Storyworld Go Bag

 

Upright

Several times since the late 1980s when I first conceived the concept of the storyworld I call Fruits of the Spirit, I've lost much and once most of all of the related materials in a hasty move.  That's all but the hundred or so printed pages of manuscript i'd deemed worth the use of ink and paper.  I lost all the notes and outlines, character and setting sketches, family trees and timelines, lists of planned scenes and character rosters, research and bibliographies, floor plans and street plans.  The last time it happened was the worst as I lost all the computer files as well as all the paper files as the floppy disc drive had not been working for several years and we had to leave the computer and whatever we could not carry on the bus in a storage shed which we never went back for.

These incidents haunt me and I've been anxious for several years about how scattered and unprotected my FOS files are now--paper and pixel both.  The number of manuscript pages that I deemed 'worthy' of ink and paper has at least doubled and possibly tripled but the computer files have grown exponentially.  The NaNoWriMo site started putting a word count on my profile last year and it topped a million words.  That's just for the November and the Summer Camp NaNos.  That doesn't count the words I put in for JuNoWriMo and ROW80 or any created between challenges I participated in.  Nor does it count anything that still exists only on paper.

Flat

Well a couple months ago, I remembered a three ring binder I had in Junior High that held about 300 sheets of paper and zipped shut.  I wondered aloud to Laura, my caregiver, if they still made those and she said Oh yes!  They are called trapper keepers.  So I shopped for one on October 11 hoping to snag a Prime sale but this was the one I fell in love with and ended up ordering even though it wasn't on sale and it was out of stock though promising to be available soon.  It just arrived today.

It has 3 inch rings that will hold 600 pages on one side and an expandable file on the other.  When closed it measures approximate 4 inches thick including the outer boards.  It has a carry handle and also a shoulder strap and access to the expandable file is available through a separate U shaped zipper on the edge opposite the handle so you don't have to open up the binder to access it.

Open

Now I have a safe place to keep all in one place all my notes and manuscripts.  I hope to include all the computer files as well on either flash drives or a small external drive.  The story bible I've been working on for several months will be in the expandable file as It doesn't have holes punched for the rings.

Next Wednesday, along with my report on NaNo Kickoff, I'll share another pic of the inside showing whatever materials I've been able to gather and organize by then.

FYI Product info: Case-it The Mighty Zip Tab Zipper Binder