Monday, March 7, 2011

My Excuse for Buying Moleskine Notebooks Today.


So I am a horrible blog poster.

There's my self-flagellation for now.

I think I'm already over it.

Today, before going to my sister in law's bridal-dress-trying-on-thingy, I had a few extra minutes, so I swung by Barnes and Noble to buy myself a datebook, because I have things I need to do and go to, and yet I do not have a place filled with the months and days of 2011 in which to write these things down. As it turns out, neither does Barnes and Noble; they only have these things around Christmas, apparently.

What they do have, though, are a small selection of Moleskine notebooks, which, if you weren't aware of this already, are the thing that every hip, artsy writer-whatever type must have in his or her possession in order to be legit in the hip, artsy writer scene.

I already have some small, pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks that I write random information in every now and then. But I decided I should buy some larger ones to write actual real things in.

Because I realized something kind of recently:

I am not a good writer.

The reasons for this are many. But I don't necessarily want to go on and on about the personal things that make me not a good writer. We'll leave that to Anne Lamott. Her stories are way more interesting, anyway.

But one reason, though, has to do with the Internet. I used to only write longhand. I never wrote first drafts on the computer. I thought that was completely insane. It felt unnatural, somehow. But then graduate school happened, and I wrote first drafts on the computer, and then this carried over into my creaive writing life. It's unfortunate, but true.

Really, it's ridiculous. I mean: I go from writing a page of whatever, and then I check my email, and then I check to see if someone might have updated their status on facebook, or whatever. It's amazing I get anything done at all.

So it's all well and good to realize my faults (I'm pretty good at picking up on those... maybe a little too good...), but I realized I am out of practice. When I buy a random crappy notebook at CVS and get ready to write, I am a bit confounded as far as what I should do.

The written page feels a lot more permanent than typing on a computer. I can type faster than I speak, or at least, I can type the same speed at which I speak, which is much better than my writing. And when I type something I don't like, I can get rid of it without crossing stuff out. It just disappears. Forever.

But I don't know if that is a good thing, necessarily.

I decided something must be done about this. The CVS notebooks weren't cutting it. I needed something better. More Hip. Something Hemingway and Picasso wrote in. And they were drunk geniuses, so that means something. So I got the Moleskine notebooks, and I will try and write first drafts long hand first, again.

We'll see how it works.

3 comments:

  1. I admit it. I love my moleskin notebook. You have made an excellent choice. May the force be with you!

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  2. You got a moleskine??? No Heming-way!

    I often do my first draft or outline of my blog posts in my hip moleskine. I think a moleskine works best with a bit of wine. Another thing that's important is a good pen that writes really smooth. I don't want to fight with my pen when I'm trying to get an idea down.

    It's nice to have a moleskine since they are a bit more portable than the typical CVS notebook. I can tuck it into my jacket pocket.

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  3. Hmm, I never had a moleskin notebook. I confess that I am obsessed with pens. I love pens. Sometimes I reward myself for handling a particularly harrowing school day with a trip to Staples' pen and pencil aisle.
    Now that I think of it, I do love office supplies. Paper clips with the little stripes, a fresh pack of notebook paper, folders, and more. Right now I am stuck on mechanical pencils. There is one kind that writes so smoothly it is almost like writing with a marker! I even like writing with chalk. I wish teachers wrote on chalkboards instead of those whiteboards with markers. One year, I ordered personal chalkboards for all of my students... only to find they hated the squeak and texture of chalk. Sigh.
    Emma, I say GO FOR IT and enjoy every minute of writing in your moleskin notebook. May I suggest a trip to Staples for a gel pen?

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