My name is Michelle and I am a notebook-er. I connect with myself and with the world around me first through the pages of my notebook. It’s no wonder...I’ve kept a notebook for over thirty years. I opened my first notebook in 1982 and it started me on a journey that I could have never imagined.
It’s a journey I want to share with the world. Notebooks saved my life. (Ok, maybe a bit dramatic, but there’s quite a lot of truth in it.) My notebook is a companion, a friend, a place where I can be wrong and silly and wrong again and there’s no judgment. My notebook accompanies me to all sorts of places I’d rather not be. It gives me an escape, no matter where I am. I untangle the world, my world, in the pages of my notebook.
It’s not pretty...well, sometimes it’s pretty...colorful pens and all. Over the years I have learned some lessons about notebook-ing. Here are a few words of advice...Give yourself permission for your notebook to be just for you. Maybe down the road, you’ll share a page or an excerpt with a trusted friend but the intended audience should be for you. It’s more freeing that way. Allow yourself, invite yourself to be truthful and authentic and raw. You’ll be surprised at what erupts from your pens.
Commit to writing something, even if it’s just a line, in your notebook on most days. Habit builds writers. My notebook holds everything from to-do lists to poems to diary-like entries to learning from a book or a conference. I love to use my notebook to reflect on my day in the classroom. Looking back helps me grow and learn and often laugh.
Find a notebook that speaks to you. Right now, I prefer hardbound sketchbooks. The pages are sturdy and beautifully blank. I use my favorite pens and markers to fill the pages with my thoughts and plans and ideas. Find just the right writing utensil too!
Time in my notebook is reflection and relaxation and growth. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without my notebooks. Please find a notebook, a good pen, and note the world around you in the pages of your own notebook. Consider this your invitation...
Michelle Haseltine spends her days with middle schoolers in Loudoun County, VA. Together they write, read, think, and create every single day. Michelle is a co-facilitator of our #TeachWrite twitter chat and a Teacher Consultant with the Northern Virginia Writing Project. She blogs regularly at One Grateful Teacher and Your Story Matters. Michelle tweets regularly at @Mhaseltine and instagrams at @Mhaselti
I always love taking a peek into your notebooks. But you are so right. It's private. It's for you. I love that in mine I can write and think whatever I want. There is no right or wrong
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