For a writer, of course, it’s a necessary tool. For many years I’ve kept full-sized spiral notebooks as idea banks – where I jot random thoughts, dreams, rough drafts, quotes from my reading, miscellaneous observations, overheard conversations, phrases that have become stuck in my head, arcane information of all kinds – anything I consider noteworthy. So far it adds up to more than 4,000 handwritten pages. Most of my published work has originated there.
I also carry pocket-sized notebooks for taking field notes, sometimes literally in fields but also on the water, in airplanes, in opera houses and subways and taxis and restaurants. Often those brief notes find their way into my larger notebooks and from there into essays, stories, and books.
Recently a friend presented me with a 48-page pocket-sized memo book titled “Field Notes” which has given me some unexpected pleasure. On the inside back cover is a list of recommended uses or “Practical Applications” for the notebook. (The list is solicited from customers, who offer up their thoughts via an entertaining website).
Here are my favorites from that surprisingly fertile list:
Corn Dog Batter Recipes
Scrapbooking Tips
Meat Goat Methodology
Sketches of Prize-Winning Rutabaga
Swine Suckling Schedules
Survivor/Eddie Money/Styx Setlist
Vegetable Judging Notes
Dart vs. Balloon Strategic Analysis
Animal Husbandry Techniques
Dairy Diatribes
Quilting Patterns
Freehand Drawings
Carny Contacts
Tractor Carburetor Calibrations
Rabbit Cage Diagrams
Crop Circle Designs/Schemes
Garden Gossip
Hybrid Pea Punnett Squares
Silo Content/Levels/Schematics
Expected Progeny Differences
Now I wonder, to what purposes do YOU put your notebooks?
I also carry pocket-sized notebooks for taking field notes, sometimes literally in fields but also on the water, in airplanes, in opera houses and subways and taxis and restaurants. Often those brief notes find their way into my larger notebooks and from there into essays, stories, and books.
Recently a friend presented me with a 48-page pocket-sized memo book titled “Field Notes” which has given me some unexpected pleasure. On the inside back cover is a list of recommended uses or “Practical Applications” for the notebook. (The list is solicited from customers, who offer up their thoughts via an entertaining website).
Here are my favorites from that surprisingly fertile list:
Corn Dog Batter Recipes
Scrapbooking Tips
Meat Goat Methodology
Sketches of Prize-Winning Rutabaga
Swine Suckling Schedules
Survivor/Eddie Money/Styx Setlist
Vegetable Judging Notes
Dart vs. Balloon Strategic Analysis
Animal Husbandry Techniques
Dairy Diatribes
Quilting Patterns
Freehand Drawings
Carny Contacts
Tractor Carburetor Calibrations
Rabbit Cage Diagrams
Crop Circle Designs/Schemes
Garden Gossip
Hybrid Pea Punnett Squares
Silo Content/Levels/Schematics
Expected Progeny Differences
Now I wonder, to what purposes do YOU put your notebooks?
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