the online writers notebook

the online writers notebook

The Online Writer’s Notebook: Enhancing Creativity and Productivity

1. Introduction to the Online Writer’s Notebook

In writer’s circles, discussion has lamented the rise of electronic note-taking, claiming that the process “tabulates experience more than assists thinking” and that our lists and scanned notes rarely become more than pragmatic records. However, also acknowledging that if we are to embrace protocols of “absorption, elaboration, and generation,” we must in turn remember “our felt experience of dealing with ideas” to promote and encourage a broader environment of creativity and innovation, the most successful approach may be to combine various components of tradition and practicum, practice and skill, theory and application. And if the writer’s notebook is to assist us in enhancing our creativity, imagination, and productivity, we must extend it beyond an economical and distressing attempt to master organization. Since the late 18th century, when the tradition of commonplace books began to wane, the basic utility of the simple writer’s notebook has emerged in various forms for almost two centuries.

Welcome to the ancillary page for Writing and the Electronic Writer’s Notebook! To supplement the many powerful arguments put forth in this article, I would like to focus on the simplest tool that many of us use to enhance our creativity and productivity every day, one that is culled from the millennia-old writer’s tradition. Writers have long sorted through their observations in commonplace books. The Electronic Writer’s Notebook advances this tradition. In the latest version of the Online Writer’s Notebook, digital note-taking allows me to combine different elements of my experience; combining twelve different drafts addresses only “a slice of the author’s life” and only “a part of the seam of that slice.”

2. Benefits of Using an Online Writer’s Notebook

If you are a writer who has chosen to go digital (at least with your idea notebook), then you have access to a number of potential advantages. Consequently, you can work because you instantly have access to anything you could possibly want to learn or include in what you can write. Importantly, “not only would I not get stuck (since I always have a cornucopia of ideas in my back pocket!),” McNerney writes, “but my writing was also more creative, since I could combine ideas from different books and blogs in new ways.” Some people like Mawson are willing to just keep a list or a simple note on their computer of those ideas or notes they may want to use in their blogs or essays. They do not hesitate to consult that list whenever they need a fresh idea. In so doing, they may also be able to save their favorite sources and notes from their “writing idea cache” to a file on their computer hard drive.

One excellent option for creating a notebook and keeping it with you at all times these days is to do so online. In addition to the commonplace writing apps like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, other web apps and cloud-based tools have become indispensable for many writers who place high value on ever-present, always perfect digital notebooks. The best of these apps include Evernote, OneNote, Apple Notes, and Dropbox Paper (which meets and fills a similar niche as Google Docs).

3. Tips and Techniques for Effective Usage

Make embedded comments and create questions. Also link to specific research notes. Think beyond text. Photograph experiences, people, architectural layouts, and artifacts visited in the service of the project. Link from something already written to the image it includes by embedding a hyperlink in the first rendition of the words that describes the notation such as “click here for a visual.” Overwrite notes you are ready to discard with new content. Use published options when categorizing notes. Even if the portable word processor is close at hand, jot down thoughts or other useful info without it. Try outlining/timeline productivity features. Transform an outlined set of notes once in the notebook into a visual timeline (with images added).

Structure your notebook. As ideas are written, they can be assigned tags (a single keyword or short phrase organizing information such as character study or ideas for suspense) and assigned to one of several categories. Going beyond the notebook. Add reminders to your research and action items. Setting reminders for all aspects of the notebook to arrive via email is a quick way to use the notebook to prompt the return to research materials put away and set aside months ago for a much-needed break. Link to produced texts. Hyperlink the title when a reported piece appears on the web improve the odds that a web search for what to call a piece produces that previously considered title, even if the document is not found.

An online writer’s notebook serves as an essential partner to help capture, develop, and refine ideas as well as to harness loose ends and research. While not comprehensive, the following tips and techniques may help ensure the most effective use of an online writer’s notebook – especially in relation to the swift capture of personal experiences and sensory details.

The tips and techniques

4. Innovative Tools and Apps for Online Note-taking

Evernote and OneNote are some of the most widely accessed, versatile, and effective note management software options available. That being said, there are many tools developed specifically for writers, educators, or creative individuals. Many of these apps help writers track their daily writing goals, manage editing tasks, or even organize storyboards and other creative work. Two of the most universally beloved of these writing-centered applications are Scrivener and LitLift. Ultimately, the best tool for your writing is a matter of personal preference. Rather than spending your time trying every note management tool, consider choosing an option that appeals to your own needs, your typical method of note-taking, and your daily schedule. Each option welcomes you to sign up for a free trial in order to ascertain its fit for your daily writing needs. A final option combines the tracking and organization of writing software without any of the bells and whistles of other specialized writing apps. If you have a note manager you already like, consider tracking your daily writing and organizing manuscripts in Trello. Each list on Trello can represent a project, and individual cards in these lists can include any kind of note or deadline you need.

Of all the apps and software programs available for digital note-taking and online organization, there are several stand-out tools that have been named time and time again. In this section, we’ll take a brief look at some of the most trusted and specialized of these technological options. Then, when you’re ready to record your thoughts in a more orderly fashion, you can try incorporating some of these digital tools into your free-writing routine.

5. Case Studies and Success Stories

One woman used her OWL in November 2004 to write a novel in 30 days as part of National Novel Writing Month. She has found that it has helped her to be more creative and more organized. “I love having everything all in one place, all the info for my characters, world, other info… And I always worry that I’m going to lose my story journal, but now it’s all saved online. It’s like a mini-dream come true. Or mini-geekery. I love it!” Another woman-run online serial had difficulty with a few of her OWLs. Some were on free or discount-based servers that went out of business. She lost the brainstorming for the storyline of one of her projects, then switched to a free website, and lost that material as well. A novel she had worked on for 3 years and had 100 pages of research and handwritten notes vanished when she left it on a bus. She has no difficulty “starting over from scratch” since she loves the projects she works on, “but the ideas leave me never to return.” She finds something as simple as an OWL can help your entertainment ideas stay alive.

Bolker (1998) introduces a famous case study into the effective use of a physical notebook for aspiring writers. Unfortunately, the television movie that was made to tell the story was completely fictitious. Fortunately, the Online Writer’s Notebook research has many success stories. Here are a few of them: