Latest Notebooks & Sketchbooks Inspiration

I have many different notebooks, but I thought to share some that have helped me with my upcoming poetry book PONDERING REFLECTIONS. These notebooks, or what I like to call them journals, are featured above.

@whitneyhansonpoetry’s In Poetry We Say journal has inspired the most poems lately. The prompts in the journal led me to realize what I needed to focus on for PONDERING REFLECTIONS. I started to notice that I kept writing a somewhat bitter version of what the prompt was. I love when I can change prompts to make them work for my writing.

@inqlife & @passionplanner’s The Never Ending Now Poetry Journal has helped, but not as much. It could be just because it hasn’t connected with my book’s theme. Maybe another book theme would work better. While @littleearthflower’s Nourish Your Temple poetry journal works better with my poetry book’s theme, it hasn’t tapped into it as much. I look forward to using these journals more for future inspiration.

The other journals don’t have prompts, but I have used them to write poetry and story ideas, writing notes, and anything that might want to remember. The pocket size one helps where ever I am to keep track of anything I don’t want to forget. I also use my iPhone’s journal and note apps to keep track of ideas too.

If anything is written by hand, I have to transfer to digital for publication. I found it helps sometimes to write by hand first, even in cursive, but other times I type things out first. It’s all up to what I need at the moment to inspire my writing. I’ve even typed out some poems on my dad’s typewriter before typing the words into a Google doc.

The sketchbooks, featured above, have been useful for me when I can’t find the words but I want to be creative. I’m thankful to have found creating art when I was struggling to write during my chemotherapy treatments in 2022 and 2023. Radiation therapy, in 2023, impacted me as much, but not mentally. I have found myself coming back to making art, but I’ve always been interested in art. All kinds of art. I’m thankful that @sdionbakerdesign has inspired me to sketch my day and my world.

NOTE: I’ve included Instagram handles to give credit, but also hopefully lead you to follow these amazing creators.