Get Organized. Keep a log book.

For a while now I've seen this Composition book lying around, one my daugther had when she was in college, you know, the kind of book with the black or blue cover and the pages have double-spaced lines. You buy them at office supply stores. (Hey, this would even work with your computer notebook or Scrivener, I think.) I've always wanted to put the Composition book to some use, but could never decide on what to use it for.

Then it came to me. When I was in the navy, we kept log books on the bridge. Everything that happens on the brige gets written down. No relying on someone's fuzzy memory about what happened three months ago, or three years ago. Just go to the log.

Now why wouldn't this work for a writer. Keep a log as you work. An idea comes up for the story you're working on, write in the log. You've finished for the day, write down in the log where you stopped, and what you need to do next. You realize you need to make a change to an earlier chapter, write it in the log.

Faithfully keep a log book and you should never forget anything. No sticky notes to lose (just don't lose your log book).

Here's the first entry in my new log:

What do you think? Are you already doing something like this? Do you think it's a good idea, if you don't already have some such method?