Better Writing?

Would I write better if I had a moleskine journal or an econote or a yellow pad of paper? As I study writing, it makes me uncomfortable to see how many writers refer to their moleskines, or their econotes, or their yellow pads.

 Didn't even know what those were. Had to go to Barnes and Noble to see what they were talking about. Felt uneasy with the price tags. If this is what "real writers" are using, should I be using them too?

I use inexpensive spiral notebooks for my journals. Not the very cheapest, but a particular size I am comfortable holding, stuffing in my purse or carrying in my beat-up briefcase, using every day. Natalie Goldberg, in Writing Down the Bones, tells of buying the cheapest spirals, a year's worth, at the beginning of the school year when the supplies are all on sale, and filling one a month. She literally fills her pages, no margins, no headers, writing all over the pages. To me, it was refreshing to read that, to no longer be intimidated by someone with "better" supplies.

The nicer notebooks I do have were all gifts, for which I am very grateful. What I put in them, my gifts list, my short story ideas, my blog post sketches, won't be any better because they are written in beautiful books.

I remember reading about Jonathan Edwards, the revival preacher and theologian of the seventeen hundreds. He wrote his powerful sermons on envelopes, letters he received, any piece of paper he could find, and he wrote sideways and across the page, both sides, to make the most of each piece of paper. If I tried that, I don't think I could ever figure out what I had written. No idea how he managed with the long-hand flowing script they used. His words, his writings, have been effective across centuries, no matter what they were written on.

After all, the heart of the matter is to do the work. Whether it is writing or gardening or sewing or cooking or designing a building, the true work is in the art, the beauty, the soul behind the creativity. Good tools help, yes. For me, a big step in traveling lighter came when I accepted the tools I have, and understood that the creativity comes from me, not some magic from using a special notebook. 

I do love the feel of a fresh piece of paper. Raw material. Potential. Expectancy. What will unfold? What words will flow on to this page? What discoveries? The beauty of an empty page, waiting to be filled.

What do you use?