For a few days after Christmas I'll be away from computers and the Web (never mind all the spam I'll have to sluice out of my email when I'm back). But I'll keep working on Henderson and some articles, so I'm putting together a "bible"—a looseleaf binder with a few key items. It includes the current chapter plus an outline, and enough blank paper to keep me scribbling during long, peaceful evenings.
Even if you don't leave your computer at home, a bible can be very useful. A laptop can certainly serve the purpose if that's where you put all your notes, drafts, and background material. But if you have unscanned documents, photocopies, etc., the binder is very handy and easy to use almost anywhere.
I try to keep a bible going for each novel, but sometimes I skip it until late in the project. That's probably because one bible became literally counterproductive: I was doing endless research, photocopying countless documents, and meticulously stashing everything in my looseleaf binder. Then I had to get a bigger binder. And yet a bigger one.
Pretty soon it was more use as a weight-training tool than as a resource; the point of a bible is to be portable and this one was not.
So my new bible is in a half-inch binder, and if all goes well I'll have a chapter or two to transcribe from it when I get home.
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