Writers’ Notebooks
Lisa Rivero shared a marvelous post recently on 5 Resources on Keeping Writing Notebooks. Whether you are new to the writing life, or a longtime member, there are ideas in here to get you started, keep you going and maybe introduce you to some new ideas to test out. Within Lisa’s post, I was fascinated with Nicole Bianchi’s look at how some famous writers used their notebooks. Novelists might particularly appreciate John Steinbeck’s use of the daily diary while writing THE GRAPES OF WRATH.
Finding a writing notebook system that works for you is important. And, it may be helpful from time to time, to change things up — try something new. In Lisa’s post, she shares an essay from Randon Billings Noble on Brevity called On Keeping a (Writing) Notebook (or Three), which helped me realize I should consider keeping a writing planner. One of the areas I find most challenging in my writing life is planning for and tracking both deadlines and progress. Perhaps a separate writing planner could help? Clearly the Accountability notebook that I refer to in the post below is about the same thing, and a step I need to take instead of relying on Duotrope to do it for me!
While on the Wordpress format in the past, one of my most popular posts was about writing notebooks. I will share it again here for any who had not previously seen it and hope it may spark something for you:
Writer’s Notebook(s): IDEAS
Using the term “the writer’s notebook” implies there’s one such magical thing and one way to properly keep such a magical thing. Wrong. I would argue that for most writers, one thing works sometimes, one thing another time, and you need to find what works for you — — and, don’t be afraid to switch it up when you need to. The photo above shows different methods I’ve used: post-its for quick jots of ideas, notecards, mini-purse size notebooks, cell phone when I’ve been without a working pen and left myself a message to jot down later, composition notebooks, spirals, journals, three-ring binders. Don’t think I use all these all the time. I don’t. But, at different points, I have.
For me, the most common and frequent uses of writer’s notebooks fall into categories that fit neatly with the acronym: IDEAS.
I=Inspiration
This notebook would be considered by purists to be the traditional “writer’s notebook,” and purists would keep a volume continually updated with notes, lists, snippets of overheard conversation, photos, post cards, tickets, magazine clips, names, etc. — everything and anything from daily life that might inspire and inform future writing. I agree this is a fabulous idea, and I will tell you, it’s not effective for me. I’m not that organized and feel constrained by the pressure of updating and pasting and categories. I keep smaller purse-size notebooks where I jot ideas, lists, names, etc. I don’t do photos, clippings, etc. I rarely move the ideas into a bigger notebook, but I keep a basket of the small ones and will occasionally thumb them for ideas. This works fine for me. Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird describes her use of index cards for keeping track of ideas. And, for me, the importance of recording these moments when I first began doing so related to a comment by Lamott, “You start seeing everything as material.” That’s what the Inspiration notebook is for. Find a method you can use, and use it. Or not. Maybe you have a perfect memory and no need for writing things down. I don’t. I need those scrawls.
D — Dumping
This is not a necessary step for all writers, but it is for this writer’s sanity. My “dumping” notebooks are my daily morning pages, my blah, blah, blahs, my venting and my rejoicing. These pages are for my eyes only and my mental health, only. I need them as much as I need my morning coffee. (See an earlier entry on Julia Cameron’s morning pages.)
E- Exploring
Before discovering the convenient IDEAS acronym, I referred to this notebook as my diving notebook. In this notebook, I do writing prompts and if a story or chapter idea is embryonic, I begin drafts here, before moving to my laptop. (See Promptiful for suggestions for writing prompts.)
A — Accountability
This notebook is for writers who are submitting, engaged in the business side of writing. Here, ideally, you track submissions, rejections, acceptances, but you also keep notes of literary journals that seem to fit with your style of writing. If you have a novel that you are seeking representation for, you will have a section regarding agents as well. Again, this is a notebook that I don’t use. My method is to track my submissions to literary journals on Duotropeand my agents on sheets of notebook paper thumb-tacked to a bulletin board. (See — it’s a matter of finding what works for you, and using it.)
S — Specific Notebook for a longer work
It can be very helpful when working on a novel, to keep a spiral notebook with you at all times, related only to the novel. So, if you’re out and about and suddenly, a scene you’ve been struggling with or a character you couldn’t quite envision before becomes clear, you get it down in that notebook — with a big scrawl across the top of the page, identifying the scene or character. As you work on a longer piece, you begin to live and breathe with your characters, this specific notebook helps you save moments that may enhance your draft.
Hopefully, this post has given you some thoughts for what types of writer’s notebooks might work for you. If you use different methods that might be helpful for others, please do add a comment. Try something new if you feel its time.
As always, happy #writing all.
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