writer's desk: notion

organising & taking notes for your project + free template

Taking my current main project (yes, main project, because I have 5 ongoing novels I’m working on at the moment), this is how I use Notion for writing.

Since I have many projects going on, I had trouble carrying all my diverse notebooks out. I also took a lot of notes that I wouldn’t find again without a proper agenda. So when I’m out with just my laptop, I can still look up all of my notes by searching for them.

Obviously every writer takes notes differently, and organises their projects in the ways that work for them. But if you’re looking for a new, digital way to stay on track with your book, I’m hoping this can be helpful.

PERSONA is planned as a trilogy, so I made a page for each book. Underneath, I have my Pinterest board for the books as well as its playlist, to get in the mood as soon as I open the page. While I do my writing on Pages or Microsoft Word, I keep my Notion open for quick notes or looking through my database.

For each book, in order:

Genre

Summary / short pitch

Comp titles

List view: The database (world building, settings, characters, relationships)

List view: The manuscript (notes for sections, chapters, scenes)

Table view: Tasks (for deadlines, research tasks, tracking my writing)

List view: The feedback (from friends, beta readers, editors, agents)

I used to tweak my project-specific pages all the time, made the pages pretty, but now I find that it’s too distracting if I don’t keep it simple. It’s similar to the problem I faced when I tried bullet journaling in the past – I would lose more time on configuring everything than using it to be productive at all.

If I use Notion as the tool that it is, to keep my notes in one place, establish a database that I can search if I’m looking for something while writing, then all I need for it is to be accessible and loaded with the information I need.

This is the agenda that I use consistently when I take notes:

❗️get active, do research, DO

❓question to be answered

⭐️ explanation, note to self

• list

[secret or unknown to characters until later / the end]

If you’re interested, I’ve posted my Notion template for writers. All you have to do is make sure to Duplicate the page to then use it for your own project. I’ve embedded a Pinterest board and a writing playlist, which you can naturally exchange for your own.

Make sure to click this icon on the top right corner to duplicate the template.

Happy organising and writing!

If you liked this piece:

• on writing the plot

• on writing consistently

• on finishing your book