I have an ever-expanding collection of creative books, most of which I keep near my desk. These are the four I have been reaching for lately.
This book is chock full of little tidbits of advice. And the advice that resonates with me changes each time I pick it up. Right now, I’m loving this advice:
Keep a logbook, a place to write down what you do each day
Create a blog: “Having a container can inspire us to fill it.”
“Surround yourself with books and objects you love.”
This is the book that inspired me to start a creative journal in the first place, and to do so in a composition notebook. This book collects hand-drawn syllabi, assignments, and handouts from the college classes taught by artist Lynda Barry. There is tons of inspiration here, including the Daily Exercise.
This is by far the best collection of collage images I have found. The paper is thick, and the images are high quality. There is a bit of a vintage tilt to the subject matter, but I have found myself coming back to this again and again as I collage.
This book contains dozens of creative prompts. What I love about it is that it combines visual creativity with written creativity, which is my happy place. It also includes interviews with other journal keepers. No matter how much of a funk I’m in, I can always find something inspiring here.
Today, I reached the end of my current creative notebook and began my newest creative notebook. The notebook is dead; long live the notebook.
Reaching the end of a notebook is always a little bit exciting and a little bit sad, as firsts and lasts tend to be.
Here is a look at a few of my “last” pages, including the one from today:
Historically, I have had a hard time writing on the first page of a new notebook. But in my creative notebooks, I look forward to the first page. It represents a fresh start, but it is also a continuation of what has come before.
As you can see, I use the first page to mark the beginning and, eventually, the ending of the notebook.
Here is the first page in my new notebook from today:
Full disclosure: I did not like my first iteration, so I covered it up with this beautiful paper from Ali Edwards.
I really mean this. Take complete ownership of your notebook.
Those bullet journals online are beautiful and lovely, and I want to bullet journal sometimes. But I know from experimentation that it doesn’t work for me right now. I don’t want to spend that much time on the aesthetics.
I used to love the structure of planners like those from Franklin Covey and Day Designer. But those don’t work for me right now either. My digital calendar and task manager handle the day-to-day life stuff.
My notebook handles the ideas and freeform thinking and planning. Right now me needs my notebook to have less structure and less pressure. It is a place to just be and write and create.
Choose a notebook because it works for you, not because someone (or apparently everyone) else is using it.
Decorate your notebook, so it makes you happy when you see it.
Put things in your notebook for you – current you and future you but not past you.
Exercise
In your notebook, make a list of things you want to put in it. Take 2-3 minutes and write down everything that comes to mind.
Give yourself permission. Start a new notebook, decorate your cover, or begin a new page with something from your list. Take it and make it yours.
A creative notebook is a place where there are no rules, where you can just put anything and everything that comes up in life. But that “no rules” thing can be hard to adjust to. So let’s ease in today with some SWATCHING.
swatching verb To test out art and writing supplies to see how they do in your notebook.
Supply List
Your notebook
A category of writing or arting supply (e.g., pens, markers, watercolors, highlighters, washi tape, ink pads, paint sticks, acrylic paints, etc.)
Steps
Find a page in your notebook. If you’re in a new notebook, skip that very first scary blank page and head right to the second page. If you’re already in a notebook, just head to the first available page.
Gather your writing/arting supplies. Now that you have the page all picked out, collect the category of supplies you have chosen.
Swatch. Yep. It’s just that simple. Start making marks in your notebook with the selected supplies. It does not matter how you do it. You can make a list; you can make circles or swirls or cats. You can go in rainbow order or random order or the order dictated by the next person you see. Anything goes. Just put the supplies on the page and make the marks.
Here are a number of examples from my notebooks.
I pull out this exercise often: when I’m stuck, when I start a new notebook, when I get a new supply, or, shockingly, when I actually need swatches of something. This is a good one to keep in your arsenal.
In her creative notebook classes, Lynda Barry requires her students to keep what she calls a “daily diary.”
The exercise involves dividing a page into four quadrants and filling them out as follows:
The top left is for a list of things you did that day.
The top right is for a list of things you saw that day.
The bottom left is for something you heard that day.
The bottom right is for a quick doodle of something you saw that day.
As Barry says in her lovely book Syllabus, “What goes into your diary are things that you noticed when you became present — that is to say when the hamster wheel of thoughts and plans and worries stopped long enough for your to notice where you were and what was going on around you.”
When I do this exercise consistently, I’m surprised at how it hones my powers of noticing. Even now, when I go back through the entries even months later, I can “see” most of the things I wrote down.
I am recommitting to this practice, the practice of noticing and paying attention and then writing it down, today.
“Once I decided to keep everything in one notebook I found a partner and participant in keeping the words and pictures and ephemera that are part of day to day life. That feeling I have about wanting to write something or draw something or make notes about something or glue something down— my composition notebook holds all of it. It’s a place. A time and space.”
I have been keeping a creative notebook in a composition notebook for over a year. I was first inspired to do so after reading Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus. For most of that time, any handwritten notes went into my notebook. If I was taking an online seminar, the notes went in the book. If I got mail with pretty packaging, it went in the book. If I was upset about my day, my emotions went in the book. If I was planning a party, the lists went in the book. If I wanted to play with watercolor, swatch new markers, or create a collage, it went in the book.
The end result is undoubtedly greater than the sum of its parts. As it fills, the notebook becomes a unique collection, with the whole becoming so much more than any individual page.
Your creative notebook is a collection of all of your thoughts and writings and drawings and musings. Its power comes from the juxtaposition of all of those different things side by side, page by page. Plus, you not only get the experience of filling it up but also the experience of revisiting it and learning from yourself. (More on that soon.)
I break the one notebook “rule” sometimes. For a while, I tried keeping the creative notebook AND doing daily pages in a Hobonichi Techo Cousin. While I enjoyed doing the pages, it became too much after a while, and I returned to the creative notebook. I also use digital tools like DayOne, Apple Notes, and Bear for daily journaling, random notes, and writing drafts. But any physical notes, lists, outlines, collage, or play goes into the creative notebook. I return again and again to these notebooks.
Keeping one notebook may not work for everyone. Multiple, dedicated notebooks is just as valid and will work better for some and at different times. But keeping one creative notebook is something I recommend you try.
Today we’re talking about juxtaposition, and how to use it as a writing tool. Let’s start with a definition.
juxtapose verb To place side by side for the purpose of comparing or contrasting.
I am fascinated by how the juxtaposition of objects, creatures, or ideas changes our perception of them. Consider, for example, how things change when we see one abandoned can versus a collection of them.
Or what happens when the color purple is surrounded by green versus purple surrounded by pink.
Objects together are different than on their own. It’s the magic of juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition + Writing
How can the concept of juxtaposition help with your writing?
You’ve probably seen and done writing exercises that are one word prompts (car, party, etc.). These are simple and effective. But, given the magic of juxtaposition and the fact that our brains are wired to make connections, let’s try an exercise with two items. Ready? Let’s play.
SUPPLY LIST
Your notebook. I usually use three pages for this, the first two divided into four sections each and the third one blank.
A writing instrument.
Two items to compare. Literally anything goes here. Really. You can use anything you can think of. Abstract ideas, animals, activities, physical or digital things, etc. You do not need to have physical items.
Your two items can be in the same general realm, like baseball and gymnastics or peaches and apples.
Or distinct, like a mug and Barbie or a chair and an elm tree.
They can be totally different, like a rock and the Theory of Relativity or Game of Thrones and an app.
They can be two types of the same thing, like two different books or two bands.
They can be debated topics, like ebooks versus physical books or pizza with pineapple versus pizza without pineapple.
Any two items will work.
For this example, we’re going to use rabbit and water bottle. You’ve got your notebook handy, no? Then let’s move on to the steps of the exercise itself.
THE STEPS
1. Write 5-10 things about each individual item. It’s a good idea to spend some time with each of the items individually before considering them together. Make a quick list of the general attributes of each item and anything it makes you think of. Note that you could pick a specific rabbit and water bottle, you could consider the categories of rabbits and water bottles as a whole, or you could do both.
2. Juxtapose the items, and respond to six questions. Now let’s consider the items together. Mentally (or physically if you want) place the two items side by side.
From here, let’s answer a few questions in pairs, shooting for 3-5 responses to each one. First, these two:
How are the two items different?
How are the two items alike?
This can feel a little silly, but push yourself to find 3-5 differences and 3-5 similarities. Compare color, shape, material, biology, texture, function, etc.
Next, these two questions:
How are the two items in conversation with each other?
Do the two items together change your perception of either individual?
While these two questions are similar, they can result in very different responses. For the first question, I focus on the words. I put the two items in conversation with each other by considering the words together: “rabbit water bottle.” What does that make me think of? Then I switch the order: “water bottle rabbit.” How does that change things? I write down anything that comes to mind, trying not to edit my thoughts.
For the second question, I focus on the visuals, seeing if, like the color example above, my perception changes when the two items are physically next to each other. I visualize the rabbit next to the water bottle. Write down my impressions. Then I consider the water bottle next to the rabbit.
And, finally, these two questions.
If you had to pick one item to “win,” which would it be and why?
If you had to pick the other item to “win,” what would be the basis?
This is an excellent mental exercise, forcing you to choose criteria with which to judge one item against another, and then forcing you to argue the other way. Any criteria goes. One is bigger, smaller, or cuter. One is more complex, simple, or elegant. One is more alive, important, or fun. Or, you just plain like it better. Whichever item you select to win, the important thing is the reasoning behind it.
Here is a look at my responses to Steps 1 and 2:
3. Pick something to write a page about. Look over the things you have written and circle 1-3 ideas that sparked during the first two steps. Then write about one or more of those sparks.
I find that this juxtaposition exercise stretches the mental muscles in a satisfying way, bringing in description and persuasion and critical thinking and often resulting in interesting insights.
If you try out this exercise, please share your experience in the comments. Thanks for playing today.
Textual Play 