“The Mystery of the Messy Notebooks” in Slate Magazine is a wonderful article on Agatha Christie’s notebooks: so messy! (So creative.) It gives us all hope!
I’m not so keen on the family notes, however:
Even Christie’s second husband, the archeologist Sir Max Mallowan, used her notebooks. He jotted down calculations. Christie’s daughter Rosalind practiced penmanship, and the whole family kept track of their bridge scores alongside notes like, “Possibilities of poison ? cyanide in strawberry ? coniine?in capsule?”
Personal up-date (a bit overdue): I’ve sent the 2nd draft to an editor I work with. Already I’m throwing notes about scene changes hither and yon (Christie-style). Going through my books, deciding which ones to take back with me to Canada ? which ones I’m going to need writing Draft 3. The piles are big! Making travel arrangements for my research trip to France, which is coming up sooner than I think!
