I love your writing style, Alicia. In my opinion there are only three kinds of tea worth bothering with: English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast (if you need a huge boot to the system) and Assam, which is like English Breakfast with malt.
As for notebooks, I too have tons of them with just a few pages used. But I don't throw them away. I also pride myself on having acquired enough pens and notebooks from conferences that I could open a stationery shop.
Anyway, I like your approach. I definitely find that music affects what I write, and the tone of the piece. My favourite musical tipple while writing is jazz funk.
Oh thank you, Terry! I needed a pick me up tonight after nearly wrecking my car on country roads and running around in search of a last minute tree in the rain — and your kind comments more than delivered. So glad you enjoyed the piece :)
Thank you so much for this opportunity to guest post, Mary! You reached out to me when I was a bit of a rut of my own, distracted by life and all the obligations that go with it, and gave me the inspiration to get back out there. So appreciative.
Thank you, Mary, for hosting and thank you, Alicia, for "guesting" your post your 11/17 post. I feel I have gotten my money's worth from the small 3.5x5.5 Moleskine pocket-'size booklet' for my travel companion. I've come to feel more naked without it than without my smartphone. It's great for on-the-run and more discrete note taking.
My other tool is the 7.5x9.5 "dime-store" wide-ruled 100-sheet school composition book I can pick up on sale for a couple bucks at the local Target or CVS. The composition book helps me get down in long hand those very rough draft thoughts that eventually make it onto my computer screen and into more refined and multi-refined versions from there.
Phil, you and I are similar - I can't be without my notebook, and if I had to leave either my phone or my notebook behind, I'd choose to leave the phone in favour of the notebook!
I start most of my writing projects with the notes I've scribbed in my pocket notebook, and then, like you, I switch to a larger notebook for my draft thoughts. It's only once I get the bones down that I open up the computer. If I write directly on the computer I get so, so lost - I need the process of putting pen to paper!
LOL - I was just about to say hi to Phil and compare notes on notebooks and then this reply with my name on it popped up!!! Hi Mary, and thanks for a great post and a much-appreciated mention!!!
When I first started using a pocket notebook I found it really hard because it's so small! Now I turn it 90 degrees so I've got a bigger page to work on, albeit with a fold across the middle - it's been life-changing!
I love this! So true. I used to write in those black-n-white composition notebooks feverishly at cafes in San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Manhattan, etc. Hours and hours and hours of scribbling. Stories, autobiography, essays, etc. And tea!! Yes! I quit coffee a little before I got sober in 2010. All about the tea--Irish Breakfast in the morning, peppermint and Chamomile in the eve. There’s truly nothing like sitting down to write at home or coffee shop with tea near by and literary determination in your heart. I loved the line about wandering over in CVS to the moleskins and pens like stink bugs. We writers are a different breed. We really are. Eavesdropping and writing it down for the win 🥇
I used to scribble all over San Francisco too!! My writing spot there was a French wine bar, Rouge et Blanc. Just adjacent to Café de la Presse. I think it's called Harlem Place now. But back when it was French, I would go there quite often. Fell hard for a gorgeous French bartender who broke my heart and one too many pours of Hilltop Cabernet exacerbated the pain ten-fold. Definitely learned the hard way that "write drunk, edit sober" is not particularly great advice, ha.
Haha!! Nice! I used to go to a few cafes in SF: Java Beach down at 48/Judah; a couple cafes in North Beach; one or two in the Mission; etc. Good memories. Ha: I tried writing while drinking in my twenties a lot; couldn’t do it!! It was all gibberish in the morning!
I love your writing style, Alicia. In my opinion there are only three kinds of tea worth bothering with: English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast (if you need a huge boot to the system) and Assam, which is like English Breakfast with malt.
As for notebooks, I too have tons of them with just a few pages used. But I don't throw them away. I also pride myself on having acquired enough pens and notebooks from conferences that I could open a stationery shop.
Anyway, I like your approach. I definitely find that music affects what I write, and the tone of the piece. My favourite musical tipple while writing is jazz funk.
Thanks again for a hugely enjoyable read.
Oh thank you, Terry! I needed a pick me up tonight after nearly wrecking my car on country roads and running around in search of a last minute tree in the rain — and your kind comments more than delivered. So glad you enjoyed the piece :)
Omg be careful, Alicia, country roads are more dangerous, in Britain at least, than motorways.
I love Alicia's voice as well -- and your delicious comment, Terry!
Thanks for hosting her post, cos I might not have come across her otherwise. I've just had to subscribe to her newsletter.
POS —key ingredient to making the Stash tea sing is to add a dash of nutmeg! Yummy!~Emily
Great idea, Emily! You've got cute covered. 💕 --Mary
Oooh a dash of nutmeg! Never thought of adding nutmeg to tea. Can’t wait to try!
PS —I learned a-lot. Notebooks, pens, eve-dropping…tea!! Stash’s Double Bergamot Earl Gray is a fav!! ~Emily
Oh, Emily, so glad you read and love your comment. xo Mary
Thank you Mary and Alicia!! ⭐️👍🤩
Thank you so much for reading, Emily!! Lots of love to you xoxoxoxo
What a delightful post - thank you Mary and Alicia for a lovely read! 😊
Thank you, Rebecca!!
Thank you so much for this opportunity to guest post, Mary! You reached out to me when I was a bit of a rut of my own, distracted by life and all the obligations that go with it, and gave me the inspiration to get back out there. So appreciative.
Thank you, Mary, for hosting and thank you, Alicia, for "guesting" your post your 11/17 post. I feel I have gotten my money's worth from the small 3.5x5.5 Moleskine pocket-'size booklet' for my travel companion. I've come to feel more naked without it than without my smartphone. It's great for on-the-run and more discrete note taking.
My other tool is the 7.5x9.5 "dime-store" wide-ruled 100-sheet school composition book I can pick up on sale for a couple bucks at the local Target or CVS. The composition book helps me get down in long hand those very rough draft thoughts that eventually make it onto my computer screen and into more refined and multi-refined versions from there.
Phil Church
Phil, you and I are similar - I can't be without my notebook, and if I had to leave either my phone or my notebook behind, I'd choose to leave the phone in favour of the notebook!
I start most of my writing projects with the notes I've scribbed in my pocket notebook, and then, like you, I switch to a larger notebook for my draft thoughts. It's only once I get the bones down that I open up the computer. If I write directly on the computer I get so, so lost - I need the process of putting pen to paper!
"Pen to paper" -- a phrase worth saving for all writers! xo Mary
Hi, Phil and so glad to see you here in comments. In case you missed this guest post by Rebecca Holden who writes Dear Reader, I'm lost, here it is with photos of both our journals: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/lets-journal-the-writing-process xo Mary
LOL - I was just about to say hi to Phil and compare notes on notebooks and then this reply with my name on it popped up!!! Hi Mary, and thanks for a great post and a much-appreciated mention!!!
Thank you, Phil! Oh, I've never tried the pocket size booklet. Now you're tempting me.
When I first started using a pocket notebook I found it really hard because it's so small! Now I turn it 90 degrees so I've got a bigger page to work on, albeit with a fold across the middle - it's been life-changing!
I love this! So true. I used to write in those black-n-white composition notebooks feverishly at cafes in San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Manhattan, etc. Hours and hours and hours of scribbling. Stories, autobiography, essays, etc. And tea!! Yes! I quit coffee a little before I got sober in 2010. All about the tea--Irish Breakfast in the morning, peppermint and Chamomile in the eve. There’s truly nothing like sitting down to write at home or coffee shop with tea near by and literary determination in your heart. I loved the line about wandering over in CVS to the moleskins and pens like stink bugs. We writers are a different breed. We really are. Eavesdropping and writing it down for the win 🥇
✍️✍️✍️
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Great comment, Michael and loved your guest post, too, in case anyone missed it: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/michael-mohr-interviews xo Mary
I used to scribble all over San Francisco too!! My writing spot there was a French wine bar, Rouge et Blanc. Just adjacent to Café de la Presse. I think it's called Harlem Place now. But back when it was French, I would go there quite often. Fell hard for a gorgeous French bartender who broke my heart and one too many pours of Hilltop Cabernet exacerbated the pain ten-fold. Definitely learned the hard way that "write drunk, edit sober" is not particularly great advice, ha.
Here's to tea!!
Haha!! Nice! I used to go to a few cafes in SF: Java Beach down at 48/Judah; a couple cafes in North Beach; one or two in the Mission; etc. Good memories. Ha: I tried writing while drinking in my twenties a lot; couldn’t do it!! It was all gibberish in the morning!
Alicia, we want that story of the French bartender! and love your comment and your adorable, smart post. xo Mary
Great advice, thanks Alicia.
Thank you!
Love it. I so agree. I frequent coffeeshops like a little spy.
I'm for spying and kleptomania :)! xo Mary
They're the best!