School's out for the summer--but it's time to grab your notebook
How to keep writing when routine goes out the window
It’s summer, which means watermelon and sweating and lightning bugs and annihilation of routine and rhythm.
The summer shift in routine can be really jarring for a writing practice. For some (ahem parents), hours that used to be available vaporize. For others, the summer might mean an absence of structure, maybe even too much freedom. We all know what it’s like to have a completely free afternoon, say over and over I’m gonna write!, and then somehow never get to it.
Today I offer you my summer elixir: carry a notebook. All the time. Wherever you go. No matter which side of the summer coin you’re on, this is gonna be the thing that keeps you writing. Here’s why.
Notebooks are perfect for small assignments. And summer writing is all about small assignments. Notebooks are great for drafting scenes, noodling on character motivation, doing exercises like describe a setting or write down a gesture/tic that’s unique to each of your characters. Whether you’re sitting by the pool, at an airport gate, or the air conditioner, a notebook can be your casual companion, a low-pressure receptacle for a little something you want to jot down a few notes about. And if you have gobs of time, a small assignment is the easiest way in.
You have something to reach for besides your phone. As I will keep pointing out, your phone is a waste of time. Would you rather be surfing social media or working on your book? I thought so.
There’s a lot of data about the benefits of writing by hand. It helps us remember stuff better—jot down that good idea or detail and you might not even have to go back to the notebook to find it. It involves more parts and processes of your brain than typing, which may lead to deeper thought—as anyone who’s ever had a good idea in a notebook can attest to. It also makes you feel better, and can even help heal trauma.
Notebooks are small, easy to carry around, permitted for use during take off and landing, and best of all, they offer low-stakes, non-judgmental space to approach your writing more playfully. We often come up with our best ideas by hand, because we’re not distracted by seeing our words reflected back at us. We’re more free and less self-conscious and critical. Also, you can spill water on a notebook with little to no consequence.
Although notebooks can solve so many of our writing problems, the resistance to writing by hand is real. People tell me all the time that they can’t possibly bear to write in a notebook.
The most frequently cited reason is I can’t write as fast I can type. Yeah, that’s a good thing. Being forced to slow down a bit makes for better thinking. You might not write a perfectly crafted scene draft in a notebook, but you have a much better chance of figuring out what the scene is all about. Once you know that, actually writing the scene is fairly easy.
Another complaint: Then I have to type up what I wrote by hand, which feels so inefficient. Bad news: if you got into the writing business searching for efficiency, you came to the wrong place, friend <gestures to the 100,000 words written and cut from current novel draft>. It’s not supposed to be efficient.
More importantly, typing handwritten pages ISN’T inefficient—it’s a revision process. I often write first drafts by hand; what makes it into the computer is the second draft. I do a lot between the notebook page and the screen, and most writers I talk to find that transfer process the site of good editing, and thinking.
Lastly, I hear this: I need to look stuff up when I write. Nope, no you don’t. Who among us has not tried to look up One Thing and then lost 15/30/120 minutes to an internet rabbit hole?
Make research separate. For you compulsive googlers, I suggest a dump file/list. Anytime you want to know more about something, make a note of it. Schedule some time to scratch your research itch. But don’t do it while you’re trying to write scenes—you’ll get way, way, way distracted and frazzled. Promise womise.
There’s one argument against writing by hand that I’m still grappling with and accepting suggestions on: for disabled or injured folks, writing by hand may simply not be feasible. In these cases, I think dictation could be a useful tool. But I would love to hear from you all on this question: if you physically can’t write by hand, what are your options for writing without staring at a screen?
If none of this has converted you to Team Notebook, maybe Paul Auster can.
“I’ve always written by hand. Mostly with a fountain pen, but sometimes with a pencil – especially for corrections. If I could write directly on a typewriter or a computer, I would do it. But keyboards have always intimidated me. I’ve never been able to think clearly with my fingers in that position. A pen is a much more primitive instrument. You feel that the words are coming out of your body and then you dig the words into the page. Writing has always had that tactile quality for me. It’s a physical experience.”
– Paul Auster, via The Guardian
Wherever your summer takes you, I hope you bring your words along. Keep writing, friends.
PS If you’re Team Notebook, click that little heart below. It helps get the word out!
This is so freeing! After spending 6 hours a day on my computer for work I just don't want to look at a screen anymore. Even though I wrote many of the poems in my spiritual memoir in verse in my journal it never occurred to me that I could write a novel that way. New notebook here I come!
I love writing by hand! In a journal, pieces of paper, whatever I can find! I censor myself less when I just jot down words or even use a notes app. The problem with my jottings is that I’ve developed a terrible handwriting and can’t always read back every word I wrote.