In the interest of full disclosure, I feel like its an appropriate time to make a confession here. I have a sticky little secret. Ok, ok, the secret’s neither sticky nor little at all. The sticky part is actually a temporary adhesive that leaves behind no tacky residue. And physically, the secret is one that is blue and pink, and approximately 18″ x 18″ and 12″ x 12″ respectively.
You see, I’m a Post-it note junkie. Writing books is really just an excuse to literally paper my house in gigantic and slightly less gigantic Post-it notes. If I tried to rein in my addiction, 3M stocks might just plummet.
I’ve mentioned my notebooks before, which are my long-term idea storage solution. Post-it notes serve another purpose. For each book, I start by formulating a high-level outline of the main themes and work down from there into more specific parts–main events, character development, conflicts, etc. I use that high-level outline for the book as a checklist as I write each individual chapter to make sure I’m staying on track with timing of events and to ensure I don’t leave out any important details. For each chapter, I start with a fresh blue Post-it and outline what needs to be written in that specific chapter. Some portions of the outline will be skeleton-like summaries, while other times I’ll actually write out the exact dialogue or descriptions right on the Post-it.
Each chapter usually requires 1 blue Post-it or 2 pink Post-its. Which one I use depends on my mood or what color pen I grabbed. (They have to match. Deep, I know.) It may seem like a lot of steps, but this structured approach is what works best for me. (That and it means I get to use lots and lots of Post-it notes…muhahahahaha XD)
Records of the Ohanzee 
I love it. I’m all for structure and planning.
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Glad I’m not the only one! I think, for me, it comes from all the technical writing I did while working in materials science. The type of writing has changed, but the method is the same.
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Ok I am jealous of your organizational skills! I have a totally broken brain that tries to organize and plan things in like 30 second frenzies, while the rest of the time I’m just a lazy mess, so I just wind up with random bits of scribbles on napkins everywhere.
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Haha, I’m only organized in some parts of my life. Anything work-related is pretty organized, everything else is just a barely controlled chaos. ^_-
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I’m a sticky note addict too!
Do you have a white board to put up your sticky notes? Or do you keep them stacked in order to make a kind of sticky note booklet?
Thanks for sharing.
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Haha, Actually, after I’m done sticking them around the house while I’m outlining, I fold up the papers and stash them in folders so I can easily reference back to them later. I use different folders for book outlines and chapter outlines so they don’t get mixed up. But your mention of stacking them in order is funny, because that is exactly how I track my monthly bank balance! (Except I use regular sized Post-its for that. Boy, how nice would it be to have a balance big enough to necessitate using the giant ones?! lol)
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Haha! That would be nice!
Thanks again for sharing your process.
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Sticky cool
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I was expecting a different secret 🙂 Not about post-it. It was too obvious 🙂 But, sometimes, what is obvious is the right way, right? I’m not a post-it addict, but I use it for important things.
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Haha 🙂 My biggest secrets are upcoming plot twists, but I won’t be revealing those here! ^_-
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Ahh, a fellow sticky note addict. I have lots of fun shapes and sizes. I’ve never seen giant ones though!
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I’m glad I’m not the only one out there! I was a bit disappointed that the giant ones only come in one color for each size. But, then again, that’s probably a good thing. ^_-
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Haha, probably…
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Too funny! I’m the same way but with little post it notes. Sometimes the smaller the better. I even cut them to just the right size to mark on and leave a reminder note or as ideas for new blog post titles Love it!
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Haha, so we’re the opposite ends of the post-it note spectrum! ^_^ (I do like to use the smaller ones for bookmarks and place holders too.)
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