Short-Term Memory Novel Writing… Really???

I had been typing for six hours and my hands were just flying off the keyboard. The story was easy, the chair comfortable and the music calming throughout the room… but ahead of me was danger. I just didn’t know it yet. By the time I had pulled myself from my desk chair two hours later, my back ached slightly and I was giddy with excitement. I had just written the first several chapters of my first novel and I couldn’t wait to tell my husband all about it. When he arrived home I bounced down the stairs and without missing a beat launched into how fantastic my first writing day was. He laughed and said it was so nice to see me excited about something that I was so passionate about. It was true. I was passionate about writing and had been ever since I was a child. But now I had all the time in the world to write and I couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive… and it did just like it always does with the sun.

I grabbed my water and made my way to my writing room, which I stole from my grown son after he left for his “big boy job” in the city, and found myself sitting in front of the keyboard. I opened up my iPad, yes, I was using an iPad, and opened my document to find my novel. Oh…don’t worry…it was there. That’s when the horror, the  surprising truth came to me. I had no idea what I had written the day before!! I thought perhaps I was tired and just needed to wake my up brain. So I opened my water bottle, took a drink, stretched my arms above my head and closed my eyes… Nothing! Eight hours of work had “slipped my mind!” What the hell, I thought. How could I not remember what I did yesterday?  Well, the truth of the matter is… I had suffered a “vascular brain accident” earlier in the year and with it my short-term memory was affected. I couldn’t remember things I had done days before or hours before. So why I was shocked to find I couldn’t remember my novel  was rather silly of me. I guess I just thought it would be there when I sat down to type…NOPE…not a thing.

What was a poor girl to do? You guessed it…I began reading. Wow, what an interesting story, I thought. I had never read it before and I was quite entertained. This could only be a good thing right? After all, I would certainly know if it was a stinker because I couldn’t remember it, right? I finally made it to the spot where I had left off and I began typing again. But of course, this time it wasn’t as smooth. I found that I couldn’t remember the names of the secondary characters, couldn’t remember where I left off when I jumped back to the past and back to the present. What the hell, I began to think. What could I do so I could remember??? Then it came to me… a small skill I once taught to my elementary students when they were learning to read chapter books. I pulled out my pad of sticky notes and began to write anything and everything I thought I would have to remember later. I wrote down names, connections to people, what setting a character was left in… you name it I wrote it down on my sticky notes as I typed away at my novel. By the time I had finished the day I had a boat load of sticky notes stuck to my desk.

The next day I felt refreshed, and knew that no matter what, I would have to re-read what I had written the day before. Oh my gosh, this was going to be a great editing/revising feature I never knew existed!!! This short-term memory crap wasn’t so bad after all….well at least not at the moment anyhow. And then I realized that the more I wrote the more problems my memory had…finding words that once bounced out of my mouth were strangled in my brain just screaming to be found. So I wrote an insignificant word in its place and highlighted it for revision later… perhaps the real word would find its way out by then. And I just kept writing and reading and loving the new story I read every day.

Oh, I know what you are thinking. It’s kind of like 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and………? Shoot…can’t remember her name. Well, yep. You’re right. But that’s okay because out of my disability came a great love story…one that made me cry (and still makes me cry) each time I read it for the first time… But soon it will make its way into my long-term memory and I know that it will be with me forever. It was more than a labor of love, it was an unexpected journey that I know I will love  always… which is fitting since it’s call Forever Love.