Why you always need a notebook

29 Aug Why you always need a notebook

This week I’ve been out bush in the Northern Territory. Out in the heat (36 degrees), in the gritty red dirt, feeling the sun’s bristling rays. For 9 days I unplugged – no phone, no internet: bliss.

The first couple of days I was exhausted in the way you often are at the beginning of a holiday. I felt depleted.

But by day 3, I found myself seeking out my notebook. I always carry a small, slim Moleskin. I write my own short-hand. It’s messy & full of words crossed out. Sometimes I try to sketch what I’m seeing. Other times I make lists.

At the end of my break away, the notebook was full. Here’s a few things I jotted down:

Descriptions of the landscape:

‘Everywhere turkey bush, pink now, will turn purple. Boab trees with indents like a tummy button, smooth to touch, ridged and patterned.’

Phrases from the locals:

Tessa Atte, an Aboriginal guide, in Litchfield National Park, ‘In town my people are boned-out. Makes me sad. After 10 days out bush, eating bush tucker, they get all shinny again.’

My feelings:

‘Getting filled up again. The drifting Milky Way above. Such an amazing world.’

Wherever you go, always carry a notebook. You never know when inspiration might come. Roald Dahl wrote his ideas down straightaway, before he could forget them.

Here’s 10 things you can write in yours.

1. Observations
2. Fragments of conversation
3. Funny moments
4. Bodily responses
5. What surprises you
6. What mystifies you
7. Quotes from books that you like
8. Story ideas
9. Descriptions of places & people
10. Random phrases

So go on, share what you like to scribble …