Notebook Stories » Other People’s Notebooks

Moleskine Monday: Flickr Fun

Nifty — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:48 +0000

Just some random images from Flickr– searching “moleskine” always brings up interesting stuff!

Click through to Flickr to see more…

Notebook Addict of the Week: Windi

Nifty — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:33 +0000

This week’s addict emailed me a link to her Tumblr site, where she’s posted all these photos of a wonderfully colorful collection.

In addition to these ones on Tumblr, there are a few more recent purchases here:

Thanks for sharing your addiction, Windi!

Notebook Addict of the Week: David Garrett

Nifty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:42 +0000

This week’s addict blogs at Seize the Dave, where he shows off the nice row of Moleskine Cahiers (and an unidentified wire-o bound notebook) below.

Read more about his experience using fountain pens in these notebooks at seize the dave: paper review: moleskine cahier.

One Notebook or Many?

Nifty — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:00:05 +0000

Steve at Recording Thoughts has written a marathon series on the question “One Notebook or Many?”
Now, I suppose you could argue that this isn’t even a question, as you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if “many” notebooks wasn’t your idea of a good thing! But the issue here is whether to capture all your various jottings in one notebook at a time, vs. splitting them up into notebooks dedicated to single topics. Both approaches have their merits– a few excerpts and photos of Steve’s notebooks below.

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.

Moleskine Monday: Comfortable Shoes Studio Journal Flip

Nifty — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:00:16 +0000

I love seeing videos of people flipping through their notebooks, especially colorful art journals like the one below, from Leslie at Comfortble Shoes Studio.

Notebook Addict of the Week: Marla Viray

Nifty — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:00:36 +0000

This week’s addict is a 21 year old “struggling journalist” who notes:

There is no such thing as too many notebooks, after all. =)

Here’s a few from her collection:

Notebook Addict of the Week: Melissa Castrillon

Nifty — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:22 +0000

Here’s another sketchbook addict, found via the “Sketchbook Series” posts at Book By Its Cover. She uses an interesting variety of sketchbooks and her artwork is lovely!

See more here.

Handwritten

Nifty — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:37 +0000

If you happen to be heading down under any time soon, there is an exhibition at the National Library of Australia in Canberra that you’ll definitely want to check out called “Handwritten.” It includes letters, diaries and other handwritten documents from the likes of Einstein, Beethoven, Galileo and more contemporary, Australian people like Nick Cave, whose diary is below:

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!

Samuel Beckett’s Notebooks

Nifty — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:45 +0000

Having seen Endgame and Waiting for Godot, I’d have to admit that I find these notebooks much more interesting than Beckett’s actual plays!

See more at A Rare Look at Samuel Beckett’s Doodle-Filled Notebooks | Brain Pickings.

Moleskine Monday: Nicoz’s Illustrated Diary

Nifty — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:00:46 +0000

Another amazing example of an illustrated Moleskine journal:

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