As my writing career finally begins to take-off, I’ve realised that there really is only one way to remember the hundreds of ideas flying through my head on a daily basis: keeping a notebook.
Because I write so frequently, it can be difficult to recall ideas for a particular article I’m writing. Thus, enter the Moleskine: I bought my first Moleskine about three years ago, after meeting one of my favourite authors of all time, Anthony Horowitz, at a book signing in Exclusive Books (my all-time favourite bookstore).
At the time of buying it, I was so inspired by Horowitz’s advice to aspiring writers to “keep a notebook, and write as often as you possibly can” that perhaps this “pushed” me into buying my own Moleskine.
However, I never quite seemed to use it as frequently as I’d anticipated.
The other day, I read an article on GigaOM by one of my favourite bloggers, Om Malik, who said that he swore by his own Moleskine to jot down ideas for his posts.
This got me thinking — I could finally put my own Moleskine notebook, which was otherwise used less-frequently to jot down random thoughts and ideas, to better use as an organizer for the many blog posts I seem to always have lined up. I still plan on using it as a repository for my thoughts and ideas; I find it wonderful to have what I deem an “extension of my mind” between the faux-leather covers of my little notebook.
Until now, I’d use tacky Post-Its stuck all over my wall at my desk to remind me of what posts I’ve got lined up. Mind you, these notes were stuck in a jumbled fashion, with untidy scrawlings strewn one on top of the other.
But as of late, when I’ve realised that my writing has “ramped-up” significantly , I need a place to actually write full-on ideas, paragraphs (sometimes even full posts, which I’ll end up editing significantly when I later type them up), and, of course, research notes.
And the Moleskine certainly delivers.
Once used by the titans of the creative crafts — the great writers and artists such as Pablo Picasso, Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin (who, co-incidentally, inspired the commercialization of the Moleskine range of notebooks), my little notebook carries with it a sense of inspiration — that I’m writing in something that legends once used. It’s a thrilling thought.
In an age when typing has taken over the craft of writing, it’s a refreshing change to be able to sit down, take my Parker in hand, open up my notebook, and put pen to paper.
It carries with it a sense of liberating freedom of thoughts when writing long-hand. As the man who inspired me to use a notebook, Anthony Horowitz, once said in a video interview, “ink should flow through us like blood”.
Life in Pixels 