I am a scribbler. Notes, ideas, facts, you name it, it ends up in one of my notebooks. The thing that always amazes me is how many notebooks I go through. And yes, I keep them all. They are full of ideas for stories, snippets of book outlines, poetry, comments about things to do or find out about and yes, the occasional grocery list and To Do list.
Lately I’ve been considering using an electronic writing tablet that could convert my notes to type so I could upload them to my laptop. I thought it might contribute to a reduction in the amount of paper in my office. But upon reflection, I realized that it just wouldn’t be the same.
Notebooks are user friendly. They come in different sizes, shapes, perfect bound, spiral bound, stapled. All kinds of colours, patterns and different covers and inside designs. Some just have lined pages and others have pages decorated with pretty flowers or borders.
And there’s something special in the feel of a notebook in your hand. It is solid, its pages invite your words and it never needs to recharge its battery. It is there for you whenever you want it. In the middle of the night, in the bathtub, on a train, a bus, etc.
Some people like to steal electronics, but I haven’t heard of anyone stealing a writer’s notebook. Of course, many of us have scribbly handwriting so if someone did take our notebooks, they would need a code breaker to figure out what is written inside.
And then there’s the fun of picking a pen to go with your notebook. Some like brightly coloured notebooks and pick pens that match or complement the design. Others want notebooks that look business-like and utilitarian. They tend to attract standard pens or sometimes fountain pens.
Whatever you prefer, your notebook and pen choices are part of you, part of who you are. And by using them, you are expressing part of yourself.
I love flowers. So, a lot of my notebooks have floral designs. Kind of an odd choice for someone like me who writes murder mysteries. Hmm. But that’s me. Ask my friends. They know I like florals.
My pile of notebooks is growing. And that’s one of the reasons I began publishing my mystery books. We get to a certain age when we look around us and see what we have accomplished and what we will leave behind. I had always been so shy about sharing my stories with the world. But I realized that if I didn’t do it, I never would. Did I want to leave behind published books, stories and poems that others could read? Or did I plan to leave a pile of scribbled notebooks that would end up in a dumpster?
Check out my decision by visiting the other pages on my website and my author and series pages on amazon.
amazon.com/author/ajfotheringham
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