P.S. Six of My Favorite Notebooks on Substack
And six love notes
I love our community on Substack! Everyday, I open my inbox, and I’m presented with brilliant writing—honest, homespun writing.
As a p.s. to Monday’s post about the varieties of love notes, I thought I’d write some love notes of my own—about some of my favorite notebooks on Substack! I’m always thrilled whenever I get glimpses into the creative processes of some of Substack’s brilliant writers.
This post is only a start—there are so many fantastic notebooks on this site! I might have to do a Part 2 at some point.
These postscripts are usually pay-walled, but I’m keeping this one free so the love can travel further! If you look forward to reading Noted, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. It’s a great way to show your love and appreciation for my work!
1)
Austin is the king of notebooks! As the author of Show Your Work, Austin invites us into his process by posting images of his notes. I love many things about Austin’s notebooks, least of which is how much fun he has with his materials. His notebooks look like creative playgrounds. And that imaginative energy makes them works of art in themselves. Don’t believe me? Check out his logbook, his diary and his commonplace diary.
Spend more time with Austin’s notebooks at his personal substack:
2)
Caroline is an exquisitely lyrical writer. Her sentences sparkle with humor and insight. I often read her work and think—how did she come up with that sentence? As part of her writing practice, Caroline keeps two notebooks. One is a diary/commonplace book to collect thoughts and quotations:
The other, a Levenger, contains notes for Substack posts. As she publishes her essays, she can move the notes around.
Read more of Caroline’s beautiful writing at
.3)
Sometimes I’ll look at crowds in NYC and wonder how Nishant Jain would illustrate them. He makes gorgeous pieces of art by observing the world around him. And he’s just become a new father (congratulations Nishant!); naturally, he took his notebook to the hospital to document his son, Rohan’s, first days:
I can’t imagine a better way to document these special moments. It just communicates so much more than a photograph. . .of course, most of us don’t have Nishant’s talent. As I read Nishant’s post, I imagined the day when Rohan is old enough to read through these notebooks. What a special gift to give a child!
See more of Nishant’s notebooks at
.4)
I love artists’ notebooks because they are often breathtakingly gorgeous! As an example, consider B.A. Lampman’s notes. Just look at how she decorates the cover of her planners:
I gave a talk this week and a student asked me if the outside of a notebook reflects what’s inside. What an amazing question! My mind immediately went to B.A. Lampman’s covers.
See more of B.A. Lampman’s art at
.5)
When I first read Wintering, it never dawned on me that I might one day learn about Katherine May’s notebooks! This was before I knew about Substack—before I found some of my favorite writers here. Katherine actually published an entire post devoted to writer’s notebooks. Her reflections on note-taking are as lyrical and useful as you’d expect.
Katherine explains that she doesn’t let others go through her notebooks—it’s a way to protect the space because our writing changes when we know we’ll have an audience. As much as I’d love to read through all of Katherine’s notebooks, I’d rather she produce more gorgeous, life-altering books. So I say: keep your notebooks private, Katherine!
Read more of Katherine May’s writing at
.6)
Helen Sword is another favorite writer who inspired my writing practices for over a decade. If you haven’t read her latest—Writing with Pleasure—do yourself a favor and pick it up. The book injected some much needed levity into my own writing process. It also affirmed my suspicion that part of joyful writing comes from enjoying one’s tools. And I love writing by hand in notebooks. As it turns out, so does Helen.
She recently published a post on crafting Writing with Pleasure and shared some of her notes. They are colorful and so fun!
I also adore Helen’s game for making email more enjoyable: turn it into a coloring exercise and chart different aspects of your email exchanges. For example, how many people did each message go to?)
See more of Helen’s delightful notes at
.I know I’ve left out some brilliant note-takers! So let me know in the comment section whose notes you admire!
P.S. Last year I interviewed some of my favorite people on Substack. Check out my post on Michael Estrin, Alex Dobrenko, Anne Kadet, and Jane Ratcliffe.
I am delighted to see this, some of the best newsletters being recommended in one of the best newsletters. This is how it's supposed to work and the shape of it feels like a beautifully written page of a notebook, connecting everything together perfectly.
I have nothing more to say except maybe a shout-out for Anna Brones and Candace Rose Rardon, both doing beautiful things in notebooky ways.
Thank you for understanding my hard notebook boundaries! Though I must admit, I do love seeing my pile of notebooks in your newsletter, with is one of my absolute favourites :)