If you don’t have one, get one. Many writers swear by their notebooks. In it you can note your observations, your ideas and images, and transcribe all those juicy conversations you overhear on the train.

A notebook or journal is a great way to keep writing regularly, even if you’re not writing a play (in fact especially if you’re not writing a play) because there is less pressure on yourself to write something significant and meaningful.

It’s not a play, it’s just a loose collection of jotted down thoughts, right?

No one’s going to judge you on them, no one’s going to mark you right or wrong.

Sometimes characters exist in my notebooks for years without a story to live in. I’ll write notes about them, even scraps of dialogue. And then years later, another idea will connect and those characters suddenly have a play to inhabit. (Debra Oswald)

 It doesn’t have to be a fancy expensive notebook, and sometimes it’s actually better if it’s not because sometimes you can get a little bit spooked by a fancy notebook and feel pressured to only write well structured, perfectly thought-through notes, which defeats the purpose of allowing yourself to scribble down any old thing.

But then again that might just be me.

Keep a note book on you always and when an idea strikes you write it down.   I started doing this about a year ago and have amassed a treasure trove of thoughts, impressions and ideas. I wonder now how many great ideas I may have let slip from my mind while daydreaming over the years because I didn’t take a moment to jot them down. I can’t recommend this highly enough. (Caleb Lewis)