The Notebook

If you were thinking this was going to be about the Nicolas Sparks book, you will be sadly disappointed.

This is about the notebook that I carry with me, almost at all times. And not the reporter's one for doing my day job.

This particular notebook is small, with ring binding and a blue stripe on the cover and a snap that keeps it closed and what looks like type-writer type on the front that says "notes," all in lower-case letters. This is the idea notebook.

I heard for years that writers should carry such a notebook with them. I didn't. In fact, I adamantly refused to myself that I would need such a notebook. That was until I got tired of trying to find fragments of paper to jot down ideas, descriptions, things that struck my fancy or promised myself I would remember this only to have forgotten it when I got home.

So now I carry the notebook with me just about everywhere so that when the next great idea, or bit of dialogue or plot twist springs in my mind I can write it down. There is also the added bonus of always having paper handy so I can write myself notes like "Buy real whipping cream to take to dinner at Carol's tonight."

Some of the notes are just questions that I need to suss out as I keep writing, mostly dealing the WIP. Some of the notes are really good ideas. Some are like "Use a round commons bldg. like @ Connor Praire for something -- think." I started a new list of ideas for this very blog.

Maybe those people who said writers should carry such a notebook were really on to something.