Notebooks, What Good Are Notebooks?

Pretty darn good, actually.

Dec 20, 2023

Hi & Happy Holidays!

Amid the frenzy of the season, I’ve been fortunate to catch up with several writer friends—some in person and others by email, Zoom, and phone. This may be why it’s December 20th and I still have a dozen gifts left to purchase, but I’ve been having a lot of fun chatting about process.

I love hearing each friend’s unique perspective and approach, especially as we attempt to create in those stolen moments when the days are too short and the to-do lists too long.

All this got me thinking about how my process has changed over the years…

When my oldest son Sam was a baby, I attempted to write a novel while he napped. I always sat in the same spot (at my dining room table) with the same snack (jelly beans), typing the story in chronological order. I wrote only under those conditions. Given these odd constraints it’s no wonder that manuscript stalled at 120 pages and now sits in a straw beach bag at the back of Sam’s closet, skimmed solely by our cats.

Two decades and two more sons later, my process (I use that term loosely) is vastly different. I now write anywhere and everywhere.

While I’ve been known to scribble on Starbucks napkins and CVS receipts, this year I’ve been the lucky recipient of several journals (see you later, sad spiral notebooks that snag my sweaters!) :

I keep these beauties scattered throughout the house, in tote bags, and in the glove compartment of my beloved mini-van. Sadly, the days when I could retain an idea (more precious than a parking spot at Trader Joe’s this time of year ) are long gone.

Writing in notebooks often feels freer than typing on a laptop or other device, like there’s more space to explore and less room for judgement. With a pen in hand, I’m not tethered to the internet so I don’t click away to watch cat videos as soon as I can’t finish a sentence.

The downside? I tend to write in whichever notebook is closest. One may contain ideas for character names. Another holds the key to a plot twist. Still more are filled with thoughts on upcoming scenes. Interspersed among the pages of all of them are grocery lists and titles for humor pieces I’ll probably never write. (Are you groaning just thinking about this? I am, but wait it gets worse...)

When I want to review what I’ve written, I’m forced to run around the house engaged in a one-woman scavenger hunt for the notebook where I jotted down that snippet of dialogue I’m convinced has the power to transform the entire work.

Typically, when I find the correct notebook and flip to the right page, that line I’ve wasted forty minutes looking for is woefully average. (That’s if I’m lucky enough to be able to read my handwriting.)

A few years ago, I complained to my husband that skimming notebooks to locate my misplaced musings was proving an awful way to try to write a book. “I can’t keep doing this!” I fumed. “This is a terrible process!”

When I grumbled about it again a few weeks ago, he said, “Liz, this is your process.”

Oh, right!

I thought back to that unfinished novel in my son’s closet. (In case you’re wondering, that story, started in 2003, was like a PG-version of Bridesmaids-meets-27 Dresses. So, yeah, no need for me to finish that now!)

Looking back, I wonder if I’d embraced a less rigid approach and written at all the in-between times on junk mail envelopes and lice notices from my sons’ school, would I have completed that manuscript? Who knows?

What I do know is I’ve been far more productive in my sloppy, haphazard approach. On that note…

I have a bit of good news (some may even call it a Christmas miracle): My latest suspense novel, The House on Cold Creek Lane, has found a home and will be out in August 2024 with Severn House. Thank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me. I hope to share more in the coming months!

What I’ve been listening to:

Tom Lake

I ended up doing a lot of driving in late October and most of November and Meryl Streep narrating Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake served as the perfect travel companion.

Here’s a bit about the novel:

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born.

I loved this tale yet I couldn’t help pondering how different it would’ve been if the main character had three sons instead of three daughters. For example, I could tell my boys I had a summer fling with Brad Pitt (I didn’t, reader, but it’s almost Christmas, so please indulge me) and they’d say, “That’s cool. So what’s for dinner ‘cause if it’s chicken again I may go to Five Guys with my friends…” Story over.

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

I enjoyed Tom Lake so much, it sent me down an Ann Patchett rabbit hole and I listened to her read her collection: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.

Here’s a bit about it:

Stretching from her childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one, it covers a multitude of topics, including relationships with family and friends, and charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore.

There are so many gems in this collection. From her fascinating career path (including a stint at TGI Friday’s) to her relationship with her grandmother and dog, I really didn’t want this to end.

So, tell me: What does your process look like? Messy? Meticulous? Somewhere in between?

Liz’s Newsletter

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