My mind is on fire with ideas

I crawled out of bed a little later than usual and after grabbing a cup of coffee, I sit in the upstairs writing room doing the daily journaling. Many times, something that was said the day before or some idea intertwines with the journal writing. Also, there are times when the journaling draws out those thoughts even further. My mind is so full that I will also take side notes. 

Side notes are written on scrap paper. I write on the backs of correspondence, old writings in which I have new copies, and even used envelopes as one side usually has clear space. Sheets of paper are ripped in half because I prefer to write in the smaller 5x8 rather than on the full 8 ½x11 sheet. (Journal books are 6x9).

This morning I filled three scrap pieces with notes and ideas to use later. Sometimes I get so involved in writing notes that I lose track of where I am in the journaling. Sometimes I forget to record an event from the day before because I am so focused on these new ideas. I can’t write fast enough. My mind just bubbles over and what I don’t get written down is forgotten.

This morning my mind was again on the new book. I am obsessed with it; the need to get it written, wanting to tell the story, and the desire to show the story with the photographs. That’s all wrapped up with wanting to go back to South Carolina so bad! I want to be walking those trails this time of year when the flowers are coming into bloom and leaves on the trees are coming out. (I’ve only been there in January.)

One of my worries in my travel writing is I feel I am not descriptive enough. When I wrote about the 2013 trip, I often did not have the correct words to describe what I was seeing. Even though I had the photos to refer to, I feel I failed in that aspect. (No, it was not a failure. I am really proud of that book. It’s one of my big accomplishments.) 

The hardest thing in writing a book is the length it could become; the longer the book, the more expensive to have printed. And, one of my goals is to bring the reader with me. So, this time, I am determined to be more descriptive. I want to tell the story, show what I saw with photos, but also describe what I saw and experienced. That experience includes feelings (emotional and atmosphere), smells, and sounds. How do I bring the two dimensional writing into three dimensional pictures to your minds?

What this all means is that the book is put together in piece meal. There were the original notes, the blog, and journal. There are all the photos and deciding which of the hundreds (and I do mean hundreds, perhaps even close to a thousand) to use. Reality dictates that I can only use two to five in each chapter when there can be up to or over 50 good photos for any one day. There are the history segments and facts to research and add.  

Then it’ll be going back over each chapter and using the photos to create fuller descriptions of places and situations. Each perusal of a chapter tightens it up, makes it better, even if it does get longer.

 You will be coming on this journey with me!