Comments on: Actually Using Your Notebooks

By: Andre

Andre — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:53:04 +0000

@John: Sometimes I will actually write things in them I intend to publish. Sometimes I use them to make mini business plans or consider marketing ideas. Sometimes I just make notes, collect thoughts and make observations. I think that’s the reason I have trouble using a bound notebook. When I used the same notebook for different applications, it felt awkward. Jotting notes, making project plans and drafting copy was like mixing linen, tee shirts and socks in the same drawer. With a legal pad, every page is a new beginning. @David: A few weeks ago I threw out all of my older notebooks. At some point it’s time to face the fact that stuff is either being archived for future application or it’s not. Once I got rid of my old notebooks, and especially my architecture-related stuff, my ability to focus on my current projects increased dramatically. Backlog sucks. If you know you’ll never go back to mine your old notebooks, think about why you’re keeping them. In my case, I found that they were just deadwood in need of hacking away.

By: David Pickett

David Pickett — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:55:13 +0000

To be honest, my life would be a lot easier if I used my notebooks less rather than more. Granted, I occasionally manage to perform all three steps in making one useful — put stuff in, review for value, get stuff back out — but it’s the exception rather than the rule. If I stopped all generation at this point and went to full-time “notebook mining” of my existing stacks, it’d probably take me years to dig my way out.
OTOH, maybe my kids will have fun doing a random walk through after I shuffle off this mortal coil. TBD….

By: John Lacey

John Lacey — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:30:15 +0000

And of course I meant to write “over-the-shoulder messenger bag” there. [Insert obligatory remark about editing here.]

By: John Lacey

John Lacey — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:27:30 +0000

A very interesting post. I have personally not discovered anything that stimulates my creativity as much as physically just scribbling on a page. I carry A5 artist diaries around with me whenever possible, but particularly when I’m traveling. Sometimes I will actually write things in them I intend to publish. Sometimes I use them to make mini business plans or consider marketing ideas. Sometimes I just make notes, collect thoughts and make observations. The “artist diaries” themselves are cheap and relatively small; easy to store and small enough to slip into my little over-the-shadow messenger bag. I think it’s win-win!

By: Andre

Andre — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:17:38 +0000

@Charlie: My method of using multiple notebooks kept the page flipping down, but it also kept the notebook count high. But having the notebooks in the location that the ideas happened proved to work really well and was mostly a non-issue. I knew where my ideas were by the topic of the idea.

Spot on. Keeping multiple notebooks isn’t excessive if each one is placed at a point of actual use.

@Vered: Blog posts are short, so there’s less of a need to separate the different phases of writing. If you’re collecting and drafting at the same time, you probably see the post’s implicit structure in the rough draft without having to do an outline. I sometimes write a post straight from a first draft, with no notetaking or outlining, and minimal editing — assuming everything I need to write it is clear in my head. But most of the time I need more structure.

By: Vered - MomGrind

Vered - MomGrind — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:31:14 +0000

I always write a VERY rough first draft. It’s horrible as far as the writing itself, but it contains my ideas. Then I edit. Unless you’re a professional writer, I completely agree that “Your core competency is in the ideas you have to share, not (primarily) how they’re articulated.”

By: Charlie Gilkey

Charlie Gilkey — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:09:35 +0000

Nice post, Andre.

Of course you know that I agree with you 100% about using notebooks to capture your ideas and harness your creativity.

I went through much of the same thoughts when I settled on my cheap Steno pads. Moleskines were too expensive, and other notebooks were too large. The 6″x9″ Steno pad proved to be the perfect balance of whitespace (or green space, given the color I prefer), and it encourages capture, but not drafting.

My method of using multiple notebooks kept the page flipping down, but it also kept the notebook count high. But having the notebooks in the location that the ideas happened proved to work really well and was mostly a non-issue. I knew where my ideas were by the topic of the idea.

The most insightful (and hardest lesson for me to learn) suggestion for me in this post was to have a second dumping ground nearby to catch those unrelated, “neighboring fields” ideas.

Seriously, you’re going to bait me into talking about my notebook-digital migration. You…you…muse you!