The Notebook Question
Margin Notes #004. Is there a notebook you swear by? Tell us in the comments & drop a pic in our chat!
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Welcome to Margin Notes—real talk about the writing life - no gatekeeping, just honest conversations about craft, creativity, and what it really takes to be a writer.
Two quick reminders before we begin:
our August Submit It! session has been rescheduled to Thursday, August 6 at 12p ET.
our August workshop, EATING OUR POEMS: WRITING ABOUT FOOD with Karen Zheng is on Sunday, August 16 at 11a ET. Sign up now. There are still seats available.
Last time we asked, “how do I create a writing routine around caregiving or full-time employment?” Vanessa Walters mentioned: “I know how even just 5 mins once a week can be a game-changer. Commitment. Continuity. Consistency. Community. Once you have a mindset of showing up, you can always build on it.” Stephanie Sweeney made the really great point that “prioritizing my writing [is] right up there with the everyday basics.”
If you want to add your response to our last question, click the link:
Sentence Club began officially on Saturday, with our kickoff happening last Friday. If you already owned the book, ran to your local library or bookstore, or you haven’t read the book yet but you have read Emma Akpan’s first post, you’ll know the first assignment in Writing Down the Bones isn’t a writing prompt.
It’s way simpler.
Natalie Goldberg tells us to get a good notebook and a good pen. That’s it.
It almost feels too obvious to mention. Surely the real work begins with sentences, with inspiration, with finding our voice. But Goldberg starts somewhere else entirely. She starts by asking us to prepare a place where our writing can live.
She isn’t talking about creating a stationery habit. She’s talking about permission.
Before we worry about craft, publication, or whether our work is “good enough,” we need somewhere to catch our thoughts. We need a place to notice what we notice.
A notebook is one of the first ways we tell ourselves, I’m paying attention.
The notebook itself doesn’t have to be beautiful. It doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, sometimes the fanciest notebook becomes the hardest one to write in because we’re afraid to ‘ruin it’. Some people love a spiral notebook they can toss into a bag. Others swear by leather journals that stay on their bedside table for years. We’re not looking to write the most profound thing known to man on the first go. Especially if you’ve never created a writing routine before. Don’t feel forced to buy a $50 gilded edge notebook.
Writing isn’t only what happens when we sit down to draft an essay or poem. It begins long before that. It’s when we overhear a conversation on the train or on a walk. When our child says something we’ll want to remember. A memory that surfaces out of nowhere. A question that won’t leave us alone. It’s when we wake from a dream we know we’ll forget unless we write it down.
Your notebook becomes a place where these moments can gather.
Over time, you create a record of your attention. What a wonderful thing.
Get something you will use. Something you’ll be comfortable with making messy. I buy little notebooks regularly. I make sure they are a size that can fit into my bag. Not too big, not too heavy. I fill mine with lists and random morning thoughts and ideas for stories and things I want to remember. It’s mostly sloppy with crossed out lines, too fast writing, and lots of parenthesis. But it’s mine.
Also, your pen. Do you have a favorite pen? I don’t, not really. We bought jelly roll pens for the family not too long ago and I’m currently using a Pilot G2 pen that my partner insists I write with. I’m not fussy. I just like it to move smoothly, not leave the page wet or smudge my hand as I write. And I only use black ink.
So let's talk notebooks.
Do you write by hand, digitally, or both?
Is there a notebook you swear by? What about a pen?
Tell us about your favorite pens, well-worn journals, or even the notebook that's been sitting empty on your shelf waiting for the right moment. And share a pic of your notebook and pen in our chat! (I’ll also share some hand exercises in the chat because I noticed about two years ago my grip weakening and I know that’s a result of too much typing.)
What does your notebook hold besides your writing?
A loving little nudge…
Choose one notebook for the next week—new or half-filled—and carry it with you everywhere. For the next seven days, don't worry about writing something brilliant. Just focus on collecting. Memories that pop up, things you overhear, questions, lines from a book or show you’re watching. If you started reading Writing Down the Bones, collect your thoughts and writing moments in there as well. Start small and see what begins to gather when you're paying attention.
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I thought about starting a new notebook for my current project but I chose one that was already partially filled- the first pages were a list of gifts from my baby shower in 2016, then a few notes of funny things my kid said, then I used it for a writing workshop in 2024 called dream telling. During that workshop I had to record my dreams daily so my notebook stayed on my bedside table. I wrote in it every day on our annual beach trip and I was so proud of myself for making the time to write every early morning before 7 am.
I normally type at home but I take my notebook with me. Once school and activities start back, it feels much easier to me to jot down quick thoughts in my notebook than to take out my laptop at my kids’ practices. I’ve gotten quite a few writing ideas from things I hear the other kids or parents say.
Pen wise, I’m not that picky but I got pens made for my law firm years ago when we sponsored a 5k and I mostly use those!
I love the concept of a notebook being “a record of your attention.” I carry a pocket sized one, the kind that comes in a cheap pack of ten, and call it my noticing notebook because a writing teacher, Kate Devine, had us keep a noticing notebook in her class. Perfect for all the little snippets of dialogue and fragments of ideas you come upon in a day.