Write It Down – Now

Drat!, or was it Rats!? I had a great opening line for this post and got distracted before I could write it down. What was it? I know it was about why I always carry paper and something to write on, but I said it better than that. Rats. No joke; I think the most important tool for a writer when they aren’t writing is to have something to write on. Writing studios, classes, retreats, hired help are all useful, but saving that idea can be the key to your unique insights and style. If only I hadn’t done the laundry and forgot to refill my pockets with a pad and a pen.

I’m a minimalist, or at least a minimalist wanna-be. ( I Thought I Was A Minimalist) Hey, I live in a big tiny house, so there’s that. Go check out the tour (One Year In My Tiny House) – and ignore the stack of shoes. I have plenty of shoes, but they each have a purpose.

I have plenty of notebooks, but they each have a purpose. My minimalism has boundaries. Words are important, and inspiration and serendipity can arrive as limited-time offers.

The photo shows fewer than a dozen types of notebooks. I’m sure I could rummage around and find a few more, like the two in my car’s console, the one in my hiking backpack, the simpler one in my day pack, the one in my bike bag, and I’m making my point to me.

An event can trigger such a desire to always be ready to write.

It was a simple walk through the small town I lived near. I’d already written four books and was starting to realize I might be a writer. (Duh.) But I realized that anyone reading my first book was meeting a different me, a me that only wrote the book because friends wanted to hear about my bicycle ride across America. That was fine, but each book got better, and in the midst of them, I got a divorce, got older, discovered some personal history, and generally became a different person. Those last few sentences were 78 words that I realized could be reduced to one concise sentence; but, there was nothing for me to write on. Fortunately, I was beside the library, a haven and refuge for writers. Surely, they’d have something for me to use. I impolitely stormed the front desk and told them I was having a writer’s emergency. I needed something to write with and on. I was more distracting than clear, caught my breath, described what I needed more slowly, they realized that it wasn’t a true medical or police emergency, got me some scrap paper and a pencil – and we laughed at me. And I forgot the concise quote. I still wonder about that one, especially as I try to describe me, my books, and why I am not the same writer for the first and for the most recent.

So, I decided to share some honesty and practicality in what I consider to be my second most important writing tool, my quiver of notebooks. The first is my set of computers, which is so obvious that it may get its own post.

Let’s start small. My smallest notepads are my cheapest. I take a stack of defunct business cards, ideally with a blank back, and bind them with a binder clip (almost as if it was made for them). Small, light, cheap. Sometimes, I have to match the pen to the paper so it doesn’t smudge, but they are handy. That bit about being small becomes obvious, but at least they’re something.

The next step up in size is what I call a reporter’s pad or a detective’s pad. I don’t know if reporters or detectives really use them in real life, but characters do in the movies. I prefer the ones with the binding on the top. Shirt pocket-sized, I also find one that can fit in my phone’s holder. It’s big enough for sentences and short paragraphs. I was surprised to see people react and somewhat recoil to using the larger version. Go figure.

With no change in size, at least for me, are the outdoor ones designed to survive the outdoors. They cost more, and I have to be more careful with the pencil or pen type, but they’re in their element when I’m in the elements, like rain and snow. As a treat for myself, I bought some just to use in regular weather so I don’t have to check the forecast before deciding what to pack.

Go bigger. I like the write-bound Five-Star notebook for longer writing. It lies (lays?) lays flat and can hold a pen in the spiral wire. It is a good size for small coffeehouse tables. 

At about the same size but glue-bound, are nicer notebooks that are more archival. Spiral bound is good for ripping out pages as needed, but some things I like chronicle. I tend to limit the size to my bigger pockets in jackets and jeans.

Between pocket-size and standard letter-size are pads with any of those bindings. The key being that they provide more acreage for writing. The unlined ones are good for sketching. In my case, sketching isn’t artistic and is more likely to be mathematical. Sometimes, I just gotta graph something.

Get up to the size of a sheet of standard (US) paper and find an infinity of options from cheap school products, to college-ruled three-hole-punched paper and binders, to leather-bound folios, to zippered sleeves that are large enough to also hold my laptop. I even have one that is large enough for my laptop, and three-hole punched paper, and an internal sleeve for a larger notebook, and a pocket-sized sleeve, and an external pouch for even more, and lots of holders for pens and such.

I’m sure I even have a steno pad somewhere around here.

Of course, there are more modern possibilities. The fancy stylus pads look sweet, but I’m enough of a klutz and already have enough gadgets that I’ll hold off on them. Phones are smart enough to record audio, but the software can be distracting. I’ve found photos to be reasonable mnemonics. My favorite was the time I took notes at a conference by tweeting each note, and hashtagging each tweet. It was convenient because my laptop was convenient. The convenience wasn’t the sweet thing. Posting my notes as tweets was noticed and shared to the point that my tweets led to the conference trending on Twitter. Bonus!

My notepads keep me company if I’m dining out alone and it is too dim to read a book. The smaller ones are more innocuous, and I try to not look like I am reporting or detectoring. The bigger ones are more useful for bigger meetings, particularly ones that don’t allow electronic recording, like company stockholder meetings. I’ve wondered if I got better service in some restaurants because they thought I might be a reviewer. 

And I continue to grin at the times I manage to not have anything to write on or with. I wear a pen, but not in a pocket-protector way. I find cargo pants are handy for the bigger but not the biggest notepads. So, if you see me wearing a pen clipped to my polo shirt with a pad neatly tucked into my cargo pants, you’ll know I consider myself ready to write.

If only I could remember what I thought up before I burst into that library’s doors…