Stick with me! A Post for Rhoda Baxter 'Release Me' splash

Let's start this post with a riddle.
I come in different shapes and sizes, but I am usually small and square.
I am very colourful and easily spotted.
I have a sticky bit at the top.
You can scribble or doodle all over me, or just use me to mark a page.

I make sure you don't forget that brilliant idea or the beautiful words that just popped into your mind.

What am I?

Yes, you guessed. I am a Post-it note.

I'm sure I am not the only writer who loves Post-it notes. In fact, bestselling author Julie Cohen gave a brilliant, fun and informative presentation about them and the 'Art of the Rewrite' at the latest Romantic Novelists Association Conference which was held in July at Queen Mary University, London.

According to Julie, once you have completed the first draft of your novel and after a celebratory glass of champagne (a cup of tea will do too!) and a little break, it is time to start the rewriting process. For this she uses Post-it notes...lots and lots of them, that she sticks on a board, a wall or even on the back of a door.

She finds them an invaluable visual aid to highlight the structure of the novel. Not only do they help her map out the development of the plot and sub-plot, but she also uses colour-coded Post-its for different characters so that she can see exactly where and how often they feature in the story and how they interact with one another. By placing some Post-it notes slightly higher or lower than other, she can also spot the novel's high and low points. In short, she creates 'a Post-it plan' of the novel.

I am not in any way as well organised in my use of Post-it notes as Julie Cohen, but I do love them. I have tiny ones, long ones, large ones, square ones. Some have flowers or fancy romantic borders, others are just plain and boring! I stick them on every surface available in my dining room since this is where I usually write. They are sometimes so full of scribbles I can't read them at all, but most of the time they help me pin down an idea or a passing thought, remember a question or and point to further research for my work in progress.

So I will be sticking with them!

This post is part of the PLEASE RELEASE ME blog splash!

PLEASE RELEASE ME by Rhoda Baxter

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Release-Me-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B013SY9CCG

Blurb

What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?
Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.

That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.

In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.

But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …