In the comments to my last entry, Pooks asked, “What is a Moleskine?”

The quick answer is, “It’s a notebook.”

The longer answer is, “It’s a notebook with great paper and a envelope on the back cover and an oilskin cover and a sewn binding and the whole thing is kept tightly shut with an elastic band that makes a satisfying snap as you close your notebook for the day after a session of fantastic writing and it’s an object of adoration for quite a few people out there who would rather pay an outrageous sum for a beautiful, useful object like this than a dollar-ninety-seven for a cheap spiral-bound notebook at the drugstore (not that there’s anything wrong with dollar-ninety-seven cheap spiral-bound notebooks if that’s what you like).”

You can pick the style of notebook that’s best for you. First of all, there’s the large (13x21cm) and the small (9x14cm). Then you can choose whether you want blank, squared, ruled, or sketchbook paper. There are also the Moleskine diaries — week at a glance, or a page-per-day. And there are the new Moleskines: the music book and the storyboard book. There’s also something Moleskine sells that is three thin books in one package — there’s no oilskin cover, no elastic band, what’s the point?

The Moleskine notebook lies flat on the table, waiting for you to write or sketch something brilliant in it. The acid-free paper is fantastic for writing on. Cheap paper is rough, an impediment to the ballpoint. But Moleskine paper is smooth and lets your hand fly across the page. It has that pocket in back, so you can keep receipts, movie tickets, love notes on cocktail napkins, photos of loved ones. And no matter how much you jam in that pocket, that elastic band around the notebook is going to keep the whole kit-and-kaboodle together — you won’t lose anything.

Each Moleskine comes with a page of what is undoubtedly overblown (or outright made up) propaganda from the manufacturer about the great authors who have used Moleskine notebooks. Who cares? The notebook itself is all the inducement you need to keep using them.

I first read about Moleskine fanaticism on Metafilter. There is a fan site, not to mention a variety of fan groups on sites like Orkut. There are pages with tips on how to get the most out of your Moleskine. You can find them at Barnes and Noble and Borders now, or you can buy them in bulk.

I myself now prefer the large blank page edition, although if I ever start carrying my big handbag again, I may have to pick up a small notebook to tuck in there for special occasions. I am considering buying one of the new storyboard books, just to see what it’s like. I think that would be something I’d use when fleshing out a screenplay though — what’s the important visual here?

I love my Moleskine. It’s not just another notebook. It’s an inspiration.

Yes, I have continued writing. I finally updated the NaNo count—I’m up to 34,200 currently (I don’t have my NaNoWriMoProMe password with me or I’d update the counter over there)—and have high hopes that despite the Turkey Day get-togethers and general enforced conviviality (which is the natural enemy of writing, I think) that I will continue on to win NaNo.

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I managed to write on the plane ride. Two pages in a Moleskine with relatively small handwriting equals approximately one manuscript page, for those of you trying to figure out the conversions. So you couldn’t write a whole novel in a Moleskine, but you could do a lot of it. I discovered that I like writing by hand—I haven’t written fiction by hand for so long.

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I used to fly places. Hey, in the first year of her life, Sophia was on something like 30 planes. But now: two kids, we live near family, yadda, yadda…not so much flying.

Which is why I am probably the last person to find out that Delta charges for food on planes now. And they’d still run out by the time the food cart got to the back of the plane. Which wasn’t bad, because I had packed food for the kids beforehand anyhow and I wasn’t hungry. But sheesh.

Bring your own! Especially if you have kids!

I spent the first part of today’s mega-writing session writing a summary of what had happened so far and then making a bullet list of what needs to happen. Transitions are currently non-existent (they’re talking to this new character because…?) but I continue apace.

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I didn’t make it clear the other night (well, I mentioned it in comments, but who reads those?) I didn’t actually make 4000 words the other night. I made 2000 for the day as a whole, most of which were down at Coffee Society (a few more at home, later). I still haven’t had one of those “bursts” that so many other NaNoWriMo participants talk about, where the fire gets lighted and suddenly the words are vomiting out of them, 4,000, 5,000, 10,000 at a time. (A few have reported 10000 word sessions. 10000 words is 40 pages. Even if it were 40 pages of crap, that’s forty pages. Your hands would be in traction. Well, mine would be, at any rate.

Still, wouldn’t mind trying it, just to see.

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I discovered Laurell K. Hamilton has a blog, which is mostly about what she has accomplished with her writing in that day (usually somewhere in the neighborhood of ten to twenty pages a day—that “conk” you hear is my head hitting the table), along with a few rants on various topics.

One of the (unintentionally, I assume) hilarious bits in her blog is when she complains about her characters running away from her outline for another sex scene. If you haven’t read any of Hamilton’s books—any of the later Anita Blake books, or any of the Merry Gentry series—go read some of the one-star reviews on Amazon. Many of her fans are evidently pretty sick of the endless sex scenes as well. One of the reasons I gave up trying to read her books was that if you took out the sex scenes, you wouldn’t be left with a story. I have nothing against sex in books—in fact, I’ve been known to seek it out on occasion—but it has to be a)hot and b)have a point. The last Hamilton book I picked up I sped-read. “Yes, yes, slot A, tab B, now tab A, slot B, now bring in a few more people into the bed, is there a plot anywhere here?”

The other thing I’m left wondering after reading her blog is: are all of those misspellings and editing errors in her books (which you’ll also notice from Amazon are legendary) simply from her original manuscript and left in because there’s no copyediting at the publishing houses? Or is it just a case of an author getting so prominent the publishers don’t dare change a word for fear of irritating the author into another house’s arms?

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Oh Good God. I’m trying to write at Starbucks today (can’t stay at home—the kids wouldn’t let me have a minute to myself), and the guy at the table behind me is sucking his teeth. I mean, he is making the loudest sucking noises, loud enough to interrupt the music I’m listening to through headphones. Ssst. Ssst. Sssssst. I’ve already turned around and glared at him once. He’s an old man, I guess it’s a tic he can’t control. Damn, it sure is annoying though, and he’s determined to read the entire fucking paper while making that horrible noise.

I’d move, except a)I was here first, dammit and b)this is the big table with the power outlet.

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Okay! He wins! I’m outta there. I have moved on to a local coffeehouse in town. Probably should have come here to begin with, given that I am so into supporting local businesses these days (and their coffee’s better), but I thought I’d take a walk on the wild side and visit Starbucks. Terrible idea! Much better class of person here. Also, a ridiculous quantity of the people here also have laptops and are typing away. I am one of a flock of weirdoes! (I wonder if any of these people are NaNoing.)

And none of them will be the ones I put in this entry.

7:20pm: 21,275 words

• Am I really back at Coffee Society, writing? I was one of the first customers here in 1989. I practically had my own table for years. This was where Darin first asked me out 12 years ago. It hasn’t changed much. Still the black and white stripes around the bar area.
• This is where the NaNoWriMo South Bay writing posse meets on Thursday nights. However, the overflow room (didn’t exist in 1989, came into existence a few years later) is packed to the gills.
• Also, all of their outlets are taken already, so I wouldn’t want to be in there anyhow.
• My current pace is supposed to be two thousand words today, except I missed Monday and haven’t kicked it up a notch to catch up.
• So, tonight’s assignment: four thousand words!
• Maybe I could do three thousand tonight, three thousand tomorrow?
• Must. Bank. Words. Ahead. Of. Holiday.
• I am sitting next to a table of De Anza students who are in a Children’s Literature class. They are watching the Mike Myers Cat in the Hat movie as an assignment.
• I am definitely getting the idea that this movie is not appropriate for children. And that’s just from their reactions.

7:45pm: 21,533 words

• Okay, on the one hand, I’d reached a dead end, I had nowhere to go with this scene. Now, I’ve come up with a plot complication completely out of the blue. Meaning I don’t know what it means either. This is part of the genius of NaNoWriMo. Also, how things completely spiral out of control. Which will it be?
• There are extremely cliched possibilities with this plot complication. I would like to avoid them all. Do I stop and make a list? Hope for divine intervention? Try to inculcate a dream tonight on the subject?
• I have to go to the bathroom, but not until 22,000!

8:13pm: 22,066 words

• 22,000! Must. Pee.
• Crap! Just remembered that I needed to stop at the store to buy bread for the kids’ sandwiches tomorrow! And now that reminds me that I’m a total suburban mom!

8:56pm: 22,895 words

• Whoo hoo! I have achieved a dead body, finally! Considering this is a mystery, that certainly took me long enough. I already know at least 5000 words I’d toss out of this right here, and right now, so maybe I’m not that far off stride for a 75,000 word mystery. But we’re not worrying about that! We’re worrying about word count!
• Once again I am struck by my continual suspicion that everyone else knows how to write a novel! Yes, I am well aware of Somerset Maugham’s 3 rules of the novel (“There are three rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are”) but I know so many people who have written published fiction! What is my problem that I cannot get this process right?
• This is an unproductive line of thought. Must. Stop. Brooding.

9:11pm: 22,895 words

• Crap! Having achieved a dead body, I have apparently written myself into a corner! Why did I do this? More importantly, how do I get out of it? (Basically, the question is, why doesn’t my main character just up and leave town right now and leave the mess of the dead body—not caused by her—far, far behind her?)
• Damn, it is loud in here. Have I found such noise conducive to thought in the past? Wrong, wrong, wrong. I so do not. I want to be home, listening to music, in the warmth and comfort of my own home. I will think upon this plot problem as I drive.

Home:

Okay, on the drive home I realized what I need to do is go back and seed a few scenes that build pressure on the MC to stay, not run away. On the one hand, finding the dead body is supposed to be the end of Act 1, which means adding even more pages previously would push the end of Act 1 even farther away from where it should be. (300 page book, Act 1 comes somewhere near page 75.) On the other hand, this is just for NaNoWriMo, right? Fixing the Shitty First Draft (® Anne Lamott) is a job for NaNoEdMo…or at least, another time.

I’ve added a NaNoWriMo Progress Meter to the sidebar, so y’all can follow how close (or not so) I am to my goal of 50,000 words. Now I am not so tempted to log on to iChat, so I can just “happen” to run into friends and have to spend a minute or two (or more) chatting about my progress.