Originally posted on January 23, 2024 as part of STORYSTORM 2024! 

By this point in Storystorm, I’m sure you have a LOT of ideas. Smoke might even be pouring out the sides of your ears. Your eyes might be spirals of overwhelm. 😵‍💫 Do not despair! Let’s take a moment today to organize your ideas and get a few of them ready for the rest of the writing process. Clearing your mind a little may even inspire some new ideas when you’re done.

Firstly, how are you keeping track of your Storystorm ideas? Maybe you’re using the official Storystorm notebook, maybe each idea is on a separate page or post-it note, or maybe you prefer a digital list on your phone. Whatever you do, make your ideas easy to access and simple to find. Bring all your ideas together in one place.

Next, let’s sort them. It helps me to do this on paper so I can think without distractions.

Take a moment to look at your list of ideas one by one. Do any of them stick out to you or give you a little jolt or make you smile? Does your imagination run away with any of them? Do any ideas make you want to draw or write more? Let’s mark those ideas as your top contenders.

For my top ideas, I like to doodle and do a bit of visual note-taking. Take your top three concepts and let’s doodle!

Adriana Hernández Bergstrom is a Cuban-American artist and children’s book author-illustrator. She loves languages and literacy and is the author-illustrator of ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, TUMBLE (Orchard Books, 2023) and COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA (Little, Brown, 2023). Follow her on most social media channels as @adriprints, or check out her blog and website adriprints.com.