We spend a lot of time trying to give you ideas about what to write in your notebooks.  We don’t, however, spend any time discussing what NOT to write (other than whining).  That’s for a very good reason.  We don’t want to stifle you nor your writing.

I guess it’s time to stifle you.

Don’t put grocery lists.  Don’t put to do lists.  Ordering Chinese food for a group? Want to have everyone write down what they want to make ordering bearable?  Don’t use your notebook.

As a general rule, if you aren’t going to need it in a day, month, etc. find something else to write on.  A Spartan, for instance.

And now we break that rule

Some years ago I was an usher at a friend’s wedding.  One of my usher-ly duties was to introduce the wedding party as they entered the reception.  Just so I wouldn’t muck it up, I wrote their names phonetically and the order in which they were entering.  Having no other paper I reluctantly used a page in my current notebook.  Years later it serves as a unique souvenir.

Circumstances that are out of the ordinary can be a good reason to bend some rules a bit.  You might be glad you did.