When it comes to items, there are many things I have replaced throughout my life. I even had months without my phone or laptop. As a person, I always find myself getting distracted from whatever it is I am doing. I get into things then get out of them. As a writer, there was one thing that always kept me in control, relatively speaking, of course.
My Notebook
Or notebooks, to be more precise. I have a total of 23 notebooks. I started acquiring them around 5 years ago. Before that, my brain was a jumbled mess cooking in the microwave at 500 degrees. It wasn't fun, to say the least.
I usually use my laptop or whatever, but I get distracted by ideas in general. A movie idea, a poetry line, a book or short story idea, or even general topics I plan to write a comedy about or research further.
My Life Before Notebooks
Have you ever had that friend that always seems anxious or distracted at a friends' gathering? I remember until today, a time when I was literally making out with someone and suddenly found myself realizing what the ending of Inception meant, I swear to God, I am not lying. I was literally in the middle of making out with the girl and thinking:
Did the spinning top stop spinning or not? It must have stopped because it was kinda twirling near the end as he was walking away.
And literally, at that moment I said, OUT LOUD:
OH THE POINT IS THAT HE WAS LETTING GO OF HIS OBSESSION!
Let Me Explain
Whenever I get an idea of any sort, it consumes me. I keep thinking about it nonstop until I am done. So I could be doing work and still thinking about some plot in a story I need to write about. Now, instead of just waiting until I am done working and going home then do that, I would be distracted by it all day.
It gets worse with writing itself. One line would take me out of the entire thing I am working on and forces me to focus elsewhere. The end result is often getting stuck in between, and about 70% of the time I would get neither done.
I remember having this idea about stories that are more surrealistic and feelings-based than the actual plot about 7 years ago. But, every time I would get down to writing about one, I would keep thinking about the next. The end result was me dropping everything together.
It is like that annoying song that gets stuck in your head. But, instead of just one, it's like 20 songs playing at once. You can't make out any of them. There's a haunting feeling I have that the ideas would disappear, so I keep trying to save them all together so they wouldn't just fade away.
My Life After Notebooks
It really sounds like a "Duh!" moment now that I think about it retrospectively. Having that notebook with me saved me from getting distracted so many times. I could get a basic idea, write it down, then come back for it later. I could even include in writing what made me think about it and it would all work out later.
The feeling of writing something yourself in a notebook isn't the same as just going to notes on your phone. There's more feeling to it and it allows me to remember things like how I felt when I wrote this down and find that feeling again while writing something on a phone or computer always made me feel more mechanic. It's a bit complicated to explain so let me show you.
First of all, my handwriting is horrible, I know. But there's just more freedom in just moving the pen rather than drag, click this, and click that to make the font look like this or add a line here or there. When I look at these notes, I could look at my thinking process and not just the neat end result. I could retract my feelings work on them and much more.
Having scribbles on something reminds me of what didn't work and why instead of not having it there at all.
Finally
As you can see, they're messy, and that's my writing process. It is a constant mess until the final result. It is my ideas in the correct form, it is simply me.
I !LUV it!
I have been keeping records for more than two decades now. The practice worked for me during my student days and even years after my graduation. I always bring a record book with me wherever I go. However, the pandemic brought a new situation that gave me too many tasks these days that were not there before. Despite keeping the discipline for years, I still find myself often distracted recently. As a result of such distractions, I am also having difficulty pushing myself to write something. This is my way of saying thank you for reminding me about focusing and following through on a single idea.
@rzc24-nftbbg(1/1) gave you LUV.
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That's the crappy part about it, right? Like it helps immensely but you still have those distracting moments.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Actually, those two sentences inspired me to get organized and return to writing. Thanks!
!hivebits
Thank you for hosting it. I tried thinking of prompts for my community, and they were hell to come up with. Great to see someone doing them consistently.
Thanks, I work towards keeping them as interesting as I can. It's not always easy to come up with topics but hopefully the ones I do are well received.
!LOLZ
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Notebooks are useful. I also use them for endless note taking, scribbles, sketches, ideas, emotions. They're all in there. Anyone want to find out what my life was like after I die? Find my notebooks, it's all in there.
Cheers to notebooks @amirtheawesome1 I like them too
THIS IS SO ACCURATE! If someone goes through mine they'd even know my blueprint plan for the next 20 years or so lol!
Very enjoyable read :) And yes I found your blog post through ListNerds. Will be following you now :)
!BBH
!ALIVE
I am glad you did find it.
@amirtheawesome1! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @bradleyarrow. (6/30)
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I am glad you liked it.
Because this is such an awesome post, here is a BBH Tip for you.
. Keep up the fantastic work
i dont have a notebook but it seems very useful... :)
Especially if you have writing on the back of your mind all the time. I also get distracted by phone notifications. So they're perfect for me.
Glad you discovered notebooks. Keeping track of what goes on in your world can be very rewarding. Thanks for the post
Thank you, and yeah, they're helpful.
what size notebooks do you prefer?
plain lined, dot grid or blank?
Plain lined mostly. Although I have blank for the going out/travel size ones.
i create notebooks... always good to know what people like.
A baker has quite a mess in his bowl before developing an awesome product. We need to find the best way to stream our brains for good and not be cluttered in confusion. Great post Amir!
Thank you, I think it is bringing good results so far.
I know what you mean! I am often the sane way & when I'm doing one thing or even when I'm reading something will give me an idea and if I don't stop and write it down, it becomes an afterthought of 'what was that?' I have used notebooks in the past but lately I just jot things down on index cards and notepads. The only thing is that when writing down I have to be very detailed so when I go back later I can remember exactly what it was that I intended when I wrote it down. That can sometimes be a big distraction as well, but it needs to be done. Besides it gives you something to write about when you get stuck and seems like you have nothing to write about.
!PIZZA
Yeah, it's really exhausting trying to keep balance/control sometimes. I would have mentioned how tough it still is sometimes but I wanted to focus on the positives. But, I do relate to what you said here.