Carry A “Da Vinci Notebook” For Your Blogging Ideas

by Smart Boy on February 17, 2009

in Blogging

Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest minds in history, always carried a notebook – to capture his latest ideas. They contained philosophical thoughts, new inventions, drawings, scientific findings – and many other pearls of wisdom. In total his notebooks contained over 13,000 pages.

Bloggers, much like Da Vinci – are exploratory writers. We compile our thoughts, invent new ideas, and dive into philosophical ramblings. Considering the large amount of thought & content going into every blog post – why wouldn’t bloggers also carry Da Vinci notebooks?

Finding The Right Notebook

The first step in creating your Da Vinci notebook is to find the right medium. Some prefer recorded phone memos, while others prefer a spiral bound notebook.

Find something you’ll be willing to bring with you on your outings, vacations, and home life. For myself I carry a standard spiral bound notebook, and tuck it into my laptop bag.

What To Write

You’ve got the notebook. What should you write?

In my own Da Vinci notebook, I write anything from my day to day dealings that might correlate as something of value for my blogs. A metaphorical thought, ingenious idea, or captured image. They all fit snugly into my Da Vinci notebook.

Life is spur of the moment – and I’ve found that some of my best blogging ideas have come from spontaneous events in my interactions with others around me. Don’t lead yourself to believe you’ll still remember the idea when you get home. In most cases – you won’t. Make sure you capture the idea, and lock it away in your Da Vinci notebook.

Bringing Your Notebook To Life

After a few days of compiling thoughts and ideas in your notebook, take the time to pull the pertinent information from its pages. What would make a good blog post? Are there design and layout ideas? Did I write about a new marketing technique to develop?

Sit down with your Da Vinci notebook and transfer those thoughts and ideas into blog posts, marketing plans, and fruitful layouts.

And So It Concludes…

Da Vinci was a mastermind of many talents. He brought our world unthinkable inventions and ideas regarding anatomy, optics, philosophy, civil engineering, and hydrodynamics. He was truly a brilliant mind with brilliant thoughts.

Although we’re not required or expected to have the intelligence of Leonardo Da Vinci – each of us is the Da Vinci of our own blog(s). We produce the content, manage the marketing, and design layouts.

It’s important as a blogger to have a mindful eye, artful touch, and powerful linguistic capabilities. Increase these skills, and many others, by harnessing the great power of a Da Vinci Notebook for blogging.

Share with us how you capture ideas for your blogs!

 
  • Organizing your thoughts and catching your fleeting ones is really important. Few things are more frustrating than having a great thought and then forgetting what it was about but remembering that you had a great thought.
  • Do you have any idea how well written this article is? You took a small (but very good!) idea, and made a great comparison with a master out of it. Congrats! Love your writing style!
    As for the notebook, I use my iPhone for this. The only thing is I often forget about checking it again :-)
  • The first step in creating your Da Vinci notebook is to find the right medium. Some prefer recorded phone memos, while others prefer a spiral bound notebook. A metaphorical thought, ingenious idea, or captured image. They all fit snugly into my Da Vinci notebook.Da Vinci was a mastermind of many talents. He brought our world unthinkable inventions and ideas regarding anatomy, optics, philosophy, civil engineering, and hydrodynamics. actually i found this informative and interesting blog so i think so its very useful and knowledge able.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article.
  • Good article to inspired me...
  • Misty Dawn - Yes, I do believe Mark Twain carried a notebook with him. Seems that some of the most successful and knowledgeable people carry notebooks. It's great to hear you're able to use a Voice Recorder to record notes!

    Pushkar - You're very welcome. Thanks for reading.

    suZen - I agree. Many of my favorite ideas come from simple notebooks. I'm grateful you're reading the blog. Thank you.

    Joe He - Yep, a notebook is a wonderful tool. Hoping you'll be able to put your notes to good use!

    Stacy Alexander - I'm very happy you enjoyed your morning with me, and the blog this morning. :-) Hope you had an excellent day.

    Once again - it's great to hear the content is being read and appreciated. Thank you tremendously for commenting.

    Christian
  • Stacy Alexander
    Thank you for creating this very informative blog! I have very much enjoyed my visit here this morning. I found it via the Blog Catalog.

    Best regards,
    Stacy Alexander
  • It is a really good idea to take a notebook with me. I always foget the good idea, indeed.
  • I'm a journal junkie. My notebook(s) are my constant companion. Some of the best themes/subjects for writing (or painting) can appear from the odd little entries that seem meaningless at the time. Great post!
    suZen
  • Interesting comparison smart boy! See more infuture. Please help each other.
  • If I'm not mistaken, Samual Clemens/Mark Twain did this also. The late rockstar Kurt Cobain kept notebooks too. I keep meaning to do this, but I think I'd be better with a voice recorder, because when I get an inspiration, my thoughts come faster than my hand can write (plus the Fibromyalgia causes me to have trouble doing much handwriting - which is why I prefer to type).

    Ooops, it seems I have rambled in my first comment on your blog. I tend to ramble a lot - sorry 'bout that.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post: Liven Your Blog Posts By Using a Thesaurus

Next post: The 7 Be’s of Successful Blogging