I know many writers never go anywhere without a notebook. It’s the classic writers’ accessory. We’ve all seen them, jotting down something they’ve heard or seen, capturing thoughts and material for the future, and thought, ‘Ah, a writer. A proper writer.’ It’s like wearing a badge.
But today not everyone has a notebook. I keep notes too, but digital ones instead. I find getting a notebook out of my bag and then fishing around for a pen that’s not there kills the moment. I now use my phone, and send myself emails with whichever relevant thought has seized me, or to make sure I remember something that could be useful for whatever I’m working on at the time.
It probably looks as if I’m checking my social media, or responding to an alert, and passersby no doubt think I’m rather sad: I mean, why bend over a smart phone when the cherry blossoms are so seductive, and the trees are coming into leaf. Why look at a screen when I could be looking at the world.
Except I’m not lost in checking the news, or my emails. I’m working, but on the hoof, whether walking, sitting on a bus, or waiting in a queue. Besides, I can text faster than I can write, my phone will always be handier than any notebook could be, and my handwriting is so appalling I would be hard put to read a hurried scrawl in any case.
It also helps me ‘nail’ a thought on the spot. We all know the feeling – ‘I had this brilliant idea, but I can’t remember what it was.' This way I can record the ideas at the time, to be used or deleted later on, and the anxiety avoided. I don’t have to worry about whether I’ve remembered the notebook. My phone does notebook duty instead.
And if I wake up in the middle of the night with a brainwave, I reach for the phone again so I can relax once more and go back to sleep. Anything rather than waking in the morning and trying in vain to recall what the brainwave was.
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