I thought I was barren of ideas because I was avoiding my notebook like a teenager avoids his math homework. Then I decided to get a change of scenery, namely a new notebook. What a difference it's made. I've filled up about 12 pages of the notebook in three days with notes on The Code Breakers Club. I've been brainstorming things that I normally wouldn't even think of before. I hope this serves the manuscript well when I get down to working on it. The danger is that I will run out of creative steam jotting all my notes in the new book. I don't think I will, but even if I do, I'll have the notes to guide me through until I get the spark back.
So, why did I fall out of love with my previous notebook. I suspect that there were two reasons. One, the book was a gift that I started using when my old one ran out of space. Because I didn't chose the book, I think I didn't feel right about jotting ideas in it. Sounds weird I know, but some writers refuse to write with anything other than their special pen. Give me some room to be eccentric, please.
The other reason why I didn't like working in the previous book is a bad memory. I used the book to brainstorm a project that really took a lot out of me. The end result left me empty and I suspect that the stench of the failure lingered in the book; hence, the reason why I avoided it.
The lesson learned. Writers need to find the write idea book to spark their creativity... and writers are crazy.
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