It's the Intermission
A Creative Coffee Break

My 12" Powerbook aka The PB: I can carry it everywhere! Macs are for artists. PCs are for our beloved worker bees.

Final Draft: It’s not just for screenwriting.

Note Taker: I create a separate notebook for each writing project. Each notebook holds random thoughts about the play, dialogue snippets, images, an outline for each Act. Stuff I don’t want to lose. Stuff I may not use. Stuff I want to make sure I follow through on.

Sticky Brain:  I use this to hold research material, quotations, receipts, the "whatnot" of my life that doesn’t necessarily relate to a writing project. Stuff I want to find quickly when I need it.

Merrian-Webster’s 3rd International Dictionary: I use the wonderfully big hardback edition, as well as the online edition.

When I don’t have my laptop, which is often, I always carry at least one pen, and a small notebook. ALWAYS. I write down any ideas I have, no matter where I am, or what I may, uh, be doing. Yep.

My standard pen is a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point. Not always practical, as it can bleed through thin paper. I like the boldness and the commitment writing with a Sharpie requires of me. And I like the colors. Green, Blue, Red, Black, Purple. When I’m not using a Sharpie, I use a Fisher Ballpoint Pen; the "astronaut" kind. They survive airplane rides without leaking.

Sharpie has a nice "Accent" highlighter I’ve been using. I used to use Zebra’s highlighter until I couldn’t find them anymore. I really only like the color yellow in highlighters. Can’t seem to branch out to the others.

In my writing studio, I use an erasable whiteboard. In between scripts, I jot down new play ideas as they come to me. During a specific play project, I use the whiteboard to hold important ideas, character names, and a list of events, or scenes I want to keep track of. The whiteboard is hanging in a prominent place near my desk. I can pace the floor, and scribble on it at will. Of course. Or sit and stare at it for a kind of meditation.

I also keep a private online journal, over at Live Journal. Private, yes, so that only I see it. It contains only ideas for my plays. It’s online so that I can access it from anywhere, even when I don’t have The PB with me.