas around and making sure that they make sense and the whole novel comes out the way you wanted it to, but you also have to make sure that you change the right idea.  How do you figure out which ideas you have to change and which you have to keep?

Well, that's why editing exists.  You write the novel, edit it 600 times and eventually you'll get every scene to make sense and the novel will be perfect, just the way you want it.  No one likes editing, but to me, an outline will make it a lot easier in the longer run.  Because, if you think about it, you'll be editing as you write the novel the first time.  There might be something in the outline that you change your mind about and fix it as you write the first draft.  Outlines are guidelines and they really do help in the long run.

As you edit, you might find you don't like something you changed.  Guess what?  You can go back to the outline, put in the original idea, and see what happens.  Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.  However, it'll give you something to go by and it'll be a big help when the hard part comes...editing.

Motivation

I Have To Do This and That and...Eh, I'll Do It Later....

Do you know what really bugs me?  Is that when I want to write, I don't have time.  When I have time, I don't want to write.  Am I the only one that this happens to?

I just don't have the motivation.  I want to write, I want to get published, but sometimes I just don't have the attention span for it.  I know how I want to story to end, but sometimes I don't know how to get there.  I know how I want to start the story, but I feel like writing something completely different.  As I'm writing something, I'll come up with a completely new idea for a whole new novel.  I start writing that and never get back to the previous one.  That cycle continues on and soon I'm stuck with 100 half-written stories and me feeling like crap because I can't seem to get anything finished.

I looked up my horoscope the other day.  I'm a Virgo.  Apparently, Virgos are known to not finish what they start.  What luck I have!  Of course, I'm not all that into that superstitious stuff.  I like looking up my horoscope for fun purposes.  But the one thing that happens to be true...

I reflected back on my life once I read that small piece of information.  I realized that I have never ever seemed to finish anything in my life before.  All the things that I had to finish, I procrastinated with.  You know, you have a project to work on for school and you're up all night the night before it's due and you're only just starting it.  Well, I think everyone does that just because it's school, but hopefully you get my point.

I also realized that my problem isn't motivating me to write.  It's motivating me to finish.  I have finished two children books and two young adult novels.  That's something, at least.  Except I can't get anywhere with them because I won't edit them.

I figured out something that gets my motivated, though.  My sister and I always go to Barnes & Noble to write.  There's a section of books that's for writing and publishing and such.  I always go to that area.  I flip through a couple of the books and I say to myself, "I can do that, I can do that, I can do that."  Truth is, I should really be saying, "I want to do that."  More truthfully, I really can do it, I just don't.

I am on a bunch of different writing websites.  One of them being NaNoWriMo.  Click on the name if you have no idea what it is.  I have been a part of NaNoWriMo for three years.  I only won one year, but I've still tried the other years.  NaNoWriMo has forums for the members to chat with one another about many different topics before, during, and after November.  I usually look in there.  I read what everyone else writes, especially the "Self-Promoting" section.  A lot of people have had their NaNoWriMo novels published.  I want to do that.  That gets me motivated to write because I want to be just like those people.

So, I get myself motivated, I go home and write.  Now let's just see if I can follow through with it like I have with the four books I have already completed.  What gets you motivated?  Because just maybe it'll help me.... 

Computer Versus Notebook

Flash Drive or Pen...?

Do you prefer to use a computer for your writing or a notebook?  I think that there are pros and cons to using a computer and there are pros and cons to using a notebook.  However, no matter what the pros are or what the cons are, people will most likely choose one certain one over the other all the time.

A computer has its advantages.  Nine out of ten people type faster than they write, so typing would be an advantage over hand writing.  Plus, there's spell-check.  If you write on the computer, the computer will tell you whether you're right or wrong-of course, the computer is sometimes wrong, so you have to watch out.  If you use the computer, you can check to see how many words you have written and you can see how long it is.  I'll use myself as an example.  A finished manuscript is typed and double-spaced (most of the time).  During my free time in school, I wrote in a notebook.  By the end of the semester, I had filled up an entire one-subject notebook of a story.  When I typed it up on the computer, the manuscript was less than ten pages.  Of course, the story was not nearly complete, but my point is that if you use a computer, you know exactly the length of your novel.

Now there are disadvantages to using the computer.  It's one word: Internet.  Yes, if you need to research something on Google, then that's okay.  However, for most people, when they log onto the internet, they stay on the internet for a good few hours.  They forget what they're doing and then when their laptop dies or they need to leave to go to work or whatever, they remember, "Oh, yeah.  I was supposed to be writing." Of course, there is nothing that they can do about it.  They shut down, go do whatever it is that life needs them to do and do they get back to the story?  Eventually, but not likely that same day.  There is also the disadvantage of the computer crashing or getting a virus (which, I would say is technically the same thing).  Once that happens, you're screwed.  You may be able to get rid of the virus, but all your documents are now infected.  That is, if they even made it through the whole crashing process.  You might have lost them forever.  And yes, that is why we have flash drives these days.  You pop it into the computer, save everything onto that and (God forbid) your computer dies tragically you still have all your crap.  It's magic!  It's saved!  However, a flash drive is only good for you if you actually have it.


Let me tell you this story from a couple of semesters ago...I was at school.  My sister and I arrived in the early morning, we went to our classes, and then were were gone by, I think, noon.  Maybe later, I don't know, but the time is irrelevant.  The time you need to know is that at seven o'clock at night, yes 7:00 PM, I decide to write.  I turn on my laptop, I get my flash drive.  Except I don't.  I look in my bag, all the drawers in my desk, in my room, everything.  No flash drive.  Then it hits me: I used my flash drive at school.  Guess where I left it?  That's right, I left it connected to one of the school computers in the library.  I was completely panicked.  I was distraught.  I had convinced myself that I was never ever going to see my flash drive again.  I thought to myself, "Well, that's it!  All those stories...all that hard work...wasted!  I am never going to write again!" No, seriously, I vowed that I was never going to write again if I didn't get my flash drive back...I'm a very sensitive person.  Anyway, I run up to my bedroom, probably crying I don't really remember, and I tell her everything that happened.  Well, thank the lord that my school library added a new feature.  We can IM the librarians now...if the library is open and someone is on duty, that is.  Lucky for me, there was a librarian online.  My sister spoke with her and apparently a very nice man found it and turned it in.  The next day, we went to school to the Lost and Found and I got my flash drive back.  I don't know who that student was who returned my flash drive, but I would give him a big bear hug if I ever found out.

So, computers have advantages and disadvantages...more advantages than the disadvantages.  Notebooks also have their own advantages and disadvantages:

Hand writing may be slower, but think of it as a first first draft.  If you hand write and then type it, believe me because I've done it plenty of times before, as you type you'll be editing.  You will notice spelling, grammar, and even sentence structure mistakes.  As you type, you will fix these mistakes so it's as though you're getting a whole draft edited as you format it.  Another advantage: they are portable.  As long as you have a pen that works with you, then you can write wherever you go.  Sure, laptops are portable, but then you have to lug around  a heavy laptop, a flash drive (if you need one) and the cord...remember, laptops die.  Notebooks don't.


How are notebooks not a good idea?  Smudging.  I guess it depends on the type of pen you use, but when I write, my arm tends to smudge all the previous words I wrote.  And I'm right-handed.  The other problem would be messiness.  It depends on you and your hand writing and it's not like it your fault if you have crappy hand writing or not, but still.  I hand write fast and my hand writing isn't the best, to begin with.  When I try to re-read over the things I wrote, I get stuck every one in a while trying to read my own writing.  People may not see this one as a big deal, but to me it is.  Once you start writing in a notebook and then you take it somewhere with you to write in your spare time (like I do when I go to school), you need to make sure that you'll have enough paper left in the notebook to last you through the day.  The majority of one-subject notebooks only have 70 pages.  If you use them double-sided (which I think everyone should) then you technically have 140 pages.  However, it also depends on how big you write...I write like a giant, so I don't always get the most words down on one sheet.  The point is, a computer has an unlimited amount of pages, whereas notebooks don't.


And there you have it.  I'm sure that there are more pros and cons to both computers and notebooks, but those were the ones that I could come up with.  I think that it depends on how often you write, where you write, how you write, etc., should depend on what you use.  Then again, you need to use something that you're comfortable with.  Me?  I couldn't tell you which I prefer.  I use the computer the majority of the time.  That's mostly because I have an unlimited amount of paper, plus the words get down faster.  However, you will sometimes catch me writing in a notebook.  I need a notebook to write in whenever I can't get to a computer and it makes me feel relaxed.  It's quieter because I don't have the typing noise in the background as I think and try to come up with something to write next.  I usually listen to music when I write whether I am on the computer or using a notebook, so I'm not really making much sense right now, but that's just how I work.  Which do you use?