Writers love notebooks. LOOOOVE notebooks. Writers send notes to their own notebooks that say: I LIKE YOU, DO YOU LIKE ME, CIRCLE Y N
Though I write my fictions via laptop, I possess plenty of paper pads for poly purposes. Say that a few times fast. Let’s take a tour, shall we?
This was the notebook for my first novel. I went gooey-eyed for it at Barnes & Noble way back in 2011, when my story was still just a wittle wriggling spermatozoid in my brain. The woman on the cover ended up perfectly representing my daydreamy protagonist.
These are my current (and, alas, much more bland) notebooks, full of brainstorms and outlines for my second novel. They also have notes from my critique group meetings. Not sure why I went the mediocre route for these covers. Probably just needed paper pronto and these were available.
These are my dream journals. No, not the sappy “I dream that one day I will blabbity bloopity etc etc” kind of dreams. I mean “So last night I dreamed my arms were made of noodles and my 9th grade math teacher was trying to eat them” kind of dreams. 😀 I love dreams. They’re like the kid version of ourselves telling us a story.
Alright, this is the sappy one. This is ~*~My Happy Journal~*~ where I list all the little things that make my heart splooshy. I’ve been gradually adding to it since 2013 and I’m at #556 now. Probably 500 of them are about my dog.
Here’s where I store beautiful quotes I’ve come across. Yup, another sappy one. I AM A BIG FAT MAPLE TREE, OKAY. The text on the front reads: “She decided to free herself , dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing ‘yes’ in the sky.” ❤
Where I jot down interesting facts learned from nonfiction reads. #nerd
My to-do pads! Bossy Zebra keeps me on track.
Last but not least, my lil miscellaneous notebook. It’s “anything goes” with this one. Last use was for writing library locations of Ralph Waldo Emerson. His books, not the actual person. He’s dead. And in a cemetery, not a library. That would smell.
Tell me about your notebooks! Do you have different ones for different uses, a bunch of randoms, or a big Goliathy monarchbook for EVERYTHING? Or do you not use paper – an app, instead? Your hand? Shave reminders onto the cat, perhaps?
Pointing Telescopes | S. Noel Brady 
I often get notebooks because I like their attractive covers and think someone will use it but it usually just gets lost somewhere or a few words get written down and then it just sits on a shelf. I recently got a notebook with the band Slipknot on the cover because I thought it was pretty cool and my son’s a fan of the band. I thought he would use it for something but it just sat around until my daughter’s guitar teacher demand she get some kind of composition book. Yeah, we found a use!
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Same here, I had a lot of notebooks that I didn’t know what to do with. When I assigned purposes to each one, I started using them a lot more. Glad your Slipknot one found some use, and a fitting one at that!
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yes, for sure! You’re more organized than I am in that sense then. Part of it may be having kids…you have to first figure out whose book it is!
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If I get a super-pretty notebook (like, leather-bound or a gorgeous cover), I’m afraid to mess it up by writing in it. My favs are the plain black and white college-ruled comp books I use for journaling and mapping out ideas. I have a scribble notebook with multi-colored pages that I use for lightning-fast dictations from the Muses. My weakness is binders and page protectors to organize my collections of… all kinds of stuff. I have a little notebook on my desk for to-do lists and miscellaneous notes and ideas. It has a dog on the front and says “I Ruff You.” Love that 500 of your 556 happy things are about your dog. 🙂
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I know what you mean! I used to be the same way about journals, never wanting to mess them up. I think having a lot of them helps alleviate that feeling, because it’s not one super special journal above all the rest, it’s just another journal. You know?
Hehe, it’s not *literally* 500 things about my dog, but it’s a lot. 😉
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It’s funny that you posted this now because I JUST bought a new notebook after not doing so for, like, years. I’ve mostly switched to Google Docs these days for book notes and rarely journal anymore, so my current notebook(s) is/are mostly random jots. HOWEVER, I still went about my New Notebook Search in a very picky manner, wanting something not too big but not too small and pretty but not sappy. I also prefer spiral-bound notebooks for convenience BUT like the look of a hard binding, so basically I was setting myself up for a failed quest.
LO AND BEHOLD, what do I find at my local bookshop but this bright, fun Galison notebook (http://goo.gl/uM1DKC) that has BOTH A SPIRAL AND HARD BINDING. The binding is sort of cardboard-y, just flexible enough to bend back on itself. And now I want to write in my new notebook ALL THE TIME!
Anyway, thought I’d share. Highly recommend. Love your journals, too, especially the first one!
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Cute notebook! I prefer spiral too, I like being able to lay the paper flat. It’s funny that you mentioned going on a mission for a new notebook after not having one for years, because I’m about to do that for a weekly planner. I used to carry a planner around RELIGIOUSLY, until I got an iphone and put all my stuff in the calendar app. That was a few years ago. Then I stumbled on some pretty planners yesterday and got nostalgic! So now I think I’m going to go backwards in my technology evolution and seek out a pretty planner.
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Well, I am working on a book, but I have a couple of totes worth of notes and documentation–so not really a notebook there.
As far as notes, I’m more like the Queen of the Sticky Notes. I have stickys EVERYWHERE!
I do have one notebook that stays right beside my bed with a pen. It’s a dream journal. However I only write dreams about my daughter in it.
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Aw, that’s sweet about your dream journal about your daughter. I like stickies too, but I only use them for short-term reminders, otherwise I’d probably lose track of them. Ooh, I didn’t know you were writing a book! What is it about? If you don’t feel comfortable sharing yet, that’s okay. May I ask genre at least?
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It’s basically our family’s testimony and how we feel God brought us through. For more info see the beginning of my post Suicide and Survival deweyhop.wordpress.com
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I’m reading the post now, and I didn’t realize when I wrote my previous note that your daughter had died. I’m so sorry. 😦 Do you find comfort in these dreams? Someone I lost came to me in a dream once and I found myself very comforted, like I got to have another visit with her even though she was gone.
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It’s ok, Shannon. I knew you didn’t know. I’m not sure “comfort” is the right word. Some of the dreams are pleasant, some are very strange, and some border on the creepy. I’m tracking them–at least the ones I can remember long enough to write down–so I can try to figure out what they mean. I’m looking for patterns, themes, etc. I have dreamed about all sorts of people who have passed away. Once a message was delivered to me in a very strange way. It was a message about someone in the real world.
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I’m in awe of your notebook-based splendour. I’m utterly disorganised and most of my random thoughts end up as cryptic emails to myself. I’ve managed to get as far as having a working document on my Google drive called Pandora (the file – my Google drive is called Peregrine) but after reading this post I’m convinced I need a notebook from the kids (I mean from Santa) for Xmas.
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Haha, I like the name of your file, very fitting. Pandora’s File. 😉
I do all of my major writing on a computer but when it comes to brainstorming and other notes, I gotta do it long-hand. It just feels better!
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I confess to having an assorted collection for all sorts of reasons. I carry at least one in my bag for that random inspirational notes-of-the-moment and unrealised to-do lists. And just started taking notes on my phone when I can’t find a pen. But Notebooks will never go out of style.
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I love the idea of carrying a pocket notebook with me, and I used to do so, but I’m very fussy about the weight of my purse. I want it as light as possible. So when on the go, I use my iphone’s note app, but it’s not the same! Maybe I’ll go back to the mini paper pads, I miss them. 🙂
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Notebooks give me some serious boners. I love them. I currently have two for fitness and…nothing else. Haha. I love the idea of a notebook, I just have never thought I needed….them. But I love all your ideas for yours! Especially the quotes one. I’m a sucker for quotes so I might have jump aboard that ship.
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I never would have pegged you as a quotes person! What kinds of quotes? Mine are so sappy. About ~inspiration~ and ~love~ and ~healing~ and barf barf. 😉
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Your notebooks look way cooler than mine. haha I just nab whatever spirals I can and they end up looking like a mess when I’m through with them.
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A messy notebook is a well-loved notebook!
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Definitely haha
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Looks like I need more notebooks! I have one main one at a time which is for everything writing related: ideas of first lines, notes on story ideas, snippets from the news, character descriptions etc and another one in which I write reviews of books, including nice quotes for possible future inspiration. I have bought my next main notebook in advance already and can’t wait to start using it whe I have finished the current one! We sound so weird!
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Haha, isn’t weird synonymous with author? 😉 What does your notebook look like? I should keep track of great quotes from novels more often – the ones I save in my quote journal aren’t usually from fiction, even though my FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD is coming upon a beautiful passage in a novel. I’m not sure why I don’t save them, maybe because I don’t want to stop my reading momentum.
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I usually like an austere, personality free notebook myself. Though I’ve more recently got in to the very 21st century habit of using the notes app on my phone. I would say it’s to help save the trees or something, but you know, screw them.
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I try to keep going with a notebook no matter the topic! Like you, I’m the same way, which is loving notebooks! I just don’t get how people have been able to keep going with a notebook for so long to the point where progress and goals have been achieved. Of course if people keep going, then they WILL get somewhere. I’m going to check out your blog right now and see if you have more interesting posts. Maybe even follow you perhaps!
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