My notes app is similar but nothing lives there too long. I treat it like a waiting room, where the thoughts live as they come to me before they get sent to where they need to go. Sometimes it is a Substack volume, sometimes the document that holds all my joke ideas sitting there marinating, sometimes the piece of paper that lists things I might like to draw one day, sometimes a scene in the novel, sometimes scribbled into the front of my recovery book.
When they start to live there too long in my notes with my admin and to-do's I get anxious "Where will this live?" and I force myself to find it a home or forget it and I do not know why I treat them this way, but I do.
I use it as a writing room too--but I keep everything in it. So it’s a whole bunch of different writing projects in my life. Quite fun to look through at times.
I really loved this Lindsey (had to rewrite this, as a fellow Lyndsay I couldn’t bear that I spelt your name wrong!!) and I totally relate to the experience of being scattered into pieces during a day of mothering/writing etc and the need to gather back together. The Notes app is essential for recording thoughts that I want to pin down before they escape me, however in my case my usage is quite haphazard. Feeling the need to gather my Notes as well as myself within them...
Thanks so much, Lyndsay! I could definitely benefit from some sort of organizational system within my Notes app, too. But I kind of love the wildness of it!
Oh I love this and yes, my Notes app is stuffed full of quotes, random words, half constructed sentences that come to me, normally when I'm walking Bella on the moor. It's fertile breeding ground for random thoughts and ideas, the sort that tend to get stuck in between the washing up and my desk at home where things can feel so constrained. I walk to clear my head, shake the ideas out and what comes out goes into my Notes app (along with photos too)
I didn't know there was a Notes App Poets Club Lindsey! The saving grace of being able to snatch pieces of language from your phone + not face a blank page. This was beautiful xo
I am absolutely a Notes app poet and love peeking into how other people organize and track and capture their thoughts. Sometimes I even leave myself voice memos, when it feels inconvenient to type everything out (when I'm driving) but I cringe when I listen to them.
Some of my latest Notes:
"When I look at Sirius, I am looking at light that left the star when I was 31 years old" //
"poem about being an apex predator" //
"once, he told me to never apologize for leaving pieces of myself behind. he was referring to my hair of course, but it meant so much more." //
"hike, October. I'm following a river of dirt as I climb steadily. I'm thinking about rivers, and endings. A bench I pass by has a memorial, it says 'I'll always be dancing in and out of time.' I'm thinking about ritual, about what I need to nurture my artistic impulse, how the seeds are planted, the right combination of attention and neglect."
This was so, so lovely and the perfect companion to the commonplace book workshop. Thanks to you my Notes app has been reclaimed (or rewilded?) as my commonplace book (may a synced cloud keep me from losing it or giving up!). In diving back into my Notes app, I found a seven year old poem-ish-thing that ultimately became an essay I published last month, and it was so cool to reconnect with 2016 me in that little moment of rediscovery.
My notes app hardly gets used but when it is used it's usually because I have been struck by a scene and I'm scared I'm going to lose it so I just type it out while I'm walking (I'm almost always in the woods when this happens). I also periodically delete all of my notes and start afresh. However, there is one from 2016 that will stand the test of time until I can actually put it to use because it's a future book dedication
I am a secret notes app poet. I LOVE going back through them all. Quite fun. Little inside jokes with myself in there; possible fiction books to write, recipes to try, anything.
I am also a voice notes writer -- a whole other animal!
Love your lists concept to use there for fast reference. I haven't used lists in awhile but they can be so helpful. Lists of words I love and lists for titles of things is something I do come back to often.
And finally, I absolutely loved reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed :)
Well, I just start talking through an idea or something I am thinking about. I may do this in a series of voice notes. Then, I re-listen and write it out into a draft… then revise :)
I started doing this when I was finishing my bachelors degree to help myself remember what I was reading.. was faster than writing notes!
I just love this so much! I never knew I could feel so seen when reading another’s relationship with the Notes app. I desperately want to always have an actual piece of paper with me and pen my latest wonder, but, alas, the convenience of the app keeps me writing when I least expect it, and for that I am grateful.
Oh, the notes list of middle-of-the-night book ideas! I wrote one that simply said ‘aliens’ (??)
It sounds like yours might be a little more coherent!
Absolutely not. I'm looking at one right now that says "book notes: what if it's Victorian?" What if WHAT'S Victorian?
Aren’t those the best though??!!! 🤣
LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS!
My notes app is similar but nothing lives there too long. I treat it like a waiting room, where the thoughts live as they come to me before they get sent to where they need to go. Sometimes it is a Substack volume, sometimes the document that holds all my joke ideas sitting there marinating, sometimes the piece of paper that lists things I might like to draw one day, sometimes a scene in the novel, sometimes scribbled into the front of my recovery book.
When they start to live there too long in my notes with my admin and to-do's I get anxious "Where will this live?" and I force myself to find it a home or forget it and I do not know why I treat them this way, but I do.
Notes app as waiting room! LAUREN. Oh gosh, do I love this.
🧡🧡🧡
I use it as a writing room too--but I keep everything in it. So it’s a whole bunch of different writing projects in my life. Quite fun to look through at times.
Reading this is soul-soothing, momentarily bathed in serenity (minus the epsom salts).
Thanks so much, Amie!
I really loved this Lindsey (had to rewrite this, as a fellow Lyndsay I couldn’t bear that I spelt your name wrong!!) and I totally relate to the experience of being scattered into pieces during a day of mothering/writing etc and the need to gather back together. The Notes app is essential for recording thoughts that I want to pin down before they escape me, however in my case my usage is quite haphazard. Feeling the need to gather my Notes as well as myself within them...
Thanks so much, Lyndsay! I could definitely benefit from some sort of organizational system within my Notes app, too. But I kind of love the wildness of it!
Oh I love this and yes, my Notes app is stuffed full of quotes, random words, half constructed sentences that come to me, normally when I'm walking Bella on the moor. It's fertile breeding ground for random thoughts and ideas, the sort that tend to get stuck in between the washing up and my desk at home where things can feel so constrained. I walk to clear my head, shake the ideas out and what comes out goes into my Notes app (along with photos too)
Writing in your Notes app while WALKING ON THE MOOR is next-level. I'm so jealous!
I’m so lucky to have it on my doorstep. We used to live 5 mins from the beach but swapped it for moorland six years ago. Incredibly lucky!
I didn't know there was a Notes App Poets Club Lindsey! The saving grace of being able to snatch pieces of language from your phone + not face a blank page. This was beautiful xo
Notes App Poets Forever 💘
I am absolutely a Notes app poet and love peeking into how other people organize and track and capture their thoughts. Sometimes I even leave myself voice memos, when it feels inconvenient to type everything out (when I'm driving) but I cringe when I listen to them.
Some of my latest Notes:
"When I look at Sirius, I am looking at light that left the star when I was 31 years old" //
"poem about being an apex predator" //
"once, he told me to never apologize for leaving pieces of myself behind. he was referring to my hair of course, but it meant so much more." //
"hike, October. I'm following a river of dirt as I climb steadily. I'm thinking about rivers, and endings. A bench I pass by has a memorial, it says 'I'll always be dancing in and out of time.' I'm thinking about ritual, about what I need to nurture my artistic impulse, how the seeds are planted, the right combination of attention and neglect."
Oh, I love these, Hannah! (Sounds like we had similar October hikes, thinking about ritual!)
What an incredible ritual to recenter.. Thank you for sharing 🤍
Thanks for reading, Cecilia!
This was so, so lovely and the perfect companion to the commonplace book workshop. Thanks to you my Notes app has been reclaimed (or rewilded?) as my commonplace book (may a synced cloud keep me from losing it or giving up!). In diving back into my Notes app, I found a seven year old poem-ish-thing that ultimately became an essay I published last month, and it was so cool to reconnect with 2016 me in that little moment of rediscovery.
My notes app hardly gets used but when it is used it's usually because I have been struck by a scene and I'm scared I'm going to lose it so I just type it out while I'm walking (I'm almost always in the woods when this happens). I also periodically delete all of my notes and start afresh. However, there is one from 2016 that will stand the test of time until I can actually put it to use because it's a future book dedication
“I pick up my phone, and I go, like Emily Dickinson, out with lanterns looking for myself.”
I have been an avid user of the notes app since it began. My whole life is in 4 running entries.
Ohh! Are the four entries different categories? So intriguing!
1 is strictly quotes from others, the top quote always stays there unless unseated, right now it’s a thread from the great vix trader Omer on karma
https://x.com/omerrozen_/status/1617383281724649472?s=46
2 is my own writing
3 is self reflective/improvements etc stuff I want out of myself and am I doing it? holding myself accountable
4 is administrative like a movie I want to watch or specific place to visit, it gets erased once done
Wow, I love this! Thanks so much for sharing.
I am a secret notes app poet. I LOVE going back through them all. Quite fun. Little inside jokes with myself in there; possible fiction books to write, recipes to try, anything.
So much possibility in the Notes app!
I am 100% a notes app writer and poet :p
I am also a voice notes writer -- a whole other animal!
Love your lists concept to use there for fast reference. I haven't used lists in awhile but they can be so helpful. Lists of words I love and lists for titles of things is something I do come back to often.
And finally, I absolutely loved reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed :)
I've never tried writing in voice notes! What's that experience like?
Well, I just start talking through an idea or something I am thinking about. I may do this in a series of voice notes. Then, I re-listen and write it out into a draft… then revise :)
I started doing this when I was finishing my bachelors degree to help myself remember what I was reading.. was faster than writing notes!
I just love this so much! I never knew I could feel so seen when reading another’s relationship with the Notes app. I desperately want to always have an actual piece of paper with me and pen my latest wonder, but, alas, the convenience of the app keeps me writing when I least expect it, and for that I am grateful.