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I love notebooks – bound, spiral, 3-hole binders, and comp books. Especially really wild, colorful ones from the dollar store. Here are the top ten things I use my blank notebooks for. Maybe it’s time you join me in this addiction:
- Write down ideas for stories, blog posts, and titles – notebooks are great repositories for things that you don’t have time to write. It’s like saving for a rainy day.
- Write down questions you want to research – when you hit a spot in your story where you are missing some info or need to spend more time thinking about what a character will do or say, put a placeholder there, and write down your questions in your book. I like to do a lot of written processing on character issues, but I don’t want that mixed in with my manuscript. The comp book is a perfect place for it.
- Write down interesting words.
- Write down conversations you overhear – listening to real people will help you write natural sounding dialogue.
- Write down character sketches of people you meet or observe.
- Write down random thoughts as they occur – to do items, grocery list items, things you’re afraid you’ll forget if you don’t – dump it out of your brain and on to the page.
- Respond to writing prompts – and if you love writing prompts, check my other blog, The Writing Reader
- Write small stones.
- Sketch (world building) or doodle.
- Write down random facts/trivia that you learn that might be a story seed.
Did I miss a great use for a blank notebook? Leave it in the comments.
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Anne K. Albert says on: January 8, 2012 at 2:10 pm
All are great reasons, and like you, I own a gazillion notebooks. I think it’s a writer thing!
Liz says on: January 8, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Thanks, Anne. It’s good to know I’m not alone in my addiction
Eula McLeod says on: January 8, 2012 at 2:13 pm
I love this post! (I love the look of thi page, too!) I’ve got a tattered little spiral book I’ve been keeping in the car, but I need one for my purse and one for the bedside and one for the kitchen, too, just dedicated to all the ideas that run into my mind and threaten to exit unseen unless I capture them on paper for future blogging. Lately, I’ve been keeping a Word page up on my laptop, too, where I deposit ideas/titles. When I just HAVE to write or explode but haven’t a clue what to write about, up comes the page and off I go. I love your idea of jotting down things people say. One comic I’ve heard does pretty much nothing but tell stories he’s overheard as people just live their lives, outloud and funny. He says you can’t make that stuff up!
Eula McLeod recently posted..Immortality
Eula McLeod says on: January 8, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Oops. Should have proofread that. Sorry for typos.
Eula McLeod recently posted..Immortality
Liz says on: January 8, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Well, Eula, if anyone could make those stories up, you could! But you’re right, real life is much, much stranger than fiction.
Dee says on: January 9, 2012 at 1:12 am
I too love notebooks, Liz. Thanks for more ideas on how to use them. This is a GREAT looking page, by the way! Love the colors and title blocks.
Liz says on: January 9, 2012 at 10:02 am
Thanks Dee! Any chance we’re going to see you Friday night at writers group?
Jodi says on: January 9, 2012 at 4:25 am
I always have one with me. When I in session I have little cards by my desk and write ideas on them, my clients much be wondering what I am doing…So I have thousands of little scraps, plus I record myself when I am walking and get a good idea in italk on my iPhone. Very convenient.
Liz says on: January 9, 2012 at 10:09 am
It’s so great that phones allow you to record thoughts. So much more convenient than carrying a separate recorder. Great idea. Thanks Jodi!
Dorothy says on: February 2, 2012 at 12:40 pm
I carry a notebook in my purse, in the car…and all around the house.
Why I carry a notebook ..because I never know when something goods hits me…I need a place to write it down..
Liz says on: February 2, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Nice to meet a kindred spirit, Dorothy. If you’re anything like me, you can’t count on your brain to retain the thought. It’s got to be written down! As boomers age, I predict that the market for blank notebooks is going to explode!
Char says on: February 2, 2012 at 7:36 pm
I use notebooks, scrap paper, you name it. And I always carry 3 or 4 pens in my handbag, have another stash in the car glovebox, next to my bed, and in my favourite writing spots inside and outside around my home.
Liz says on: February 2, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Pens! Of course. I have one of those cosmetic pouches in my purse, and it is full of pens. All colors. Highlighters, too!
Char says on: February 2, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Everyone in my family laughed when the present I got the most excited over was a gorgeous refillable amethyst half-length pen that clips on and fits inside spiral notebooks etc even when told it only cost them $5.95.
Liz says on: February 2, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Sounds perfect! I’d so much rather have a gift like that than something expensive that I’ll never use.
Char says on: February 3, 2012 at 1:22 am
It was perfect… And happens to be the best to write with too
People might have laughed but it was the most thoughtful 
Liz says on: February 3, 2012 at 7:48 am
Who got it for you? That person deserves kudos for knowing what would make you happy.
Char says on: February 3, 2012 at 3:23 pm
My youngest child — 17, still at school and picked on by her two older siblings — who loves reading and wants me to hurry up and write my novel so she can buy it.
Liz says on: February 3, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Good for her! She knows her mom.