I’ve been thinking a bit about how my notebooks influence the way I write and which ideas I have. I realize this sounds suspicious. What on earth is she on about now? Well. What she’s on about is in principle the same thing I talk about when I discuss writing with pen on paper as opposed to keyboard and screen.

To me, there’s a marked difference between the two, both in speed of thought and in retaining in memory.

If I need something done fast, I write it directly on a keyboard. If I want something done thoroughly and thought through, I write by hand first.

Right now I’m also thinking that there’s a difference in how I use ruled notebooks, squared notebooks and dotted notebooks.

A lined page restricts me quite a bit. Squared notebooks often lets me take more liberties, while a dotted page offers both freedom and structure. A blank page is however a step too far. I don’t know what to do with a blank page except possibly draw on it. I like my freedom organized.

I’m currently writing my way through a lined notebook. It is unreasonably structured so the texts gathered in it are mostly blog posts, some articles and an adventure or two.

None of the adventures have notes scribbled in the margin as they do when I use dotted paper. On the other hand I think I may be better at following or rather to establish how I reason on lined paper.

I still have several pages to go in this notebook, dedicated according to the cover, to world domination.

It will probably be a while before I reach that state, but the next notebook will be squared or dotted paper.