Write things down
Keeping a notebook: an illustrated newsletter
^^^Trying something scrappy and new. First I wrote a wordy draft of an essay about notebooks1 and it was not working. So I thought, why not write something by hand and make the post itself look like a notebook? Who else can’t get enough of seeing someone’s handwriting? It feels alive to me.
This is all heavily inspired by my re-reading of Lynda Barry’s wonderful book What It Is. From her I’ve learned about spirals (a method she teaches for calming yourself before/while writing), yellow legal paper (Barry once used this non-precious material to write an entire novel manuscript, slowly, with watercolour and a brush), and methods for uncovering forgotten images from deep inside your brain. I found Lynda Barry’s work at a time when I had repressed all my creative energy. It was my gateway drug into a whole other world—one where I might paint, study art, write in notebooks, make meaning out of personal experience, and call myself an artist. Fair warning, her books might change your life!
Lately I’ve also been inspired by B.A. Lampman, a fellow artist and Substacker who has re-kindled my interest in notebooks. B.A’s newsletter is one of a kind and she has many witty thoughts on the creative process (especially writing in a notebook).
One reason to have a notebook practice might be to heed Joan Didion’s warning: “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.” (From '“On Keeping a Notebook,” Didion’s essay I mentioned above).
I have many more thoughts about notebooks (does this interest you?), but in essence: there’s no wrong way to write things (your ideas, memories, life) down. The notebook is a place to find out what you think and what you care about. That is also a reason why I write this newsletter: it’s a regular reason to think. Notebook (not a fancy one, or you will not use it!) and pen in hand, will you try it? “Do you keep on nodding terms with the people you used to be?” Are you the notebook-keeping kind?
Side note: did you know one of the greatest works of fiction in the English language is a novel about notebooks? This year I am attempting to read more literature written before I was born; it is good to break bread with the dead. I’m currently in the depths of The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Y’all this novel is WILD and sprawling and messy and so so good. It was published in 1962, but it is fresh and relevant for today. A 600+ page certified banger.
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I have used notebook and journal interchangeably throughout this post.
Love this analog newsletter format Emily! Of course it is inspired by Lynda Barry, one of the best. I am always thrilled to read people wax poetic about notebooks so I would love to read more from you about it :)
First of all, thank you so much for the shout-out, Emily! And secondly, wow. There are so many things in this post that I want to remark on. Journaling and notebooks are pretty much my lifeblood, even more than artwork I'd say because I go through periods where I don't make art, but never do I stop writing. I, too, went through a period of doing the Artist's Way and morning pages---I was in my thirties (the book had just recently come out I believe) and was also helped to allow myself to re-engage with my creativity. And yes, as you know, morning pages are far from the only way to journal! I try to get that across in my journaling workshop: that journaling/writing things down can pretty much be anything you want it or need it to be. I like your statement: "who would I be without having written hundreds of these pages in my 20's and 30's?" because indeed, there's no way to consistently write and not be changed. I feel the same way... who would I be? I could go on and on and on but I'll try not to go on too much longer... LYNDA BARRY! WHAT IT IS! So very important to me. And also, The Golden Notebook. I read all of Doris Lessing's books when I was in my 20's, starting with The Golden Notebook. I don't think I'm overstating the facts when I say she changed my life. There are a couple of things that don't hold up... reading it again later in life I saw that Lessing was a bit of a bigot 😬. But that doesn't change what she did for me at the time. Kelcey Ervick has a newsletter called Letters to Dead Authors and Artists (https://letterstodeadartists.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips), and one of these days she'll be publishing a letter that I submitted about Doris Lessing, with artwork and a comic. If you don't know Kelcey Ervick, her newsletter The Habit of Art is also amazing.
Thank you again, Emily 👀