A reader tipped me off to what looks like a really interesting book: In this richly illustrated book, readers will for the first time experience the diaries David Sedaris has kept for nearly 40 years in the elaborate, three-dimensional, collaged style of the originals. A celebration of the unexpected in the everyday, the beautiful and … Continue reading David Sedaris’s Diaries
I always love seeing articles about writers’ archives. I’d love to go through some of those boxes and see all the notebooks within, even if I haven’t read that writer’s work! Saul Bellow is an example… I haven’t read his books, but he left an extensive archive including lots of notebooks, one of which is … Continue reading Saul Bellow’s Notebook
Here’s a notebook Kickstarter campaign that may be of interest to writers: Page One, a notebook with sections structured for all the different aspects of the writing and publishing process, such as “Characters,” “Plot,” “Research,” and “Submissions.” The campaign ends on May 2, 2019. See all the details on their Kickstarter page.
Some notebooks belonging to writer Susie Boyt: I have always kept notebooks – messy little attics of the mind, an odd assortment of shapes and colours stuffed into drawers next to defunct phones and balls of string. They feel private and tender, a bit like night clothes; or embarrassing, like over-eager little sisters. From an … Continue reading Susie Boyt’s Notebooks
This week we have another addict spotted at Sharing Our Notebooks. Penny Kittle is an author and teacher, and she keeps a nice collection of notebooks neatly stashed in a bookshelf: Penny says: “I spent an hour in my chair by the window this morning working in my writer’s notebook. It is a regular routine … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Penny
A great article by novelist Lawrence Norfolk: “A writer’s notebook is a junkyard; a junkyard of the mind. In this repository of failed attempts, different inks speak of widely-spaced times and places, the diverse scrawls of varying levels of calligraphic awkwardness, lack of firm writing-surfaces, different modes of transportation. “ Here’s a photo of one … Continue reading A Notebook is “A Junkyard of the Mind”
This week’s addict is another one found via the excellent Sharing Our Notebooks blog. Lee Ann Spillane is a teacher who has been keeping notebooks since she was very young. She says: “I love to learn and think and draw and write. As I child I wanted to remember things. I used to sit on … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Lee Ann Spillane
From a lovely essay about using notebooks, by Elaine Fletcher Chapman: Most writers I know work from notebooks. I carry mine with me, as Jason Shinder was known to advise, along with a folder of poems I am currently revising. Even on my shorter commutes, I carry the pair. They remind me of my heart’s … Continue reading “They remind me of my heart’s desire…”
From Better Writing Habits, some thoughts on The 3 Notebooks Every Writer Should Keep. A Morning Pages Journal Created by writing and creativity coach, Julia Cameron, Morning Pages are three hand-written stream-of-consciousness pages you write first thing when you wake up in the morning, before you do anything else. Cameron specializes in creative unblocking and … Continue reading The 3 Notebooks Every Writer Should Keep
Don’t you love the cover of this book? How could that not make a notebook fan want to read it! It certainly sucked me in, and the publisher was kind enough to send me a review copy. (Which actually has a slightly different cover, with a much cooler old-school fountain pen instead of the purple … Continue reading Book Review: Writers and Their Notebooks