Comments on Keep a Writer's Notebook

Go to WRITERS WRITEAdd a commentGo to Keep a Writer's Notebook

Elmubarak
Try a general search under "public domain" or "Project Gutenburg" and you'll find more classics, general reference works (including Roget's Thesaurus), and enough interesting odds and ends to keep you reading for years.  All for free!  Just remember to save a little time for writing and revising. 

posted by notapoet on November 21, 2003 at 6:16 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks Notapoet,

for the encouraging comments on my blog post and for the posts in this one.  I'm struggling to try to find the dedication/drive to do the "three Rs" and I'll give your suggestions a real swing.  I've already absorbed the value of reading great works.  It seems like a violation of basic capitalism, but the great works are often available for free at the click of a mouse.

El

posted by Elmubarak on November 21, 2003 at 5:53 PM | link to this | reply

scoop
Your notebooks sound like mine except for the art.  I can't draw a straight line without a ruler.  The way I look at it, you use whatever is flexible and comfortable for you.  The important thing is to have it down somewhere so that you don't risk losing an idea forever.

posted by notapoet on November 18, 2003 at 7:38 AM | link to this | reply

I have notebooks like that
I tried to carry one around but sometimes forgot it so I keep one in the car, one in the nightstand and they are full of quotes, story ideas, and since sometimes I do cartooning it helps to rough sketch something I see or hear. I tried years ago to write a journal daily but it did not work me, so I just jot down notes when something comes up.

posted by scoop on November 18, 2003 at 7:13 AM | link to this | reply

beachbelle,
Thanks.  Your husband sounds like me as a youngster.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) most of mine were destroyed or trashed in a break-in years ago.

posted by notapoet on November 18, 2003 at 3:07 AM | link to this | reply

Nice post notapoet.
My other half has some old journals complete with newspaper clippings based on his teens which he is preparing as a book. He was a rather pompous but hopeful young man who thought he had all the answers to the world's problems.

posted by beachbelle on November 18, 2003 at 2:53 AM | link to this | reply