Writing Essentials

My first project of the semester is due this weekend, and I thought it’d be fun to show you some of the tools I’ll be using as I try to put words into some sort of lovely coherent order.

{Steadtler triplus fineliner pens} They’re the best and look at all the colors!  It takes me a good five minutes to decide what which color to use.  What’s really cool about them is they are designed in a triangular shape instead of circular.  I tend to grip the you know what out of my pens and I have a permanent blister on my left middle finger from this habit.  But I like my handwriting to be neat and tidy so grip away I must and my Steadtler’s allow me to do that without too much damage to my communication finger.

{Kicking in the Wall by Barbara Abercrombie and my One Hip Chick by Liz Diller for Carolina Pad notebook} These are my warm-up tools.  Kicking in the Wall provides writing prompts that I spend 10-15 minutes on before I head over to the essays I’m working on.  It’s a great way to loosen up.  I write the date in pencil in the book, then keep all my responses to the prompts in my notebook.  I write the date down because when I go back to do the exercises again, it’ll be fun to see what I wrote for it previously.  An aside – this is what I do when I look up words in the dictionary.  I never use the computer to look up a word.  Only my Webster’s that sits in our bookshelves.  And I write the date in  pencil.  I’ve been doing that since I watched the movie Say Anything in 8th grade and John Cusack’s girlfriend did it.  He couldn’t understand why she did that and she said something like, “Don’t you want to remember who you were when you last looked up that word?  Don’t you want to know what you were doing and what life was like?” So that’s how I’ve been looking up words since I was 14.

I intentionally bought a small notebook so that I didn’t feel like I had to write pages and pages for each prompt.  These are absolute instant gratification for me because I’ve allowed myself to jot down a few ideas and then they are nice and safe until I return to them again.

Abercrombie puts quotes on each page from writers and here’s my new favorite author here in her book:

Go find some Natalia Ginzburg for yourself and settle in.  I suggest starting with A Place to Live and other selected essays.

{Martha Stewart Discbound Notebooks} I almost cried tears of joy when I found these.  The notebook paper lines are small, like the college ruled paper people USED to make.  Plus, the lines are the most polite color of turquoise and I am in a much better state when I’m trying to put down my words. The best thing about these notebooks is that I can take the paper out, use a single sheet, then put it back in the notebook.  Or, maybe those words need to belong in another part of the essay. No problem, it’s discbound.  I just love these notebooks.  I’m not going to lie, I love Martha Stewart, too.  Last year I wrote a twenty page essay on her calendar on the first pages of her Martha Stewart Living magazine.  You know the one with “gentle suggestions” to do things like plant your potatoes and clean your chandeliers?

This notebook is also good when I’m trying to write and my girls want to use the paper as well, as you’ll see in the picture below.  Hadley can do some drawing and I can attempt to make sense of the 10,567 page book that is Kristin Lavransdatter.

I’m working on a braided essay for my first project.  That’s where you take three different subjects and try and find some common thread between them.  I really like this formula for writing.  Here’s some of my notes from two of the strands:

The third strand has to do with an encounter Jesse had with some Notre Dame football players.  So we’ve got an artist, Jesus and the woman at the well, and a somewhat heated discussion between ND football players and a scientist.  I’ve got my work cut out for me.  I’ll tell you what: it is not easy writing an essay with Jesse and Jesus in the same story.  I get confused. If it ever gets published, somebody’s name is going to have to be changed.

{COFFEE} Black.  No sugar, no cream.  As strong as possible.  I am concerned that I’ll lose quite a bit of friends and readers when I admit this, but I think it’s time to tell you, dear friends and supporters, I have never in my life tried a pumpkin spice latte and I don’t intend to.  I’m sorry.  I love pumpkin pie.  I love pumpkin donuts.  And granola. And so many other pumpkin-y things.  But I can’t put anything in my coffee except water and very dark beans.  Please don’t be mad at me.

I started saving coasters and writing down the dates of places I’ve had a drink (or two) at. I got the idea from a friend of mine who has a very nice collection from all over the world.  This one in the picture is from a great place in Frederick, we visited in November a couple of years ago.  I was working on essays to get into graduate school, and the woman who was helping me with them (who was my mentor when I got into graduate school as well) sent me feedback on a particular piece while Jesse and I were waiting to be seated.  This essay had to do with bees.  I don’t think it was very good so I spent the evening telling Jesse, “I’ll never get into graduate school.  I’m no good.  I’ll never be a writer.  I’m going to be back to teaching.  I’m a loser. What was I thinking?”  It was a fun night.  I like to keep it on my desk for kicks.

You guys. Writers aren’t the only folks who have essentials for getting their job done, right? Surely you social workers, moms, doctors, dancers, teachers, bakers, lawyers, hurricane storm surge researchers have special pens, notebooks, drinks, etc. that you carry with you to get your job done.  Don’t you?  Writers aren’t the only ones, I know this.