Why You Should Have One

A writer’s notebook is a blank book where a writer can engage in the fun often the messy job of being a writer practicing, listening, playing with language, and gathering images and insights and ideas. The purpose of such a notebook is to nourish the writer. It’s a place to write about small things. A place to practice writing strategies. A place to experiment and take risks. A place to set goals and work to meet them.

Tips for Keeping a Writing Notebook

• Make it your own. Make your own writing routine, and let your notebook be whatever you want it to be.
• Keep your notebook handy. Your notebook is only as good as it is available it’s no use if you have an idea and your notebook is nowhere to be found.
• Get messy. Your notebook should be a place where you don’t worry about what ideas are and what aren’t.

Ideas For Your Notebook

1. Free write
2. Rewrite
3. Journal
4. Take notes
5. Draft blog posts
6. Sketch
7. Study
8. Get to know your characters
9. Keep a list of novel and short story ideas
10. Record names you like
11. Consider your eventual marketing plan
12. Collect reference photos that inspire you
13. Practice writing prompts
14. Write morning pages
15. Gather information that could be useful to your career

That’s a good list of reasons to keep a writer’s notebook. It’s a pretty good idea even if you only used two of the ideas in this list. There is one more good reason to have a writer’s notebook that’s not listed here: to get stuff out of your head so you have more room to create. That’s why I have a writer’s notebook and calendar with a to-do list on it. It keeps my mind open for doing creative thinking, and that is the kind of thinking that I want to do.

If you can think of other reasons to have a writer’s notebook or if you use your notebook for something not on the list, please share it with us in the comment section. It would be great if we could learn from each other.

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