Building Blocks: Notes

Since I have been yammering on about writing as a process, I want to pull on that thread for the next few newsletters/blog posts. What are the building blocks of my process? How do each of them work? Are they Fordist in orientation? Or, do they magically arrange themselves like Blue’s Clues (or Ghostwriter)? I came to, at least, this conclusion: I have several steps I tend to go through. While each of them are helpful, I also find that not all of them are necessary for each project. For the next four weeks, I’d like to talk about each building block.

First up: notes.

As I’ve mentioned, I keep some notebooks/journals for my academic work and separate ones for my personal life. I know I am not alone in this. Some of you use the “Notes” app on your phone. I saw someone I know pull out a trusty composition notebook. Quiet as its kept, I heard Adele writes her songs for albums in composition notebooks. In mine, I take notes: from reading, from conversations, from conferences.

For instance, I was at the Black Disability Studies conference at UVA. In one of the panels, folks were discussing Billy Waters, a Black man who emigrated from the US to Britian, served in the Royal Navy, and, after an injury (putting it quite mildly), began busking in Britain. I am familiar with his story from David Olusoga’s Black and British history, but there were a few tidbits that jotted down in notebook. Also in there from the conference: my sketch of my own presentation, a few references that arose in conversation (Do you know xyz? This person? That book?).

As I move through projects, I’ll periodically review my notes. Sometimes, I’ll catch a resource I missed. Sometimes, I understand the provenance of one of my poems differently. Since I also do my Spring Cleaning in these notebooks, I find it easier to track what projects I’ve released or postponed or abandoned.

I understand from my conversations with others that I am in the minority when I say I appreciate the open possibilities of a blank page. However, before I write, I tend not to be starting from scratch. I tend to start with my notes.

What about you? Do you use notes? If you don’t use a notebook, what do you use?