Notebooks

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Inside My Writing Notebooks From The Last Six Months

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Inside My Writing Notebooks From The Last Six Months

If you're looking for ideas on how to fill your journals and notebooks I am sharing a journal flip through to show how I fill mine. My journals are often messy but each one has a definite purpose.

I use one journal as a writing bullet journal to track and log my writing and creative projects. I use another to plan my writing and creative tasks. I have others for particular writing projects such as my book proposal, essays and YouTube scripts. Then I have some simply to journal and to free up space in my head.

In this video I share each notebook I’ve used in the last six months. There’s a completed journal, a couple of new notebooks and I also share how my notebooks (and writing) have been affected by the recent pandemic

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BEST NOTEBOOKS FOR WRITING: A5 Notebook Comparison

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BEST NOTEBOOKS FOR WRITING: A5 Notebook Comparison

My latest video is a comparison of A5 notebooks . I am a bit of a notebook addict it has to be said but I did need a couple of new ones to replace my now full planning notebook and writing journal. Whether I needed six to replace two is besides the point!

I thought it would be interesting and useful, however, to take a selection of A5 notebooks, both hard and soft cover all available to be delivered and do a short comparison of them.

All notebooks are A5. Five of them are lined and one is dotted. Two brands have 120gsm paper and the rest have either 80gsm or 70gsm. I believe all of them except the Lemome are produced by British companies.

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Inside My Writer's Journal | A Flip Through

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Inside My Writer's Journal | A Flip Through

I've come to the end of my first writer's journal of 2020 so I've decided to do a flip through of some of the pages.

I've thoroughly enjoyed writing in this dark blue Lemome lined journal. Inside I write down all my ideas. They might be regular journal thoughts, ideas that (frustratingly!) come to me before I go to sleep, a few sentences, some feelings, brainstorming and from all of this I create my essays, my novel, my non-fiction, my blog posts and videos.

And it all begins with some scribbles in a journal.

This is my video where I flip through and show you what I’ve done on each page and how my ideas have developed.

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How I used my writing notebooks for tracking, planning & journaling during January

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How I used my writing notebooks for tracking, planning & journaling during January

My notebooks are such an important part of my writing journey. I use them to plan my days, weeks and months, for journaling my writing process and online presence, for planning out my essays, non-fiction and YouTube videos - and yes, I have my favourite designs for each task! In this video I share how I've used my notebooks during January including a revamped planning system, journaling my thoughts as my YouTube channel gets close to monetisation and tracking my word count for increased productivity.

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Setting up my 2020 Bullet Journal for my Writing Projects

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Setting up my 2020 Bullet Journal for my Writing Projects

It's very easy when working on the BIG WRITING PROJECTS to feel you aren't achieving anything on a daily, weekly or, even, monthly basis. I often get to the end of a writing day and think - what have I done today? It’s a depressing feeling, especially as I feel I haven’t stopped all day.

Now I know for a fact this is sometimes because I spend time on tasks that aren’t important. I’m busy doing non-relevant things that don’t further me towards my goals. With time and practice this is happening less often but it can still happen. Then I get disheartened and I might then lose hours scrolling through social media. More time lost.

So for 2020 I've decided to create a bullet journal with a tracker and a writing log to record all the writing I do.

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How I organise my notebooks as a writer

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how I organise my notebooks as a writer

There’s nothing like a brand new notebook. Full of promise, unspoken dreams, imaginations running riot - I love to begin a fresh page and to just start writing.

I photograph my notebooks a lot for Instagram. But they’re not just props - they’re extremely well-used. I was asked on Instagram what I use each notebook for so I thought I’d do a video sharing what each notebook has inside. And this is the result:

How I organise my notebooks as a writer
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Using my writing notebooks to share my writing journey

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using my writing notebooks to share my writing journey

I began writing a novel from a period of loneliness and confusion and went on to create a blog, to having paid jobs writing for book and writing websites, to gaining a literary agent, to starting an Instagram account and becoming an 'influencer', to YouTube…whilst all that time having an on/off relationship with my novel and plotting out another one.

This is my writing journey told through my writing notebooks.