I love the idea of notebooks. And pens. And combining the right notebook with the right pen. But… I have a problem. While I subscribe 92.46% to the notion that writers should carry a notebook to jot down ideas and observations as part of the writing process, I have taken the concept a leeeeetle too far. Here’s the first version of this section of the blog post:
I currently have four “official” writer notebooks, intended to be one per project. I also have four different pens (three black ink, one blue, for you statistical types), and it took me nearly 20 minutes to track down all of them.
And now, two days later, after a bit of a search to make sure I was not spewing smoke, the—sigh—revised version:
I currently have 11, yes, 11 “official” writer notebooks, where the intention was to have one per project, but has mutated into three each for two projects, one project with two notebooks, a single notebook that was supposed to be for one short story (more on that), and two notebooks for projects I had forgotten about but now want to write so I’m going to need another notebook…
I think you see what my problem is. (And no, I didn’t forget about the pens: one in each notebook, not duplicated in brand/model, nine black, two blue. Stat types rejoice!) My problem is that while I embrace the Writer Notebook as Creative Tool, I spread my love across too many. Sort of like my adult life if I want to paint it that way and get in deep deep trouble with my wife.
It isn’t that the Writer Notebook as Creative Tool is a bad idea, it’s that I make terrible use of it. For example, I found excerpts and notes on a science fiction series I have started spread across seven of the notebooks; in eight of them (eight!) I found notes, ideas, and world building details for a fantasy series. None of the notebooks was focused on a single project: the one with the fewest “crossovers” had three projects, while the one with the most had all four of my current endeavors and at least jots for five more. That was the one noted above as “a single notebook that was supposed to be for one short story.”
But wait, there’s more! I mentioned a search. It led me to find that I have 34 blank notebooks of different sizes and formats just waiting for the write project, er, I mean, the right project. And pens? About 38 because I will not count the near-dozen or so that trail in my wake like seagulls behind a garbage scow. (I am suing whoever wrote that). So the evidence is clear: I have a problem.
Obviously, I cannot have just one Writer Notebook. Equally obvious, I enjoy the technique as it does lead to me putting words on screen and paper, eventually. So I think my next step is to narrow down the current menagerie to a three-notebook system: a pocket-sized, a journal-sized, and a legal pad for when I want to bust out the verborrhea and go to town on three cups of coffee and a Slim Jim. Whatever works, is my motto. One of, oh, 11 or so.
