Launching A New Writer's Notebook.

 This week, I changed over my writer's notebook. Once more with feeling fellow writers...

Mixed emotions swirl around me when commencing a new writer's notebook. The prospect of filling the fresh pages brings with it anticipation, presenting as a prospect to be enthusiastically embraced. Honestly, after almost forty years of notebooks, my delight remains undiminished.

To see newly generated words spread out across previously unmarked pages, delivers a buzz. The very act of capturing the raw stuff of my writing life, delivers order and a sense of accomplishment to my active mind. The harvesting of words and ideas adds to the energy for writing in this new place. I am akin to the farmer ploughing a new field. 

I make a conscious decision to choose a notebook with different dimensions and qualities to its predecessor. Some writers select the same notebook each time a replacement is required. I embrace the notion of change along with the unique shape and form of the potential replacement notebook. For me, the uniqueness of each notebook needs to be respected and clearly established. 

I remain keen to shape this new notebook in a way that highlights its difference from previous notebooks. The contents will add further to the individuality. There will be new discoveries. My notebooks, like people, are all separate entities. I must honour that fact.

This changeover time however remains a bittersweet moment in my writing life. I am confronted with saying farewell to a trusted friend.

I am saying goodbye to a travelling companion, the willing catcher of my thoughts and dreams, my ideas and experiments. 

The notebook just completed has been with me every day for the past few months. Everywhere I have been, it has been right there with me. 

One notebook, I vividly recall,  travelled home with me from Rome in 2019 after my wife purchased it at ‘Manufactus’ notebook shop opposite the Pantheon as a birthday surprise. A beautifully constructed leather-bound notebook with generously thick paper pages. I had to wait to use it as I had just started another notebook at that time.

This precious gift of a notebook, like its predecessors,  travelled with me everywhere. Eventually, it bulged like a well-fed belly. -A notebook crammed with gathered thoughts, and potential treasures to spark more detailed writing pieces. It contained much of the research information that contributed to a much larger writing project. It was with me throughout my Poems of Presence project for Australia Post's Time Capsule. It retained its leathery smell throughout its writing life.




The notebook that eventually replaced it, (another gift) represented a stunning departure from its predecessor. It came from ‘Karst’ a Sydney based company who pride themselves in producing sustainable products. This new notebook was made from recycled, pulverized stone. No trees, water, bleach acid were used in its production, making its carbon footprint noticeably smaller. It contained a ‘paper’ made from stone. 

The resultant product was smooth and durable. When I pick it up, this notebook always feels noticeably heavier in my hand and the pages discernibly different to the touch. Writing in this notebook provided a slightly different sensation, I must say. It was an ideal notebook for the lockdown days of Covid, as it meant I didn't have to carry it about as much as I would normally do with a notebook.

For a short period of time in this changeover process, I  consciously carry both notebooks with me. This is my notebook handover period. There exists for me as a writer, a natural connection, bridging the old and the new. This connection stretches across time, with one notebook informing the other. As my new notebook begins to fill, it will reach a point where it contains sufficient content to travel solo. The older notebook will be gently retired to become part of my ever expanding collection of completed notebooks, stretching all the way back to 1983. 

The recently completed notebook continues to play an active role in my writing life. While it ceases to be my regular travelling companion, I periodically revisit it and all my other notebooks for the purposes of reconnecting and rereading.

 I am conscious of the vital role rereading plays in informing my writing ideas. It will serve as a source for research and re-invigoration. It is from reading old entries, new ideas frequently reveal themselves. I will adopt the role of treasure hunter and text detective. 

It is akin to a reunion with an old friend. I take great joy and renewed pleasure in the reconnection. These notebooks are central to my existence as a writer and educator. All my published work began a tentative and fragile existence within the collective pages of my various notebooks. They are the footprints left by my writing journey, my life's journey.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular With Other Visitors

Writing Opposite Poems

Image
 O pp o s ite  P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,'  Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will  notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. Not every thing has a
Read more

Writing About Reading - Reading Reflection Journals:

Image
UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers to gain i
Read more

Learning How to 'Zoom In' When Writing

Image
It is important for young writers to understand that not all parts of a story are equal. There are parts through which a writer moves quickly, and important parts where the writer slows down and lingers a while. This is where the writer might intensify the action or reveal the character’s reactions in greater detail. Young writers need to know that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of the author. The author consciously zooms in. The writer uses a magnifying glass to view a part of the story more closely; to focus on a moment and to slow down time. When an important part of the story is enlarged upon, it   is a signal to the reader, that this part of the story is important. The strategy of ‘zooming in’ goes by many names: ‘exploding a moment’ ‘magnifying a moment’, ‘hotspot’ ‘snapshot’, ‘adding detail’ or ‘slowing the action.’  What ever the name, the idea is the same. The author writes in a way that expands a significant part of the story with the intention of drawing t
Read more

Answering Questions Posed by Young POETS

Image
UPDATED, May 2020 As a frequent visitor to schools I have the great pleasure of working with groups of young, enthusiastic poets and their teachers. When I arrive in a classroom, young poets are often pre-loaded with questions, and most keen to have them answered.  I try to answer as many as I can, but we frequently run out of time, and the poetry caravan moves on to the next classroom. So I am here to answer some of those questions -right here, right now. So here goes: When you were little did you love writing? The short answer is yes. I have always enjoyed words and language. I can't recall a time when I wasn't doing some kind of writing. When did you write your first poetry book? I have had poems published over the years, but it wasn't until 2014 that I had an entire book of poems (an anthology) published. When I looked back through all my notebooks I realized I had hundreds of poems from which to choose. So, 'Searching For Hen's Teeth-Poetry From The
Read more

Slice Of Life Story-The Trials Of A Left Handed Writer

Image
Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to
Read more