April 25, 2012

Have you collected quotes and free ebooks and downloads from the Internet? Do you remember to document the source of your information (the URL)? I nearly always forget. Copying and pasting the information and a long URL was a headache.

Until now.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, the Quote

Below is a quote that I wanted to use for today’s blog, but I wanted to also give credit where it was due. I copied it onto my computer screen some months ago, but I can’t remember the source. (If any of you know, tell me, and I’ll add the credit.)

I remembered the quote when I was looking over several boxes of manuscripts that I had never finished. I didn’t recall why. Then I remembered this quote, and it gave me a solution:

Canvas your half-done creations, whether they are chapters half-written, paintings half-painted, business ideas half-formulated, or programs half-coded. How many of them are stuck at roughly the same spot?

I’ll bet that spot is where you started thinking about how you were going to sell or share that creation.

I’m not saying you can’t sell it – I’m saying you have to create it first. And to create it, you have to create it for yourself. You have to be passionate about it. You have to be interested in it. You have to have your moment to cherish the newborn.

Go back and review those half-baked ideas. Put a sign, physical or otherwise, on them that says “Not For Sale” or “Just For Me.” Give yourself room to play. (Source Unknown) [P.S. LATER: Thanks to several people, I can now give proper credit. It's from an article called "Your Art is For You" by Charlie Gilkey.]

What to Do? Help is Here!

I decided to mark every abandoned manuscript as “not for submission” and give myself room to play and enjoy the writing. It’s made the writing fun again.

I wished I knew where I pulled the quote from because I’d like to go back to that website or ebook or blog and read the author’s other ideas.

I mentioned my aggravation to a friend, who told me (again) that she had solved that issue long ago by using Evernote for online research of all kinds. Using the program’s F*R*E*E version, you can capture whole web pages, movies, audio files, you name it. You then tag your material and file it in a folder you create.

You can download the free version of Evernote to all your computers, phones, and mobile devices so they can synchronize. I downloaded the free version and started using it immediately. (The simple guide to using Evernote takes just a few minutes to read.) There are also Evernote Tutorial videos and an Evernote blog–chockful of great tips!

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, usually some research is necessary. The Evernote system is a much more organized place for it than your Favorites, and you can actually store the information itself (URL and all). I love being able to collect it, then get off-line to read it at any time.