My Favorite Writing Things
I can write anywhere with just a notebook or laptop. But I also love routine. And if I have my choice, these are the things I love working with.
Notebooks
I’m left-handed, so spirals are a little bit harder for me. If they have a wide margin, I can use the cheaper notebooks, but I much prefer a notebook without spirals.
- Field Notes—I love these little notebooks.
- Leuchtterm 1917 (dotted)
- Moleskine Large, Hardbound, Plain—I love drafting poetry in these before typing anything into the computer.
- Studio Oh Notebooks—I like the deconstructed notebooks with the binding that lays flat (not the spiral bound). You can often get these inside Barnes and Noble stores. And the colors and designs change frequently.
- I can also find some cheaper dotted notebooks at Walmart sometimes. I often have a notebook for every project, so getting a low cost notebook (that’s not spiral) is helpful.
Notebook Decorations
- I love decorating a plain notebook with stickers. I order most of my notebook stickers through Red Bubble. I often start a notebook for a new project and order a sticker to go with it.
Pencils
- Blackwing—I order off of their website, but they are also available in some indie bookstores.
Pens
- Flair Pens—I use these in my bullet journal. I try to buy a few shades of the color of my notebooks. For example, in 2023, all of my bullet journals were purple. I bought purple flair pens in multiple shades. In 2024, I bought blue ones.
- Tul Pens—So expensive, but my favorite.
Comfort/Daily Routine
I write before work for about 2 hours. So it’s just me, in the dark, in my office. I have a few creature comforts.
- UGG slippers—They last for YEARS.
- Kombucha GreenTea (Yogi)
- Hot Pot
- Spindrift
- Hu Hunk Chocolate Covered Almonds
- Trader Joe’s 85% dark chocolate [insert picture]
Writing on the Go
I spent a lot of time in car until the pandemic. While I don’t spend as much time in a car as I used to, I still never leave the house with packing a bag.
- Field Notes — Perfect for sticking in coat pockets and writing haiku on the go.
- Field Notes Leather Holder—The one I got holds 3 Field Notes that I use for poetry.
- Craft Caddy—I have several variations of this. I love the ones that fold, but for many years, I used one with a very sturdy frame and it worked great in the car.
- Steering Wheel Desk—Best purchase I made during the pandemic when coffee shops weren’t an option. This helped me be able to write (or eat) in my parked car.
- Eddie Bauer Flannel Sherpa Throw—Mine looks a little different from this. I keep it in my car for writing in the car when it’s cold.
- Fingerless gloves ($3.00 at Target and cut off the fingertips)
Photography
I wrote a post about my macrophotography that explains how I use these things to write my daily haiku.
Digital Desk
I have a digital desk (where I use my computer) and an analog desk where I write by hand.
- Upright clipboard—I often do revisions by hand on paper. When I’m ready to type them back in, this comes in handy.
- Mem—I use this to keep track of mentor texts, my weekly plan, quarterly plans, and my blog posts.
- Canva—Essential for my weekly haiku sharing.
- Scrivener—I organize my research, my novels, and my poetry in Scrivener documents. By far, my favorite writing tool.
- Zotero—What I use for keeping track of my sources. I use the app and the Google Chrome Extension.
- Second monitor—I got used to having two monitors while teaching during the pandemic. Now it’s a nice addition to my digital desk.
- Bags to separate cords—When I travel to do presentations, I always carry a bag of dongles, my presentation remote, and extra batteries. I use these bags to help sort things.
- Cord organization (Container store)
Planning
- Leuchtterm for Bullet Journal/Planning—For more about my bullet journaling, see this page.
- Leuchtterm Reading Notebook —For more information about how I keep track of reading, see this post.
- Magnetic board for my ideas (Container Store)—I love seeing projects at a glance and where they are in the process.
- Washi Tape (Hitchcock Paper)—I use this to decorate and organize my quarterly plans.
- 12 Weeks for Writers—I’ve been using this process before the writing specific book came out, but I use many of the principles in this book for planning.
- Reporters Notebooks—I keep track of how much time I spend on projects. I write it down each day in these notebooks. Then each week, I total everything up. At the end of each month, I also do totals. Then I do it again at the end of the year. It’s really eye-opening to see if I’m really spending the majority of my time on important projects or if I’m doing writing-adjacent things.
- Librarian’s Date Stamp—We don’t stamp books anymore in my school library, but I love using this date stamp for my journals.