In this guest post, StoryADay Superstar Leslie Stack shares her recipe for success during the StoryADay challenge: Story Sparks
![Story Sparks logs in a box](https://storyaday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/4DSC_3143small-1024x683.jpg)
This is my fourth year participating in Julie Duffy’s StoryADay May and it has truly been instrumental in jumpstarting and refocusing my writing.
Whether it was in May or September, I found my writing grow in meaning, technique, and purpose.
Sparking Stories
One of the difficulties of this writing challenge is thinking of a fresh idea every day.
To help me with this, I use both the daily writing prompts and Julie’s Story Spark Notes.
These are small, folded booklets that I make using a printed form from the StoryADay web site which I then fold into a palm sized booklet.
Sign up for the next StoryADay challenge now and I’ll send you the printable files
Julie Duffy
With seven circles to write in, I scatter these all around the house and in the cars so that, when a story spark pops into my head, I am never farther than a few steps from writing my fleeting thoughts down before they go poof into thin air.
Better Than A Notebook
Better than a small notebook, I can put these in my pocket when I go walking, a purse, a baggie when I go sailing, a bike basket, a camping backpack, the car’s glove box, and a travel trailer.
Great ideas come to me at the most peculiar times and then roll through my head like frames on a reel of film. If I don’t get the idea down on paper quick enough, the next frame rolls through and the thought is gone.
By having my Story Spark Notes everywhere I’m just a few breaths away from writing down what could be my best idea yet and, if it’s more than just an idea, I just unfold the booklet and have an entire page to write on.
How I Manage My Sparks
I date the start of all my booklets and, when I’ve filled one up, I place it into my Idea Box.
As I use the ideas, I put that date and the title of the story beside it.
Oh, The Stories You’ll Tell…
I’ve seen a guy walking down a city bike path carrying a farm shovel, water flowing down a Japanese chain, a horrific car accident, an elderly lady wearing every color of the rainbow, a cow in the middle of the road standing there staring at us, a canoe tip over while a couple attempts to kiss, and a very short and a very long funeral procession converging on the entrance of a cemetery.
What are the stories behind these moments? Without my little booklets, they might have been lost to the world.
Now, if I could only find a pencil…
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Leslie Stack is a writer, musician, camper, and teacher who loves being on the water or in a museum. You can usually find her doing research behind dark glasses on a park bench. She lives in a house with her husband where the books are plotting a takeover.
How do you keep track of your story ideas and snippets? Leave a comment:
Thank you, Leslie. Such a simple hint but so helpful. How many images, situations, phrases… have escaped for lack of a ready place to capture them! I like the option to open it up and have a full sheet to write on should the ideas come flooding in (with a pocket-sized notebook it would soon be filled.)
Thanks for the tips, Leslie. I’m in!
Oh, Judi. I am so glad. It’s a great community and the prompts really make a difference. Julie finds the best authors to contribute in both May and September. Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!
What a great article Leslie!!!!
Thank you, Tammy!