This morning, I'm heading to Walmart for an early-morning, stock-up-on-the-20-cent notebooks run. At Very Early O'clock. This is, of course, to avoid the rush of frenetic mothers with school supply lists and unruly children in tow. The "back to school" and "office supplies" aisles will quickly devolve into retail hell if I don't beat them all to the punch.
But there's something so enticing about those 20-cent spiral-bound notebooks. I get an absolute thrill picking them out and tossing the stack gently into my cart. It's dichotomous, too, because I'm so computerized in general. I can't imagine actually writing a story in one of those.
With a pen.
I do, however, scribble new story ideas in notebooks. I doodle pictures of characters to help develop them (which is something you don't want to see--trust me). I worldbuild. I work out plot issues. Sometimes I write disparaging notes to myself, or draw huge angry faces when I'm stuck.
Hello, 14-year-old Authoress.
So, yes. The 20-cent notebook is a viable part of my life-as-writer. And every August I buy a pile of them so I always have a nice, fresh one when I need it.
Don't you love nice, fresh notebooks?
It's hard to deny the tactile part of being a writer and book lover. The texture of high-quality notecards...the scent of a new paperback (Del Rey fantasies are the best!)...the slippery freshness of a new sheet of postage stamps...the weight of a just-arrived Amazon box...the crispness of real paper beneath my fingers.
What about you? Do notebooks and pens play a role in your writerly/readerly life? Or have you made the complete switch to the paperless world of computers and smart phones?
Share your obsessions! And have a beautiful weekend.
Miss Snark's First Victim
Ohmigoodbar, I must have bought 12 spiral notebooks last week, in addition to the supplies for my own unruly kids. *grin* I have a different notebook for every story, and thanks to the once-a-year occurrence of Back to School deals and my never-ending ideas, I always need new ones. I might even go back for 12 more before next week. :D
ReplyDeleteOh, and I only use them for plotting and notes and ideas, too. I only use them to write scenes out full when I don't have access to a computer, such as at a doctor's office.
ReplyDeleteI love a good, fresh notebook too! I also use them mainly for worldbulding and working out issues in plot. For some reason, it's easier to work out the kinks in my stories that way. My characters always become more vivid in my notebooks too.
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of pen/paper writing. When I write on paper, I can't backspace, so it forces me to get words on the page and not obsess over each sentence until it's perfect. (That comes later.) I have a bunch of journals, but I also tend to write on whatever is closest when the idea hits, so my hall closet has a shoebox full of random sheets of paper, napkins, etc. that comprise almost 90% of my first draft.
ReplyDeleteI love pen's and mechanical pencils--a lot! So, yes, I do use notebooks. journals. I use them in the car (dangerous) and tuck them in my purse for scribbling thoughts. Mainly plot ideas that I'm struggling with. Going to Staples or Office depot is right up there with the candy counter. Or a good glass of wine:) Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteFor writing - computers and pens both. It has to be on loose leaf paper, though - I have this weird thing about not wanting to "ruin" something that's brand new and pretty, so a notebook would sit unused for a good long while.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have ton of ideas that I need to get out of my head quickly? Computer - I'm faster at typing than writing.
When I have a single scene that's swirling in my head and needs to be put into order? Pen - it slows me down and helps it fall into place.
When it comes to reading, though, the tactile sensation is a necessity. As much as I appreciate e-readers for their contribution to authors' incomes, I can't stand reading on them.
Turning the pages one by one, smelling the paper, feeling the progression as the "read" section gets thicker... or pressing a down button? No contest, dude :-)
I buy journals all the time on clearance shelves of stores. I color code my story ideas--oh, this story should be in the blue journal, this one is so red, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd I saw an add for a new kind of pen I'm dying to try. It's white and being billed as what will be "the most stolen pen" in the office or something.
Writing is the computer. I've gotten horrible cramps in my hand for as long as I can remember, caused by simply holding a pencil or pen longer than a few minutes, so I'd go insane (or at least get addicted to painkillers) if I wrote that way.
ReplyDeleteBut nothing beats a new paperback, and if I want to be sure I'm getting it all when editing, I need to print it off. And then I want one of those old blue-or-black beat-up pens that come in ten or twenty-packs for a dollar. They just feel right.
Some people go nuts over designer pens, but if I'm using something beautiful, I want it to be on something beautiful... not my millions of cross-outs.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a fantasy world's calendar for at least two decades using pencils, rulers, poster-board, and unrealistic expectations.
I don't use the spirals. I write all my notes in 6x9 legal pads (so I can tear the pages out and rearrange them, which also means I have tons of color-coordinated paperclips!)
ReplyDeleteI have a small clipboard that fits this size pad where I keep all the notes for the WIP. I write everything from character descriptions, plot ideas, and maps of wherever the action is taking place.
The small notepad really comes into its own when I write the synopsis, though. During first edits, I write EVERY plot twist and character in order, and then spend several days winnowing and plumping my notes into a cohesive synopsis. I don't know what I'd do without them. I really hope they're on sale, too, when my daughter and I head out for school supplies later this week! :)
I buy those back-to-school sale-priced spiral notebooks by the case. I love school supplies in general. There's something about the possibilities that live in a brand new pen and a fresh notebook. I get so excited when the sales start at this time of year. (Some of our schools are year round, so the sales start in July and last until September.) I have to balance my hope that if I wait a few weeks, they'll drop the prices even more (10-cent notebooks!) with my fear that by that time, they'll be sold out.
ReplyDeleteI have an obsession with composition notebooks for my story notes. I have a terrible habit of ripping the pages out of spiral notebooks when I don't like the direction my notes are going and tossing them only to later realize there might have been the nugget of something good there. Because the pages of a composition notebook are sewn in it makes it much more difficult to rip them out.
ReplyDelete! I was just there! I had no idea they were on sale : (
ReplyDeleteI buy a whole case of those every August! And I wrote my very first book in one of them. My hand hurt. A lot. I will never do that again, but I still use them for plotting, jotting ideas, drawing goofy pictures, etc.
ReplyDeleteI love brainstorming with a really great pen. Now that I spend most of my time typing, I'm even more selective about the type of pen I use. And I do all my NaNoWriMo prep on loose-leaf paper in a three ring binder, complete with dividers. (Ugly OCD habit of schoolboard employees.)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of schools, if you are picking up a ton of school supplies don't forget to donate where you can. Schools have the most ridiculous demands of students where supplies are concerned, and the expectations are discouraging and unrealistic for so many families.
I am a hopeless office supply junkie. I don't use spiral bound notebooks, but just about every other stationary item lives at my house in large quantities. I really like the top-bound spiral notebooks with perferated pages. My absolute favorites are 8x5 notebooks that have lined paper on one side and graph paper on the other. If I could find more of those, I would buy a case. I can't find them anywhere. Anybody know where I can get those?
ReplyDeleteNo pen and paper for me. My handwriting is horrible, and I want to be able to ready what I've written.
ReplyDeleteActually, Scrivener has made me start doing a lot more of my world-building and plotting on the computer. I like having everything I need all in one place.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I can really only use Scrivener for the plotting and world-building I already have set in my mind. If I've done a lot of thinking about it and it's already pretty solid, it can go in. If things are still really sketchy or I've hit a wall, I'll often retreat to pen-and-paper to hash things out, which mostly consists of babbling to myself about my problem with some bits of brilliance thrown in when I get a brainstorm. Then it gets its official stamp of approval by going in Scrivener as notes, etc. :)
However, the other day I did experiment with making a plot/idea web in Excel (would've done paper but I only had access to 8 1/2 by 11 and didn't want to go through the work of pasting stuff together to have a bigger sheet) to try to figure out whether the story I'm thinking will take 2 books can actually fit into 1. I also wanted to easily be able to move scenes around (yes I know you can do that in Scrivener, but I also wanted arrows pointing to various things and I don't have a corkboard for index cards). I didn't hate using Excel for that as much as I thought I would.
Then again, I didn't come to any sort of conclusion, so maybe I do need to try it on some sort of hardcopy version...
I love my whiteboards. Don't know what I'd do without them.
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason, I love writing scenes or notes in a notebook and then REWRITING THEM into my word document. Something about putting old notes to life, or something.
ReplyDeleteJennifer
I write all of my first drafts in spiral notebooks with a special collection of pencils that I only use for stories. I started collecting the pencils when I was in 3rd grade, and I told everyone that I wasn't going to sharpen them or use them at all until I was ready to write my first published book. I sharpened the first story pencil in October 2008, when I decided that it was time to get serious about my dreams. Since I don't know which manuscript will turn into my first published book, I have to keep writing my drafts with those special pencils!
ReplyDeleteIt really works for me, though. The act of pulling out one of my specially-designated story pencils automatically puts me in a creative mindset :)
I carry a little notebook in my purse, the kind that at first glance could be an old-fashioned address book. I use it to scribble down ideas for blog posts, and book recommendations, and movies I want to add to my Netflix account, and appointments, and, well, you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteLOVE paper in my hands, though I must admit I find the audio-recording app on my phone extremely helpful when I'm driving and don't want to forget an idea or scene. Then, I transcribe it later into an idea notebook, or write out a full scene on my computer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I keep smaller spiral notebooks in my bedside drawer for scribbling post-dream ideas and thoughts. Most mornings I can reread what I wrote ;)
I can't imagine a world without real paper, pens and pencils! There's just something about the process of organizing my thoughts in a clean, crisp notebook!!
ReplyDeleteI may have moved on to my new life with a laptop but I will forever be connected to the little girl who longs for the first day of school supplies to write the days away. :)
My magnum opus (which will end up one book in 12 volumes, spanning 1941-2050) has always been handwritten. Only the opening, finale, and a handful of sections in between have been typed. I began it in December '91, put it aside, went back to it in September '93, and I've been handwriting it the whole time. It just feels right and natural, and I love all the beautiful notebooks I've used for it over the years. I can even tell on sight which notebook has which Part, and which notebooks I divided into several Parts, in spite of not being multi-subject notebooks.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sad that apparently many schools no longer teach cursive, and don't expect students to use it. I love handwriting that book, my only book I'm still handwriting. Long after I moved to typing for everything else, after transcribing some of my older handwritten books, that one has remained in my hand.
Me! I buy those composition books in different colors for different projects, and work out everything from research notes to plot holes to Positive and Uplifting comments to myself. I LOVE my notebook and don't like to be anywhere without it. Right now I'm using it to write down quotes from my family while we are on a week's vacation. My brain does not work as well without it :)
ReplyDeleteI still use notebooks, as well. Must have a fresh one for each project for notes, plotting, doodling etc. I also love my gel pens. I admit to getting a little grumpy, if I can't find one when it's time to write (even grocery lists)!
ReplyDeleteI still have a notebook I carry around and skritch/sketch thoughts in. I don't write in it often, but I always have it with me, and when I do write it's important.
ReplyDeleteI usually start a story in a notebook, and if I'm stuck, it's somewhere I can go to write it out. But most of my writing happens on a computer now.
ReplyDeleteThen again, all of my poems and short stories (including picture books) have been written in notebooks first, sometimes with a pen, sometimes with a pencil.
I can't contain myself when the back to school sales include composition books. Last year they had some great covers. I'm a journal junkie too...
ReplyDeleteI do start most of my stories on paper.
Happy shopping/writing!
I was so excited about back to school time too. I stocked up on a few. Although I didn't buy the 20 cent ones. I splurged on some with fun covers that were $1. Most of my previous notebooks were the cheaps ones, and I wanted to brighten things up a bit.
ReplyDeleteI love notebooks too! I'm completely computerised, so I don't need to buy any, but I always enjoy looking (and maybe a little bit of sniffing) brand new notebooks!
ReplyDeleteI just bought a bunch of those yesterday! A few I placed (gently) in the donation bin, but the rest are for my kids during the school year.
ReplyDeleteI buy the expensive journals for myself... for notes from conferences or writer meetings, and one I bought specifically for a story idea I plan to expand on... not sure why I thought it would work better in a journal, besides that it is just fun to write in journals! :-)