Lost in the Story

When I was in primary school I went to a talk and book reading by author Justin Somper, creator of the brilliant children book series – Vampirates. Even at the age of 10 I knew I wanted to become a writer myself meaning that little me was sitting on the edge of her seat desperate to take even every last drop of information this man (who had basically achieved god level status in younger me’s eyes) was going to share. 

Somper did a reading of the latest book in the series, I want to say it was Black Heart (a book that still proudly sits on my bookshelf over a decade later) and at the end he opened up the room for questions. 

I couldn’t tell you what any of the questions were exactly, it’s been over 15 years now since I sat in that assembly hall but I do remember a crucial bit of advice that shaped how I wrote and is still a practice that I follow to this day. 

---

Somper talked about the importance of carrying a notebook, something small that you can have on you at all times and use to jot down any ideas that may come to mind. It was such a small piece of advice that I probably would have tried eventually but because a real author had said it that was it – it had become gospel. 

Anyone who knows me in person knows I am a lover of all things notebook related and I’m only just realising that I might have Somper to blame for this.

I carried a notebook with me basically everywhere from that day forward, one came with me to school, car journeys, friends houses. It didn’t matter where I was going you could be sure I’d have a notebook on me and the times where I did forget one, well I just got another one. I was going to become a writer one day and there was no way I was letting myself be caught out with nothing to write down my amazing book idea when it eventually came. 

As I got to college age, got a job and had a little bit more responsibility in my life my notebook habits changed. There was this slow transition from carrying one for a book idea to using it as a bullet journal and to do lists. By the time I got to university I had fully moved away from bullet journaling and just had what in the journaling community calls an EDC, an everyday carry. It was a notebook that was catch all for notes, shopping list and to-do lists. 

Then it came time to write my book. 

---

At the time of those first conversations between myself and my publisher I had a concept and 25 poems… 25 poems is not enough to fill a whole book. 

I need to get to writing.

Empty Vessels was one long exercise in people watching. There was no sitting down at my desk to write, every poem was based on a person I had observed out and about and that meant inspiration truly struck at odd times. 

Slowly that notebook that was a glorified to do list became the home of over 70 first drafts of poems. Not one first draft was typed. I would see someone that I wanted to write about, pull out the notebook and word vomit on a page.

I’m a very analogue person, don’t get me wrong I adore technology but I’ve always preferred to write analogue. My creative practices are no different. Everything gets written by hand and then typed up later. I’ve never been able to master writing creatively directly onto my laptop.

I can say with certainty that without that notebook there would be no poetry collection. 

---

Whilst I’m not actively working on writing another book right now (though I’d love to in the future), I do still carry a notebook with me everywhere I go. I’m not out of the habit of people watching for poems so every now and then i’ll be out and about and see someone I just have to write into a poem and each time I am glad I have my notebook with me. 

It’s funny to look back and reflect on moments of your life. I often think back to that assembly and wonder what my writing practise would have been like if I hadn’t had been there that day.

So if you’re writing your own book, poetry or prose, I’ll give to you the same advice that was given to me. Carry a notebook with you, don’t rely on your brain to remember that amazing idea later on. I think we can all think of a time where we’ve been on the verge of sleep and you get the best idea ever and you promise yourself you’ll remember it by morning and write it down, only for morning to come and you have no idea what that thought was.

Do your writing practise a favour, keep a notebook with you. It doesn’t even have to be one. Keep one by the bed, have one in your bag.

Your ideas are far too great to be forgotten.

---

Interested in Empty Vessels?

To my fellow people watchers, these poems are for you. A tapestry of fleeting moments and unfamiliar souls we pass by each day. Through the years I’ve learned that if you sit and watch for long enough, people turn into strange phantoms you feel compelled to write poems about.