Writing Notebooks: My history with them, my current setup, and my thought process--Writing Notebook vs. Thinking Book?

I said I was going to take a break, then I went ahead and jumped into this one! 😂

Stephen King once said something about writing notebooks being a place where "ideas go to die." While I kinda get what he meant--you write something down, but if you never go back to it, the idea dies--I also feel like notebooks are vital to writing. He also said something about "the best ideas stick with you," and that's true to an extent--look at how long I've been working with the same basic idea for my stories!--but when it comes to remembering details, brainstorming, catching scenes and tidbits, stuff like that--you have to have some place to capture those ideas and work thru them. Therefore, no offense to the great King, but I will continue to use a notebook, thank you very much.

Having said that, my previous writing notebooks have been hit or miss for various reasons. I'd often overcomplicate them or get hung up on aesthetics vs. function. It took me years to find the right kind of notebook for my brain's needs, and even now it continues to evolve bc my brain's needs are always changing.

I got the idea for this post from another post I did about my entire notebook/planner/journal ecosystem. It got me thinking about my current setup and another notebook I've been using, the Thinking Book, which I discussed in a different post I wrote a while back. The person who gave me the idea for the Thinking Book, Rachelle in Theory, is also a writer. She uses hers not just for writing, but for all areas of her life that require deep thinking--projects, goals, things of that nature. It's a really cool concept, therefore I decided to set one up for myself. And so far it's worked great. However...

While I have thought about combining my Thinking Book and writing notebook, I'm hesitant bc I don't want my writing to get lost in all the other ideas. Yes, I can use tabs and page numbers and whatever, but I also like the idea of having my writing separate from all that. But the point of the Thinking Book is to process your thoughts and eventually move them elsewhere. In the case of my writing, I'd be moving it from paper to computer eventually anyway. BUT. Even though that's the case, I still don't know about cutting out the separate writing notebook.

At the moment, my writing notebook consists of a cheapo spiral notebook and a Dollar Tree plastic folder together in a thrifted notebook cover that happened to fit them both. I've decorated it with stickers, washi, and the John Lennon card I got for my birthday. The folder has a clear pocket in the front, where I have put the list of writing meeting assignments from our previous meetings. Inside the folder are notes I tore out of previous notebooks and the RDC planner as well as a scene I printed out.

In the notebook, I have a log for my AW tasks, a Writing Activities log, and a page dedicated to the Imaginary Lives task. That's it so far, but my plan is to use the notebook however I need to, whether that's handwriting a scene, jotting down ideas, making future assignment lists, or whatever.

I could put all of that into the Thinking Book, or I could move everything out of the Thinking Book into a separate folder that would also go into the writing notebook. However, both of those ideas have downsides. Moving everything from the writing notebook to the TB would mean I'd have less room for printouts bc it's a B6. It has a pocket in the back that could technically hold them, but you have to fold them in half before putting them in there, so that would bulk up really quick. As for putting an extra folder into the writing notebook, a lot of the stuff that's currently in the TB is small. In addition to the pages I've used, there are other notes on random scraps of paper shoved into the pockets. Not to mention there are some printouts folded up and stored in the back pocket, so even though I could unfold them, they could still add up to some bulk.

So, as much as I like the idea of combining my writing and thinking notebooks, I also don't. Part of me thinks it's silly to have two separate notebooks that could function for the same thing, but another part of me wants to keep writing separate from everything else just so it doesn't get lost.

One thing I know for sure is whichever way I decide to go, I'm going to deliberately keep it messy, bc that is working for me. The difference between my current writing notebook and previous iterations is that this one is SIMPLE and allows me to get messy. In the past I've set up pretty TNs with separate inserts for each story, the characters, settings, blah blah blah. That resulted in me filling up one insert while the others were mostly blank. The same would happen with ring binders--one section might get full of notes while the others would be empty. Then there's OneNote, which I still play with occasionally, but there again is the issue--some tabs have nothing in them, while others have a bunch of random shit thrown in there. It always bugs me to no end. I think I know how I want to organize everything, but when it comes down to it, I don't need all that. I just need a place to get it all down and sort it out afterward.

That's why I'm loving the combination of a spiral notebook and folder. I can tear pages out and either stick them in the folder or throw them away when I'm done with them. It's messy but neat at the same time, which is why I think it's working better than other methods. Tearing pages out of TN inserts can mess them up. While ring binders also allow you to remove stuff, there's the issue of where to put something when you just want to jot it down real quick, and it might not fit into whatever categories you have set up, or it might fit into more than one. Same with OneNote--it functions the same way as a binder.

The Thinking Book is slightly different. The idea is still to get messy, but you don't tear out the pages when you're done with them; you simply fill up the notebook as you go, and whatever needs to move somewhere else, you just copy it neater, type it up, whatever, then cross out that page or make some indication that you've processed it and don't need to refer back to it. I've done that with TN inserts too in the past, but it got to the point where I couldn't tell what I'd already gone thru and what I hadn't, even though I'd cross it out, bc sometimes I'd go back to something previously crossed out and revisit that idea. In other words, it got a little too messy. But I guess the difference here is that if I want to, I can rewrite something in the TB if it's something I need to revisit or make more readable. The point is to USE IT UP.

I'm torn between leaving the TB at home and downsizing back to the Vera Bradley or maybe using the writing notebook as an on-the-go version of it, with the intent of tearing out any pages I use and throwing them into the pockets of the TB when I get home. But then I feel like that defeats the purpose in some ways. It's not like the B6 won't fit on my desk at work. But combined with the writing notebook in my bag, they get heavy.

For now, I'm keeping my system as is, but I'll be brainstorming ideas (probably IN the TB) about what to do with the TB. I'll keep ya posted.

Ok, now I really do need to take a break! I have to work in a couple of hours, and I'll be working pretty much the rest of the night. There's an ice storm knocking me out of work tomorrow and possibly Tuesday, so I'm having to do whatever I can to make up for that lost money. Bye!