From Paper Obsession to Published Pages - How we write books as Stationery Freaks
How do two writers, bound by their devotion to beautiful stationery, actually write books?
Dear Stationery Freaks,
We hope you are doing well. Rob here with this newsletter.
We’ve launched another episode!
In this episode, we reveal our individual paths for writing a book, uncovering the shared foundation of paper-based ideation – the noodling, expanding, and connecting that begins on the page with our notebooks.
We’ll explore more on our process in this newsletter, as well as share some workflow diagrams, links to tools and some “show note” images.
You can listen to this new episode on writing books here.
Stationery Stories
This week’s stationery stories started with the fact there is a National Stationery Week!
We assume this is just in the UK - and tied to the London Stationery Show, which we said we’d try to attend……but failed.
Maybe next year.
After shopping for stationery in her own home (see this episode), Helen found some pens and started using them - then explains in this week’s cast why she’s now stopped!
I explain a new family supported project where all of my courses, books and work are going to move to; Creative Soul Projects!
My sons are joining me on this venture - and of course, they each needed a new notebook - so I added some Oxford Composition notebooks - to the existing 116 notebooks I have.
Listen to our previous episode on hoarding notebooks!
How we write books
In this new episode both Helen and I chat about how we write books.
We tend to vary in our use of stationery in interesting ways, however, when it comes to writing books, we’re not too far away from each other.
Ideation process
We chat about how we both start the ideation and creative process on paper.
Different paper and processes of course, but paper none-the-less.
Paper allows us to noodle our ideas, flesh stuff out, expand narratives or concepts, outline and iterate. We can see how things connect together, and what we chose to delete, scribble out or remove.
Helen tends to use A5 or B5 sized notebooks, which she finds the perfect size.
I use Yellow Legal Pads.
I also share how I tend to be writing (in my head) for many years before the words get put down on paper (or digital so to speak).
I share how I am a people watcher, observer and noticer (made a new word there). As such, I capture all of these observation notes (20k +) and they are stored in Apple Notes.
I tend to bring various interesting notes together which could become a book, or a character, or a chapter, or a video.
Writing
We then move into how we do the actual writing.
Helen uses Scrivener for her writing. A great tool and very flexible but with a steep learning curve. I use Lattics, Google Docs and MS Word for my workflow.
We chat about why we use these tools and how they help us.
Reviewing and Editing
We also then share our editing and proof reading process. Helen tends to use her Kindle, I tend to use paper (if the book is not too large) or my iPad so I can doodle with a pen.
Publishing
Helen is publishing short stories and snippets to her writing-pen website - we’ll share that soon!
I tend to self-publish (print and digital), and hence have a publishing workflow after finishing the manuscripts or book.
After it is ready, I jump into Affinity Publisher for desktop publishing ready for printing or launching on Creative Soul Projects.
Paper during writing
Helen shares about her writing classes and how she uses paper for these. Helen, interestingly, rarely uses paper whilst she’s writing, whilst I keep a Rhodia notebook by the side of me for actions, notes and insights whilst writing.
Writing tools we use:
Apple Notes (Rob)
Scrivener (Helen)
Lattics (Rob)
Google Docs (Rob)
MS Word (Rob)
Affinity Publisher (Rob)
Some process flows
What follows are two process flow diagrams, one for Helen’s workflow and one for my workflow.
Helen’s writing process.
Rob’s writing process.
Show notes
I was pondering the idea of show notes.
“Shows notes” is a term used in video / audio publishing to point people at notes related to the show - kind of like this newsletter; this newsletter is essentially the show note for this episode.
However, being stationery freaks, I did ponder whether you may want to see the real show notes - the notes I take as I edit each episode.
In a sense, they are the outline for this newsletter.
They’re here is this interests you.
Listen to the episode here for the nuanced details and personal insights about how two stationery freaks write books!
Thanks for reading
Until next time
Rob & Helen
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Love your show. Thank you!!
Delighted to discover your podcast a couple of weeks ago and steadily working my through the episodes since. Feels like I've found my tribe and I'm getting a vicarious thrill from your multiple stationary purchases although you are also responsible for several personal 'treats' of my own! Keep going as your efforts truly appreciated.