Thursday, July 29, 2010

too many ideas scattered about in too many books



Every one of you creative, idea-driven individuals can probably relate to this......I LOVE blank books...sketchbooks, notebooks, college ruled, no ruled, graph, spiral, hardback, large, small.......and I've developed a habit out of having a book with me at all times, to capture ideas as they happen.  (if you don't write them down as they appear, they're likely to be lost forever, you know!) :) The problem with that is that I have WAYYYYYY too many books going at any given time.   Sometimes if I'm traveling, I grab a smaller one to have with me;  if I'm in the studio, I love having the large ones nearby; If I'm in a hurry and can't find the one I was last using, I grab whatever's close by; if I'm bored and looking for a fresh start, I grab a shiny new one (whether I've filled the other ones or not)....cuz we all know the feeling that a brand new, crisp sketchbook can bring....I have no rhyme or reason to the books I use, to how the ideas get organized....so guess what?  Whenever I need to go back and find something, it's a daunting time-stealing task. Sometimes I end up actually leafing through ALL the books searching for something I KNOW I jotted down ideas for.......only to come up empty....SOOOOO frustrating.  (It is however always an inspiring exercise to go back and look through the pages of our idea books, so time spent is not a total loss)  



My question is this....how do you keep track of all your ideas so that you have quick reference to them?  To rip out the pages and do some sort of filing system would somehow KILL the whole idea capturing process for some reason...not to mention the comfort and excitement that comes from watching the books pile up, knowing that there are zillions of ideas, thoughts, doodles and drawings captured between the sheets.  On those 'blank' days, it's like having money in the bank!  Creating some sort of scribbled index in the beginning of each book would be a bit of an extra job, but maybe that's the route I need to go...... 

Do you have a method to your creative madness that you'd be willing to share?!  Would love to hear about it.
 
Cheers to blank books just waiting for us to grab hold and fill!
michele.

8 comments:

Craftnique said...

Oh My Gosh. I can sooo relate to this. With our minds on "creative thinking" you think we would come up with something...that works! lol!

Regina said...

It can be frustrating to go on that search, but I usually get pretty excited about something I'm reminded of on the search. It can be reassuring to me when it feels like my creative well is going dry.
So my answer is to not index or have a special method of organization. The only exceptions are a couple of journals that have my paint reference charts and color scheme trials in them. I have also started some theme oriented visual journals. Otherwise, my journals are random & located in many places.

Notchka said...

Ha, I was thinking about blogging 'bout my workbooks. I am totally in love with papery goodness (ummmm new journal smell). I use these little flags that come in a popup container from postit. You can get a pack of 4 different colours which is good for keep track of a few different projects on the go. They can be written on (and if pencil, can be rubbed out) and they low tack - so they don't leave any residue on your work. I like to reuse them over and over again, cos they are pretty expensive if you're only using them the once. Any good stationer should be able to help you. Oh - if you have a regular sized postit pad, you could try chopping that into slivers and using that, but the other things are more durable :) Happy organising.

Anonymous said...

Yay, just happy to know I am not alone :0)
~Dawn

JillyJ said...

I can so relate ;o} I file the pages from my books in a 3-ring binder (homemade of course from a cereal box). I simply file my pages with homemade page dividers (from old manila folders, cereal and pasta boxes) in the notebook.

Hope this helps! You are such a true inspiration! J;o}

Anonymous said...

Same with me :-)

Campbell Jane said...

I have a stack just like yours! and I'll raise you a couple of shoe type boxes & plastic bin. I clip things out of magazines before I throw them out & save pictures I like from this & that. One box is garden picture, another is graphics, another food, the books...well I just like flipping through those. My spirals are kept in box magazine holders.

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