"We Can Fix This Situation" - Organizing My Notes

I'm proud of myself; prior to writing this blog tonight, I spent three hours working on the book!

In addition to writing, I also need to organize my notes. Back in July, I mentioned that I have a document of notes that I take while I'm conducting my research. That document is 45 pages long (yikes)!

I also have notes in my Gmail account. I've been getting Prince-related Google Alerts for years now, and I have not done a good job of pulling info from them and deleting them as I go along. Also, when I get a random idea for the book, I often e-mail it to myself. There are probably dozens of those e-mails just sitting there.

Finally, I take notes on my iPhone. I haven't done anything with those.

Aah!

My goal is to take all of these notes and organize them in an Excel file. Each tab will represent a different category. For example, one tab might say "Potential Sources" and another might say "Prince Quotes." Obviously, this is going to take a long time. I plan to spend a little bit of time on this project each week so I don't get distracted from writing.

Going forward, I need to stick to one note-taking method. I still like writing things down, so I'm going to purchase a small notepad (purple, of course), and keep it with me at all times. Then, I'll either use those notes right away or transfer them to the Excel file as soon as possible.

Say a prayer for me.

"Vicki Waiting" - The Kim Connection

I recently purchased two items for the Prince book that are connected to actress Kim Basinger. She portrayed Vicki Vale in Tim Burton's first "Batman" film, and Prince provided the soundtrack.

Hardcore Prince fans know that Basinger played a role (no pun intended) in Prince's life. Through my research, I discovered a book by her first husband that may be beneficial to me. I haven't even cracked it open yet. I'm excited to see what I find.

Basinger is also featured on a remix of the song "Scandalous." The original version appears on the "Batman" soundtrack. This "Scandalous Sex Suite" is very interesting to listen to...you really have to hear it for yourself. It is divided into three sections:

Are you starting to see that Prince has been obsessed with religious imagery for a loooong time now?


Would you rank Scandalous among Prince's top ballads?

"Somebody to Talk to, Funny and Bright" - My Interviewing Process

I want to start reaching out to more sources soon. To stay organized, I keep a chart of all of my contacts, separated by categories.

My current chart is 17 pages. I want to go back through it and select those who need a follow-up message or call. After all, it took me years to talk to Jill Jones, one of the most important sources for the book. You just never know.

Next, I'm going to go through materials such as previous biographies and liner notes to come up with a list of new sources to add to the chart.

I hope to have an interview to share on the blog very soon.


Fingers crossed!

"A Little Discipline is What You Need" - 52-Blog Challenge

Happy New Year!

My New Year's resolution for this blog is to write 52 entries in 2016--or one blog entry per week. I've been at this for five years, and I have never achieved that goal. Some years I came close; others were pretty laughable. Let's take a look back:

• 2010: Six entries. I started the blog in December 2010, so that number makes sense. I successfully blogged once per week during that month.


• 2011: Thirteen entries. In 2011, I was engrossed in my intense one-year graduate school program, and my internship at Billboard. For a large portion of the year, I was trying not to die in New York. 


• 2012: Forty-one entries. I was really on my game that year. I came home after my internship and really focused on writing and getting interviews for the book. I'm proud of the work I did.


• 2013: Thirty-nine entries. Still decent. I continued to land some important interviews for the book.


• 2014: Nine entries. Whoa. I was about to feel ashamed of myself, but after scanning my entries, I spent most of the year writing the book instead of blogging about it.


• 2015: Twenty-one. I got back on track, but I still spent a lot of time writing. I was really focused on finishing enough of the book to get my master's degree. I still can't believe I did it!

I'm really excited to see what happens this year. I'm very motivated. If something comes up, I'm going to write my weekly post early and schedule it to go out later, or perhaps I'll write two posts in one week. The blog calendar I created is really coming in handy so far.

Wish me luck!