I stole this thread from Newbie Nirvana as it wouldn't let me post there....

"I have a working theory that you can tell what kind of poet someone is by what their notebook looks like. let's test it out, shall we? post a picture of wherever you most often write, be it a boring moleskin like mine, a heap of napkins, or a spiral bound 1 subject notebook. here are some wiki links that will tell you how to upload photos on GotPoetry:

www.gotpoetry.com/Medi...Forum_Post
www.gotpoetry.com/Medi...ry_Gallery "

There are some pics already at Newbie Nirvana if you want to check them... will post mine later here...

links dont work for me

my original post:


I have a working theory that you can tell what kind of poet someone is by what their notebook looks like. let's test it out, shall we? post a picture of wherever you most often write, be it a boring moleskin like mine, a heap of napkins, or a spiral bound 1 subject notebook. here are some wiki links that will tell you how to upload photos on GotPoetry:

www.gotpoetry.com/Medi...Forum_Post
www.gotpoetry.com/Medi...ry_Gallery

to start, here are my notebooks. the current 1 is the moleskin; my favorite is the 1 that got so beat up from me taking it everywhere that I had to duct tape the spin together; and there's an interesting story about the 1 with electrical tape.

I don't have photos to show my madness. But, I am a definite keyboard person, except for all the scraps of paper I use to jot down ideas, jam in my pockets then sort 'em out. Later I enter them in a folder on my computer and save them to disk.

Thanks for bringing the thread here Jonathan Not sure why the links didn't work when I copied your post....

I have uploaded my pics here.....

www.gotpoetry.com/copp...13366.html

I'm completely utilitarian, so I buy this type:



Sometimes, they're red or purple or even green- but, usually I just buy traditional black, and across the cover I write the dates of notebook completion- ie: 9/22/07-10/05/07.

I would do the same galley but I despise lines for some reason. I find sketch books are best - heavy paper, designed to open flat, etc.

I used to buy fancy, funky notebooks, but then I wouldn't want to write in them.

I find that boring, cheap notebooks, usually spiral-bound, allow me to write the kind of stuff that I don't mind scratching out and arrowing all over the place.

I despise unlined. Always lined.

unlined let's me think sideways, crooked, etc.
it also let's me sketch when the mood hits me (doesn't often but has in the past)
plus my 'natural' writing style is smaller than even college ruled and it feels wasteful writing between preprinted lines.
for some reason or another, the binding always manages to get torn up, even with sketch books that are designed to open flat. Mead wouldn't stand a chance. and I'm paranoid spiral bound books would get bent out of shape.

ohhhhh minutiae.

I have one Moleskine in each jacket, just for notes. Do all my actual writing on the computer these days.

usually i write on whatevers available...napkin, food wrapper, skin. when i really get the chance to write i've got small spiral notebooks and 2 journals.

i had a blackberry full of unfinished stanzas and partial poems. now i'm back to the ole 70 sub college rule spiral. but once in a blue i snatch printer paper from the office at work and freewrite on my hour lunch.

Two, a notebook by the bed so I can get things out of my head, (and try to actually sleep) and a small one which fits in my purse and goes everywhere with me.

Mead five star spiral notebooks. with the preforated tear away ruled lines (the pages have to tear away neatly or it drives me insane in the membrane ) i can usually only fit two poems in each now (rewrite after rewrite). i keep at least 3 with me at all times.

The fridge is a good notebook too... early in the morning...before anyone is up, I sometimes take words from the dream jar and stick them on there...

they may make it to a notebook later...

I find it hard to use the computer to write initially... and apart from a haiku love affair with a fellow poet I have never written on my phone..!

i'm so glad i dropped in, winterchild....i have dozens...i wait until school is about to start and head to wal*mart and get the norcom basic 70 pagers by the dozens...they cost ten cents each at that time instead of a dollar ninteen....i share them with my grandsons...

by the time they're full, they look 'bruised'....you can tell when my pen runs out, because i'll continue to write with crayon, pencil or highlighter, as most of my work comes flying out...

i'm no good at posting photos, my daughter does that for me, but your imagination will offer a great laugh....pen, crayon, pencil and highlighter!!!

Hot pink post it notes!! I cram so much on these things and I have them all over the place!

I'll have to try to get a photo up.

I have two three ring binders. One is in it's third 'incarnation' (the first two.... bent rings, ripped covers, etc. I liked the initial cover paper, so I took it out and put it into a new one each time. I like binders- especially after I found myself with dozens of half-full and bloated notebooks. I like the fact I can add pages, pull pages out, organize my lyrics, my lists, my finished poems, my poems-in-progress.

The other is a 4 inch binder- after two instances of losing a good deal of my poetry, I keep both digital and hard copies of everything. So this binder is final copies of every poem I've ever written.

Here's a question. If you know what kind of poet someone is by their notebook, what type of poets are we?

two at home one in the kitchen, one on the table and a small one in my handbag.

incredible thread...thanks again winterchild

Whatever's available. Once I wrote notes in the dust on the back of my mom's car. Once I wrote in pencil on a rock outside.

I love Mead Five Star notebooks, but my poem and essay collection is housed in messy stacks underneath my bed.

I use a computer mainly. However, I do have treasure hunts now and then when I find a notebook buried somewhere. However, I have a real treat for you people someday I will post the poem I wrote at ten it makes me laugh how serious I thought I was. It's a mimeograph copy so it is almost " Dead Sea Scrolls " in age by comparison to computers...lol

I have notebooks all over the place. There isn't one certain kind that I use. I have small spiral notebooks that I can carry in my purse. Whenever I am in a restaurant, I always have a fistful of napkins that I have scribbled poems or titles on. I have a microcassette recorder that I use. I am inclined to lose what I write, so I save my stuff on a CD.

sakhara291 wrote:

Here's a question. If you know what kind of poet someone is by their notebook, what type of poets are we?

Neat question...

I think collectively, from this thread... we are voluptuous.. colourful... random... abundant... with a little order trying to push in from the edges... the most disorganised (myself included) are in the centre furthest from the edge...

Tony wrote:

I have one Moleskine in each jacket, just for notes. Do all my actual writing on the computer these days.

I love these but they are expensive and hard to get here.. my last lot I bought in bulk on ebay and then ended up gifting them to deprived Kiwi's who fell totally in love with them,

I have made my own version of them quite successfully, and you get to choose the paper you fill them with

If anyone here has the time or inclination here is a good little tutorial:

michaelshannon.us/makeabook/

But I guess they are a dime a dozen in the US...!