My archives

So remember how I mentioned having finished a story that I started two years ago? Well, I don't know about you, but I do most of my writing manually, with pen in exercise books (because they're almost the cheapest form of paper you can get). I started typing out this particular story maybe a year ago, and stopped (in the middle of a sentence in the third chapter).

Today I tried to pick up where I left off and in doing so had to go through my entire 'archive' of books. As with many hard copy filing systems, there wasn't really a system in place. So I had to search manually. The thing is, it was in the second book I'd picked up, but I had to look through ten or so other books before realising this.

With each book I usually mention which book precedes it, and which book comes after it, but there have been times when I've written in two books in a similar time period, and other times when I've started writing another in that book instead of another (so as not to waste paper). The point is, if I were to map it as a directed graph (yup that's my discrete maths and computer theory background coming out) it would definitely not be a simple linked list type arrangement (and that's my discrete maths and computer theory background forgotten).

I probably should, for my own benefit actually map my books. That would be an interesting exercise. And then I'd have a system in place when I'm trying to find something... if I can figure out when I wrote it approximately.

Anyhow, as I was going through books dating back to the early 2000s (I was staring at one that was actually dated 2003 thinking it was from 2008), I realised that they're full of semi-realised ideas. I've actually sometimes begun writing things that I'd thought I'd only thought about. It's kind of amazing.

In conclusion, that's why I like writing things in books. There's always something more to be discovered. I mean, if I just had everything on my computer/backed up all I'd have to do was type in the appropriate words and I'd find them. Where's the fun in that?