Training My Memory (+ Pre-order Link!)
I think more of my memory than it deserves. But I'm starting to learn my lessons.
You'll have heard writers complaining that they woke up with a brilliant idea in the middle of the night and then they'd lost it again before morning because they didn't write it down. This happens to me occasionally but my brain somehow manages to sequester most ideas in a little vault that's instantly accessible as soon as I wake up. I'm not saying the novel about the bear is going to happen anytime soon, but I did remember it the next morning.
Where my brain falls down is keeping other people's stuff safe.
Birthdays of family and friends? I can probably remember. Names? Yes, in context. Films I've been told to watch? Ha. Books I've been meaning to read? Ha-ha!
This is where wish lists and digital notebooks come in very handy, just as long as I remember to use them properly. I spend so much time focused on writing, marketing and other parts of my everyday life that making a note of something when it comes up is proving vital.
I've gone through several systems over the years (some of which I've detailed on this blog), but I'm now settled on a combination of Nimbus Note and Airtable to organise my life. Anything that requires long-form notes goes into Nimbus Note and the humongous lists of things to create or remember go into Airtable, which is essentially a big database full of spreadsheets. But colourful. And better.
The system's working well so far and I'm actually remembering more things. I've got a growing database of story ideas (lucky me) and I've been keeping track of all the things I want to talk to my blog readers and newsletter subscribers about (lucky you). So far, my book wish lists are on the platforms book lists are usually on, but the long-term plan is to bring them into my own little ecosystem. All the better to keep track of them.
There's so much to think about in the modern world, although there are plenty of tools out there to help us remember things.
What do you use and what have you found just doesn't work for you? Give me something else to think about and add to that growing Airtable database of mine!
P.S. The pre-order link for Max is now live on Amazon, so if you prefer to pre-order rather than add to lists and order after release, go snap it up at a discount launch price.