By, Natalie Goldberg

Writer's Notebook

In an earlier post, I talked briefly about using a writer's notebook. The book that inspired me to begin using one was Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. One of my English professors in college had recommended the book to me knowing that I was interested in writing.

What's great about using a writer's notebook is that you can write whatever is on your mind without commitment. It's an exercise in brainstorming and getting any and all of your ideas down in one place.

I liked the idea so much that I've even used it in my middle school classroom with great results.

In The Classroom

In my classroom, I would provide a prompt.  It would either be a word, a photo, a color, or even music. Then they are instructed to write whatever comes to mind.

Here's an example. One of the first times I did this with my students, I wrote the word "blue" on the board. Of course, they were filled with questions. They've never had to do something like this before, so the idea of being given just a word was strange for them, especially when they're normally given a phrase or sentence starter to use to get going.

I then explained that they were to begin writing the word blue in their notebook, then if the word makes them think about things that are blue, then they write those things down. Maybe one of the things they write makes them think about something that's unrelated to the color blue, that's okay, they write that down too. And that's the whole idea. The whole concept of the exercise is to open their mind and let the ideas flow.

The only rules for the notebook are that they cannot erase or cross anything out, spelling or grammatical errors don't matter, and they cannot throw anything away. They keep everything. 

They're basically brainstorming, which is why I don't want them to get hung up on errors. They're to just write freely. And keeping everything ends up being useful later on when they're asked to skim through what they've written for ideas for future stories.

I usually had them begin writing for 5 minutes, gradually increasing it to 15 minutes, depending on the length of the period or block. The goal of increasing their writing time is to help increase their writing stamina, which does take practice.

How I Use the Notebook

When I first began using my notebook, before reading Natalie's book, I was using sentence starters to get me going. I would find myself hampered by correcting errors and getting things just right. But the book described the purpose of just letting my thoughts drift and not worrying about errors. I liked the concept when I first read about it, and it made sense to me, too.

I would write anything and everything in my notebook. I went through a stage of writing poetry, so I'd have haiku, acrostic poems, or free verse poems filling my pages. Sometimes I'd write lists of ideas that I've thought about during the day. Perhaps I came across a quote or a phrase that caught my attention, so I'd write that down too.

I wouldn't use it as a journal, per se, where I would write down events that happened each day or week. Rather, I tried to be creative with what I wrote.

What it Looks Like

Now, according to Goldberg's book, your notebook doesn't have to be fancy. Although it feels pretty special having a leather-bound journal, or a notebook with a fancy binding, you don't need that. A simple notebook will do just fine. The author talked about buying notebooks with different images on the cover that she might like, or even picking up one-subject notebooks in the fall when they tend to be on sale for cheap.

She also talked about using a pen rather than a pencil, which made it easier to "just write" without worrying about errors and being preoccupied
with erasing them.

I came across a blog where the author described a perfect writer's notebook, with colorful tabs to categorize what you're writing. But I can't help but feel that getting too fancy complicates the process more than it needs to. If I had to work that hard just to be able to sit down and write, then I probably wouldn't even do it.

I understand the purpose of wanting to organize a notebook, but that's what Post-Its and highlighters are for. What I do is skim through what I've written and when I find something I want to use, I'll highlight it and mark it with a Post-It sticky, making a note on the sticky to find what I'm looking for easily.

One more thing I'd like to add about what the writer's notebook might look like. Goldberg recommended a simple one-subject notebook, but there were many times I was nowhere near my notebook and wanted to jot something down. Now unless I carry a large purse, a one-subject notebook won't be easy to bring with me everywhere I go. So I've carried a small pocket-size notebook with me, but then I end up losing it. 

I don't know about Android phones, but I'm sure it has a similar feature as the iPhone where you can record notes. You can do audio or video notes as well and then transfer what you wanted to remember in your writer's notebook once you're back home. 

Why Not Type it?

Writing your thoughts down on paper with a pen or pencil makes your brain work differently than when you type it. The kinesthetic process of transferring your ideas from your brain, through your arm and hand to the paper is very different than typing on a computer.

According to The Pen Shop website's post on "5 Reasons Why Writing is Better Than Typing", it improves our memory recall, you have to think more about what you're writing, it helps you more if you're a visual learner, increases creativity (and your penmanship), and you're distracted less because you're not easily tempted to go on social media.

These are also great arguments for handwriting notes, too. But that's another blog post.