A Writer’s Notebook

James Scott Bell in his new book The Art of War for Writers mentions a Writing Improvement Notebook. He includes these sections: Exemplars (good writing examples), Outside Comments (feedback about your work), and Self Study (setting up a thesis question about an area of craft you need to work on—then answering it.)

Two weeks ago I mentioned that I was starting a writer’s notebook. Actually, I called it a novelist’s notebook because of the alliteration, but writer’s notebook sounds better.

I’ve got lots of notebooks scattered around my house filled with writing tips and samples of the writer’s craft. I have documents on my main computer and on my laptop. I never read any of these.

Time for a routine. Yes, if you want to do something right, best make it a routine.

I repurposed a 3-ring binder. My SNAP goal-planning sheet slides in the front. (I’ve talked about my SNAP plan several times. If you’d like to know more you can search the term in our handy search feature in the sidebar.)

What: Goal Sheet
Routine: Post it on cover of Writer’s Notebook. Update as projects are completed.
Prompt: Review at beginning of each writing session.

Then I started with a section on character descriptions because this is the area of craft I am working on right now.

What: Character Descriptions
Routine: When reading a novel and I come across a good description, I bookmark it with Post-it arrows. Next day I enter it into the computer. When I get a full page, print it out and put in notebook.
Prompt: When checking email, see if I have any descriptions to enter. This is one of those activities I can keep by the computer for when I’ve got 5 minutes here and there.

Taking more advice from Flylady.org (from whom we have gotten our inspiration for creating routines), I am doing baby steps. Get one routine down before adding another. If I go full out and create my whole notebook I might crash and burn.

The next section I’ve added is beginnings. Since our opening paragraphs are so important, I want to study them. This is an easy one to add to the notebook:

What: First Pages
Routine: Photocopy first page and put in binder. Remember to record the title and author’s name. Save space by copying two books at the same time.
Prompt: On library days.

Next baby steps? I’ll probably take on something that Margie Lawson has been talking about this month, like dialogue cues. She gives lots of examples so that will kick-start my next section when I’m ready for it!

Any other suggestions for organizing a writer’s notebook?