Writers and Their Notebooks

Raab, an essayist, memoirist, and poet who teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, collects essays by writers on the practice of journal-keeping. Writers like Sue Grafton, Phillip Lopate, Lori Van Pelt, John Dufresne, and Robin Hemley, who work in a variety of genres, offer advice, personal recollections, and tips on using notebooks to document, develop, and nurture creativity, develop a writing voice, and draw from, with some sample entries. They address such topics as using a journal in writing a private eye novel, blogging, writing in public places, recording observations, and using a journal to deal with mental illness. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)