What’s in your writer’s notebook? Here’s what’s in mine

I get jittery if I don’t have a notebook with me at all times. I have a tiny one that fits perfectly in my purse. And I have others of all sizes. Boxes of notebooks in all shapes. Stacks of them in all colors. But I digress.

“Carry a notebook” is one of the most common pieces of advice in the writing universe. I use mine to note story or poem flashes — anything that strikes me as odd, sad, funny, out of place, or thrums in my chest — even if I don’t know why I feel compelled to write them down.  I might use these observations as part of a description, an idea for a character, or as a plot for a story.

The act of carrying a notebook primes my subconscious to be in a state of “full observation mode.”

I’m sharing some recent entries from my writer’s notebook in case they inspire you to see more deeply as you live the writer’s life:

Customer at a Denny’s restaurant placing her order:
“I’d like my eggs over hard and burned”

A snippet of conversation heard as I walk past two guys sitting at a casino sports book:
“Throwing up in the bathroom”

One Starbucks barista talking to another:
“You know that saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?’
Well it’s not true.
I’ve known plenty of old dogs who learned new tricks.
In fact, I think they can learn new tricks even faster.”

Words printed on the back of a huge gravel truck:
“Jesus won’t dump you”

So what’s in your writer’s notebook?