A good Content List can be your best friend along the path to great Notebooking or it could be a wasted page at the end of your Notebook.  For as much as I use my Content List, I often hear of people making it and then ignoring it.  Not only is this a waste of a perfectly innocent page but it is a waste of so much creative potential.  Here are a few tips I’ve found over the years for getting the most out of your Content List.

• Make One  This is super obvious but many Notebookers think about what they want in their Notebooks then they begin writing.  Writing is great but do yourself a favor and write down on the last page of your Notebook those things you like to write about.  Having the list there gives you an advantage when the words don’t swim from your pen like fish.
• Set the Tone  A good Content List can set the tone of your Notebook in an intentional way.  Very often when I sit down to write, I end up with a Notebooking entry that finishes very different from how it began.  That’s all well and good for vomitive, adolescent drivel but we’re better than that.  Aren’t we?  When you create your Content List you create a tone for your Notebook.  Maintaining the tone you want is the first step to writing content you can be proud of.
• A Checklist of Sorts  Your Content List can act as a checklist, keeping your writing varied and dynamic.  It’s all too easy to write with a one track mind, only to realize in horror later that you only write about one thing!  Using your Content List like a checklist can go a long way to keeping your writing diverse.
• Challenge Yourself  Try putting something on your Content List that isn’t in your “wheelhouse”.  Every time you use your Content List you will move it closer to being IN your “wheelhouse”.  Want to get better at writing knock-knock jokes? (I mean, who doesn’t?) Putting knock-knock jokes on your Content List insures that you will write them more often.  Thus your Notebook will become a record of your progress as you become the greatest knock-knock joke writer ever!
• Update Regularly  If you aren’t updating your Content List you’re missing out.  While we’ve written an entire article about updating your Content List, the heart of it is asking yourself, “Am I happy with this?”  and “Is this working for me?”  Honestly asking yourself these 2 simple questions will make all the superfluous Content List items fall by the wayside.  This leads to a better Content List and that leads to better content.
• Use your Content List at the Right Time  Maybe this isn’t a problem for you, but it happens to me so often that I have to mention it.  I will sit down to Notebook with an idea or 3 to write about.  Then, before I begin, I’ll look at my Content List.  At that point I forget what I wanted to write about originally!  Only to remember later while driving or skydiving or something!  Don’t do this!  Don’t be like me!  Look at your Content List only after you’ve written what is on your mind.

With these ideas in mind go forth and write your best stuff ever! (with a little help from that humble page at the back of your book.)

Page eaters

What is a page eater?  While it may sound like a Harry Potter creature that didn’t make the cut, a page eater is a method for getting through lots of pages in your notebook.

Obviously, there’s more to it than that.  A page eater is, basically, anything you can write about at length and easily.  This could be anything from heady thoughts on a scholarly topic to a funny list of fictitious band names.  It might sound like cheating but, as you’ll see, page eaters have many benefits and have the potential to create great content.

First and foremost, page eaters destroy the tyranny of the blank page.  They can give you a sense of accomplishment and momentum.  Writing a lot, through the use of a page eater, is a great morale booster.  Always reminding you that you are a content creator with a lot to say.  Helping you to avoid whining (NO WHINING!!).  A few good page eaters in your content list and your notebook will flow out of you, through your hand, into a compelling, dynamic and multifaceted notebook.

Some examples include:  Funny lists, observations about your surroundings or people, personal recollections viewed in a new light, notes or reflections on a skill you’re trying to learn, brainstorming or flow charts. Basically, anything that’s compelling or entertaining enough to get you writing.

This begs the question, “Shouldn’t all items on my content list be page eaters?”  Hardly.  I suppose you could do that and you would burn through notebooks easily and you might even be proud of your notebook, at first.  Eventually, without challenging yourself, your notebook will be repetitive and boring.  It might be fun, even easy, but make sure you try to stretch your abilities every now and then.  Being able to see your growth over the course of a notebook is some of the greatest content of all.

Have you ever sat down to write in your notebook?  You’re excited, but then you have trouble getting it started?  We’ve all spent time staring at a blank page.  A blank page of a notebook is a tyrant, demanding a task you don’t know how to accomplish.

Your best defense against this feeling is a Content List.  A Content List is a list of 5-10 topics written on the last page of your notebook.  Before you even start writing in your notebook, it’s helpful to take some time and write a list of topics you’re going to write about in your notebook.  Make that list on the last page of your notebook so that it’s always there for you when you need it.

The Content List is the heart of Notebooking.  Without it, you are at the mercy of the tyrannical blank page.  These topics are there to give you guidance and inspiration as to what to write.  Your Content List acts as a muse and serves as a shield against that judgy blank paper.

“Sounds good?”

“No, rhetorical question guy, sounds great!  Gimme that Content List!”

“Nope!”

You make your own.  Making your Content List is simple but not always easy.

Guidelines

First, let’s set down some guidelines.  Items on your Content List should:

1. Be something you can write about.  Obviously.  Writing your notebook entirely in French might be cool but not if you can’t speak it.
2. Be interesting.  This should go without saying but, just because you can write about something doesn’t mean it will be interesting enough to do so.  I could write about all the technical specifications involved in ball-bearing ratings but absolutely no one wants that!
3. Be very specific.  Writing “funny stuff” on your Content List helps no one.
4. Avoid being too private.  Don’t live in fear that the wrong person will open your notebook.  To paraphrase everyone’s grandma, “If you can’t write something nice, don’t write anything at all.”
5. No whining!  We joke about whining a lot but the fact is that nothing puts you into a bad place faster than whining.  Additionally, nothing is worse to read than whining.  If you avoid whining now there will be so much less cringing when it comes time to assess your Notebooking.

The Big 4

Most anything that ends up on your Content List can be put into 4 categories.

Interests

Whether hobbies, scholarly pursuits or any combination thereof, putting an interest of yours on your Content List means it’s something you enjoy thinking about and will, therefore, enjoy writing about.  Moreover, there should be some capacity for growth and reflection.  Otherwise, what’s the point?  As an example, consider cooking.  Cooking is an interest of mine.  Putting “Cooking” on my Content List is ok.  Putting “recipes”, “new foods I want to try” and “what I learned watching cooking shows” is fantastic.

Humor

Everything from funny observations to silly lists to (God help us) “Dad Jokes.”  Humor is important in keeping things light and keeping your notebook from feeling intimidating.  Everyone loves to laugh and that includes you, plus it’s entertaining.  There’s nothing wrong with sharpening your funny bone¹.

Page Eaters

A page eater is any topic you can easily wax on and on about.  The goal here is to get through pages.  Moving through pages creates momentum and adds a sense of accomplishment.  Page Eaters are often an interest or something humorous but it can also give you tacit permission for other uses for the pages.  Mapping out thoughts, writing down observations, recording entertaining quotes, or nearly any inefficient use of paper are all fair game.  Try to be specific with your Page Eaters as they could easily become the “bread and butter” of your fun and dynamic notebook.

A Challenge

This is the tough one but it is probably the most rewarding.  While not technically necessary, chronicling a path of hard-won wisdom and growth is incredible.  The good news is that it can be pretty open-ended.  Whether it’s keeping track of your exercise plan or figuring out how to be a better conversationalist, trust me when I say that the familiar cruelty of the blank page will keep you accountable.  If you do this, looking back through your notebook will become a motivating journey towards success.

As with all things Notebooking, your Content List will change and evolve over time.  The key is that the more diverse and specific your Content List is, the more it will help when the words aren’t flowing.  You don’t have to write only what’s on your Content List, but when that blank-page tyrant is staring you in the face, you’ll have an ally waiting for you on the last page who can prompt you to always write well.