Yes, This Will Be On the Test

Writing, Reading, Laughing

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Mining Vacay Gold

It's vacay season when we share collective thoughts.

How much can I jam in my suitcase?
Should I lie to the calorie tracker on my smartphone?
Do I trust the GPS or will I end up in a lake?

We writers have another subset of "on the road" musings.

If that girl falls off that balcony will that guy catch her?
Were those glowing eyes flying across the road a Chupacabra?
Is this a tasty location for my next MS?

Julie Musil recently shared her method of note-taking to recall the details of a situation here

I prefer to chronicle my vacay observations visually.

A shadow. A shoe. A tree.

Don't move. It will see you.

The face behind the bottom right pane disappeared.

What strategies do you use to cement observations into your writerly brain?



22 comments:

  1. I'm not much for note or picture taking (sadly). I tend to hope my poor little brain will track those moments for me and shove them to the forefront when I need them. As you might expect, this doesn't always work :P

    Love your pics - especially #2! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I usually take 50 jillion photos of a few things and miss all the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm visual. I spent an afternoon of our honeymoon while my husband was recovering from a bad sunburn riding a bike through the beach town taking pictures. This was before the cameras of today so I can't put them on line, but I have oodles of pictures. I love to capture every memory in a picture until I get a chance alone to write each detail down.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't have any strategies. I need one, though. I can't remember anything.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like your pictures; they're really good. I'm not a very good photographer because my thumb keeps showing up in all my pictures. But I do carry my journal with me so that I can write down all the weird/interesting things that I see or hear.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Seriously, I want to live in your head for a,while, because clearly it is a fabulous place to,hang out!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd need a special permit and a notarized proof of insurance to enter.

      Delete
  7. Thanks so much for connecting with me! Vacations are great for letting the mind wander in unusual directions.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ha! Love the photos, and the Leslie-isms to go along with them. Thanks for the shout out :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome pictures and captions! Such great shots. :) I like to take lots of pictures when I am on vacation and don't stop and take many written notes. I do use the pictures to help me draw or write about experiences later. :)
    Jess

    ReplyDelete
  10. love the "don't move" one--it seriously looks like something off of Dr. Who :) I take lots of photos, too, and journal lots about where I'm visiting!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Photos are great, but I still rely on lots of notes, like Julie. The cave shot got my imagination going!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great pics.

    I love where my thoughts go during times of r and r. Many times I take notes.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for stopping by and sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't have any set strategies.
    I love words and love discovering new words...
    A set of words can trigger a scenario in my mind's eye...
    BUT I need to start the note-taking method. It sounds great for finicky details.
    Hope you well Leslie! *waving*
    Writer In Transit

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ha ha! I loved your list of writers' questions. So true! Even when we're not writing, we're always wondering and trying to tell stories, aren't we?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love the pictures, Leslie. I usually just jot down chicken-scratched notes. For best results, I try to get the notes into my computer within a day or two where I can expand on them. Other times the little scraps of paper just end up in a special box for later interpretation.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ugggh I'm so bad at remembering details for using them later. There's this guy at my job that has a great voice; I could totally steal his expressions and make him famous! But when I sit down to write can I think of any of them? Every time I have a meeting with him do I remember to take notes?

    No. Gah.

    But i like your idea of visual documentation.

    Maybe I just need to sneak a recorder into my work meetings ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I actually haven't thought about it. Hmmm...I just try my best and I read a ton to see how other writers describe
    things.

    My GPS always gets me lost. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Road trips are definitely great for the imagination!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I usually take lots of notes but this time I kind of just lived in the moment. There were lots of family members/friends around so I was pretty distracted.
    I'll have to go back someday just on my own. ;)

    ReplyDelete