Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Magpie Intelligence



This picture's from my journal on Jan. 19, 2002.





The phrase "a magpie intelligence" had caught my eye like a shiny object, so I wrote it down. (You can see the other unrelated trinkets I stashed on that page too.)

Are you a magpie writer? Do you collect random phrases, names, and ideas years before you know what to do with them? Is your journal as completely random as mine is, like a half-built bird nest?

And did you know that the magpie is in the same intelligence class as chimps and dolphins? (Yes, that makes me feel better.)

6 comments:

  1. I do this, too, although my "journal" is really a bunch of notebooks scattered about that I seem to go through phases of using--so the red one is in favor right now, and last month it was the purple.

    I am also one of those people always jotting things down on pieces of paper and then sticking them in my notebooks. My process is all very scattershot.

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  2. I now know a lot more about magpies than I did when I woke up this morning.

    However, I love the visual of half built birds nest - a lot.

    It reminds me of my desk. This morning I looked at it and said, "Man I have to clean this up...but...I need all these piles"

    So - it's uncleaned... maybe, it's just half built... I need more stuff on it. Like a bird's nest.

    :)

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  3. I have been so bad about keeping a journal since having kids. But YES, I have all these random half ideas and great book titles but nothing really goes together yet.

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  4. It's nice to know other people have characters, bits, and phrases fluttering around in their heads years before they're used. It's why I never have an answer to "how long did it take you to write it?"

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  5. I'm doing this for the children's chapter book I plan to write someday. When I hang out with my kids, substitute teach, watch a sport my kids are playing, I form characters and names and details in my head. This all goes into my red notebook at home. Safe-keeping for a rainy day!!

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  6. it runs the gamut for me. like you. i keep a notebook and there are phrases, even specific words "crimson", bits of dialogue. they all get thrown in there. =) great post, sara!

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