Doh!

[Lester Curtis]

Just spent 15 minutes looking around files on my Mac for a story in progress to combine with notes for a similar trope. Then I realized one of the concepts had not made it in anyway to print and was just in my head. Anyone else ever have that one happen?

Sure. You've just described most of my novel.

[Lester Curtis]

Anyone ever had a burst of inspiration and plotted a novel and even came up with names for some of the characters only to relize they threw away a piece of scrap paper that they did not mean to dispose of?

Just today I received a Moleskine notebook that I bought to replace the ragged-out little POS things I'd been using; I think I paid a dollar for a four-pack. Crappy glued bindings and paper covers; they disintegrate before you can use 'em up.

This one's a little bigger (3 1/2x5 1/2")-- fits precisely in my shirt pocket, is shockingly heavy at a whole quarter-pound, and with shipping, cost me the better part of sixteen dollars (over fifty percent more than my current cell-phone). I got the Reporter style in soft-cover, unlined. If it dies before I do, I'll be pissed.

Get one of these, and you'll always know where it is, because you can feel it weighing your shirt down, and you'll remember the Mercedes price-tag. The makers have thoughtfully provided a reminder of its value: on the first page it has:

"In case of loss, please return to: ___________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
As a reward: $ _________"

Now, I'm just afraid someone will try to rob me for it.

Of course, if you're like a lot of more modern folks (not me), you could just record everything into your cell-phone instead. One way or another, though, it sounds like you need some way to keep better track of your notes.

[Lester Curtis]

Well, Ed, it could certainly be worse, by quite a lot. His second paragraph is really pretty encouraging as critiques go--I seldom manage to be quite that nice, myself.

The critique is quite specific in what he finds wrong with your work, and I can't shake the feeling that this guy wants to like what you're doing.

Try not to obsess about it. In the meantime, keep writing.