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One Notebook or Many? Part 1: The case for one notebook

One book is cooler. A volume covering all of ones life, being read by descendants long after my death, like the journals of Leonardo da Vinci, makes a nice day dream.

It’s fun to read through a diverse journal with sketches and notes on all kinds of things. Paging through an old journal and coming across doodles my daughter made is a treat. Sketches of things I was planning to build or of other things reminds me of the diversity of my life, which is often handy when I’ve become too focused on one narrow aspect….

One Notebook or Many? Part 2: The case for many notebooks.

A single subject notebook increases focus. When I’m writing in a single subject notebook, I feel a discipline to focus on that subject. It’s a reminder of what I’m doing, and there’s no risk that while I’m paging through old entries I’ll end up on some trip down memory lane. Instead, paging through the book reminds me of other aspects of the subject, helps the focus, and can even help with writer’s block…

One Notebook or Many? Part 3: The case for loose sheets

Blank sheets are versatile and adaptable. Since it’s not part of a book, it doesn’t have a dedicated purpose. The paper can be used for anything – I can write a letter, leave a note, give it to my daughters to draw on, or fold it into an airplane. This is especially useful when traveling, because it means I carry less…

One Notebook or Many? Part 4: What’s been working for me

Separate book vs. in the journal. I’ve found that unless the new book has a very strong purpose (like the NumberQuotes notebook) or has a specific place in my life and routine (weekly planner), it’s at risk of being abandoned. The food journal hasn’t quite become a reliable partner yet, but the birds book has. The weekly planner has become very important, and I record some things there that could be in my journal. Despite many attempts to find an electronic replacement for my weight records, pen and paper have proven to be the best and most reliable.

If the work has a lot of structure, and clear boundaries, a separate book seems to work best. If the work is somewhat amorphous, a separate book just doesn’t feel right. For example, I just used the large Leuchtturm1917 Jottbook I received to start a web-focused notebook, only ideas and thoughts related to my various websites that don’t have books of their own, or for ideas (like selling ad space) that are common to all sites. That lasted a short while before the book become refocused on this blog. So far, it’s been earning its keep.

So many things in these posts resonated for me. I’ve tried various approaches, and like Steve have ended up with a hybrid solution: one main notebook for most things, plus a few satellite notebooks for specific topics or uses that require a different format. But the other solution that I was surprised Steve didn’t mention was to use a Filofax or similar binder– you can incorporate different page formats, devote a few pages in a section to different topics, and carry over pages you want to keep for reference while filing away others. I used small looseleaf notebooks for years and loved them… but then electronic devices replaced the calendar and address book sections of those notebooks… and for what was left, a stack of bound journals did just seem cooler than a box full of rubber-banded looseleaf pages. But I keep feeling like I should give it a try again.

How about you? One or many? Join in the discussion here or at Recording Thoughts.

Here’s the intro to the article about the exhibition, which I found rather chilling.

In Peter Carey’s award-winning novel True History of the Kelly Gang, the novelist metamorphosed into an archivist, claiming to be publishing 13 parcels of soiled and rust-stained papers supposedly written by Ned Kelly in the unmistakeable grammar and syntax we recognise from the bushranger’s famous Jerilderie Letter.

Kelly’s papers might have been damp and ripped, according to Carey’s artful deceit. But at least they could have endured feasibly for more than a century without seeming preposterous.

Compare that to Carey’s own manuscript. The Booker prize-winning author composed his novel on a laptop that is a prized item in the State Library of Victoria’s collection.

You can see the laptop. But what you cannot see, contemplate or critique is Carey’s manuscript – his revisions, different drafts, the substitution of one word for another, perhaps an entire passage angrily crossed out. All that compositional magic lies mouldering inside the machine, too delicate to access in case it is changed or lost.

Fortunately, the exhibition in Canberra is all about paper, with no laptops on display!

[Dr. Rachel Buchanan, a historian] believes no present writers or scientists could be included in an equivalent exhibition in 2112. ”We are on an abyss now. It’s a real turning point in the discussion about what archives are, and what can actually be kept.”

Let’s hope some writers are still printing out drafts!

Read more: Writer’s craft is now a ghost in the machine.

See more at One year moleskine #12 | nicoz goes west.

So here it is another new year, and here I am once again, picking up and cleaning up, getting rid of the old to make way for the new, editing and shredding, filing and piling, giving away and throwing away – all in an effort to tidy up the past to make room for the future.

It’s a daunting task.

I am not a collector, but you live long enough and you end up collecting things. Handprints your kids made when they really were kids. Greeting cards that go back 50 years….

… And notebooks. Dozens and dozens of notebooks.

I started with the notebooks, because boxes full of them are crowding my office: white reporter notebooks, which I have been using for 35 years.

They live in cardboard boxes, 2006 mixed in with 1985 and 1992 and 2001.

The wheat from the chaff. That was my goal. That’s all I had to do. Look inside these notebooks, give them a cursory read and decide what to keep and file, and what to throw way.

But it’s all daunting. Cleaning up and organizing, staying focused and on task – impossible, because here’s the thing. You cannot look through notebooks or greeting cards or books or records or even a drawer full of scarves without losing your direction.

You may be aiming for the future, eyes on a clutter-free tomorrow, heart in the right direction, but then you stumble upon a sentence, or a signature, or remember a song and where you were and who you were when you first heard it. Or you hold a knitted scarf in your hands and see the sweet 11-year-old who knitted it for you, her first real scarf, and all of a sudden you’re not looking at the future anymore, you’re not even in the present. You’ve been hijacked to Memory Lane.

via Is there room for the past in the future? – The Boston Globe.

“[The book] offers exactly 365 people, places, object, and ideas on blank, lined pages where people can write their responses. My writing partner and I created it as a different way to jumpstart our brains every day before we start work (or begin a new creative side project). We recommend spending 10-15 minutes a day writing whatever comes to your mind about one of the prompts. It could be a poem, a short story, a list, description, or silly rant. Regardless of what is written, it helps people in various walks of life to boost their brain power, generate new ideas, and connect with their inner creativity for a few minutes each day.”

Sounds like a great creativity booster! It’s available on Amazon.

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Melissa needs help finding her perfect notebook:

I was hoping you might be able to help me find the right notebook for me. I’m trying to find a hard bound notebook or journal with white (not off-white like moleskin) blank pages that is in portrait format and bigger than 11×14. If you could even suggest a brand to try that would be very helpful.

The tricky thing here is finding something larger than 11×14″. The Cachet Classic Black Cover Sketchbook would be just right, but 11 x 14″ is the largest size. The Moleskine A3 sketchbbok is slightly larger at about 11 3/4 x 16″, but the paper won’t be the bright white she’s looking for.

Dick Blick Art Materials has a good selection of other sketchbooks, but the only ones I saw that were larger than 11 x 14″ were wire-bound.  The other solution might be to buy some extra-large paper and bind your own book! Does anyone else have any ideas?

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Sandra found a cool notebook and wants your help in finding more:

A couple of days ago, I found this sketchbook at Marshall’s Department store for $4.95.  It’s approximately 9 in x 13 in, a thin ivory cardstock with red trim and a beautifully marbled cover.  It has a staple binding, but it’s very sturdy.  The wording ‘Valentina, Made in Italy’ is printed on the inside back cover.   I love the quality of the paper, but find the size a bit difficult to manage and would love to find out if the sketchbook can be found in any other size.  I searched Google and Bing but was unable to find any information.  The Marshalls’ website failed to offer any listing. Would you know of any other store that might carry this sketchbook?  Or shall I just starting haunting any Marshall’s I can find, in the hopes of discovering more of these gems?

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Nestor asks “Do you know of any small safe that can be used to store your journal/diary so that no one else reads it?”
I have never stored my notebooks in anything more secure than a shoe box, but I do have one of these:

I use it for storing my passport, social security card, and important financial papers, but it could easily be used for notebooks as well. However, it’s very heavy and not that roomy inside because of the thick, fireproof walls. You could also use a more basic fireproof box like this:

These options might not be very sophisticated in terms of the lock mechanism, as they seem more designed for fire survival than theft prevention, but there are lots of other options for safes and security boxes here.

I’ll catch up with some more questions and submissions from readers soon. Thanks for all your emails!

Moleskine RTW diary 1 not finished – YouTube.

I love the nice clean design, with all its sharp lines and angles. The cover is very cool– it’s sort of a two-layer design with the blue outer cover and flaps folding around a red inner cover.

Inside, you see that it’s technically called a calendar “plus sketchbook.” Lots of diaries have extra notes space, but I’ve never seen one that had such a high ratio of drawing pages. But before you get there, it’s pretty standard diary stuff: an international holiday list, which also includes major design industry events, a 2-year calendar, then weekly spreads which start with Monday. There are 4 days to each page, leaving room for a notes space at the end of the week. Holidays are in orange, and moon phases are noted in grey.

After the calendar pages, you get the blue sketchbook pages with various patterns in fine white lines– dots, grid, overlapping circles and triangles, etc. Very cool for drawing and doodling.
There’s also a red ribbon marker.

The whole thing measures 4 x 6″, and about 1/2 inch think. It’s nicely flexible and opens flat. The pages are lighter weight and a bit thin, so I’d expect some show-through with some pens.
You can purchase one at the Typotheque online store. It’s not super cheap at 15 Euros/$19.80 USD (plus shipping, which is 7.70 Euros to the US for 6-9 day international priority mail). But it’s a beautiful and unique way to keep track of your year and inspire your creativity!

15 euro/ 19.80 USD

A nice story I came across recently, in which a reporter for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette named Jaclyn Youhana asks

“Do many people keep a diary any more? When I asked readers to contact me if they did, I had no idea so many would respond. I received more than 30 emails and phone calls from men and women, young and old, who wanted to tell about what they wrote and why.”

The article goes on to describe the diaries of some of the respondents, with photos and a video.

A daily log

Jon Pontzius of Columbia City [pictured above] has kept a journal for 25 years. Now 72, he’s not sure what prompted him to start writing as a nearly 50-year-old man.

 

Pontzius writes daily or weekly in spiral notebooks. He keeps them in a portable container meant for files, spiral-side up. Many have a red marbled cover and are filled, cover to cover, with his black, looping script. Many of the spirals are bent and stuffed with those ribbons that are created when a page is ripped out.

 

“These are the rattiest-looking diaries you’ve ever seen,” Pontzius says. “But it’s what inside that counts, I guess.”

And what’s inside are doodles and quick drawings of ideas to be turned into sculptures. Pontzius is an artist, and many of his completed works start as a few sloppy lines in the pages of his journal.

There’s also writing, and a lot of it. He details days and people worth remembering – like that time a tornado smashed his pickup while he hid out in a freezer at an Arby’s. One of the few things he was able to salvage from his truck was his journal. He shows me some of the mud splatters on a page, and I can’t help but think how grateful he must be to have saved this piece of history.

Read more here.