I lost my notes!

I'm in panic mode.

One page of notes on which I had written out names of my characters, some info about them, the name of the series, a rough outline of what each book will be about and notes on other books in the series: GONE! G-O-N-E! Gone! As in, missing.

I'm worried. I've looked all over for this ONE piece of paper. It must've fallen out of my notebook when I was out and about the yesterday. I am PRAYING it didn't slip out of there when I was out of town the other day, because that's a BIG CITY that is 2 hours away and I don't have any friends there or anything in case it turns up.

I'm REALLY starting to get nervous. What if someone finds it and thinks, 'Gee, maybe I should write these books?' I could lose a whole series of MG books I have planned!

I started the first book last night and I was really racking my brain, trying to remember the characters' names and who is interested in what, etc. I KNEW I should have stapled it to my notebook! Or, at least, written ALL of that down in there then shredded the paper.

Sigh.

Hedgetrimmer: Yours was a worse plight than mine. I only lost one page of info. But you! You lost a whole notebook! That would make me sick, as well. I am so sorry that happened to you.

Makes me want to cuff my notebook to my wrist now. Even appreciate my big, clunky computer that I don't take out and about with me even more. *clings to it*

Toothpaste, thank you for your thoughts. That is so true. It was easy to remember THREE of my five characters because they were the names of my kids and a friend. The fourth one: I'd originally picked the name "Ashley" but changed it to "Cassie" because I had this character in my head STRONGLY assuring me that she was a "Cassie" and not an "Ashley." That didn't go away so easily, so it was easy to remember her name. I had trouble remembering the name of ONE character and that just kept eluding me. I thought and thought and NOTHING HAPPENED. Then I tried to think up names I KNOW I didn't give this character and I thought, 'Well, why not one of the names I was going to give to my son when he was born?' There were two contenders so that was easy.

Then it hit me: That's EXACTLY what I named this fifth character! Yay!!

As to the other stuff...well, maybe all that will come back to me in time, too. I guess my characters willl remind me of what they like and what kind of personality they have! I'm just grateful I wrote down all 12 titles of the books in this series! (What I had in my notes were themes I wanted each book to have.) Still, I mourn losing all those ideas for plots and subplots...but maybe those will come back to me in time, too. And, you're right, I could try to come up with something better to replace what was lost.

Interesting note: I once lost a notebook of over 100 songs I wrote during my teens. I later rewrote SOME of the songs with the titles I could remember. They were MUCH, MUCH better.

There is a pain over losing my notes...I REALLY wish I had clipped it to my notebook, or something. WHY didn't I do that?? I'm just glad I was able to remember the characters' names. It's a start.

Oh, wow. This is ALL really helpful advice! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You have all been so incredibly supportive and helpful. **hughughug**

I wasn't able to write out all 12 plots and subplots on that piece of paper; maybe half that. I DID run out of room. The good news is, I was able to remember a few of them, and wrote up some new ones yesterday. I now have SEVEN of the 12 books planned. (I would've written out more, but I didn't have the extra time. They're all crammed together in my head until I find the chance to write them down!)

And you've made good points on how my stories would be different from what someone else might write. Still, I keep thinking I need to write ALL of them up RIGHT NOW and as fast as humanly possible so someone finding those notes doesn't beat me to getting this particular kind of series published. I know, I'm probably being unrealistic in thinking that will happen. I'll get over that annoying feeling...eventually.

I haven't given up on trying to remember things. I know that if I calm myself enough, just try to relax, maybe some of it will come back to me. I keep feeling that frustration and anger and I know those negative emotions will only impede my ability to try to remember the rest of the stuff.

Too bad I don't have that memory thingamajog in Meet the Robinsons!

And, yes, I DEFINITELY need to remember to back EVERYTHING up as often as possible. I no longer even take my notebook with me when I leave the house! I keep a mini notebook in my purse as it is (on account of being deaf and sometimes needing people to write down what they say), so I'll use THAT in case I have ideas when I'm out. And put my notebook into a fireproof safe before I leave the house! I used to leave extra copies of stuff on my hard drive, printed out and filed, on disk AND in the protection of a fireproof safe. (Oops! Come to think of it, that thing better be waterproof, too, in case there's a flood!)

Some people might think we're paranoid to take such measures....but after this, well, maybe not.