Notebook Stories

An interesting post appreciating Moleskines: The Moleskine. Mol-a-skeen’-a. Yet another cult classic, and why shouldn’t it be? This little black notebook’s got its fans cutting hearts out and launching virgins off the summit of Krakatoa, all for its furtive anonymity, acid-free paper, and unembellished distinction. Okay, hyperbolic, yes–but still, you don’t see enthusiastic blogs, reviews [...]

Heather at A Penchant for Paper asks How Many Notebooks Are Too Many?: The true notebook addict would probably say that it would be impossible to have too many notebooks, but I am not so sure.  I have been feeling overwhelmed lately by the number of notebooks that I am currently using, as well as [...]

“She Writes” is an online community for women writers, with over 9,000 active members from all fifty states and more than thirty countries. As you can imagine, these ladies love their notebooks! Deborah Siegel asked “What’s in Your Notebook” and got these amongst her responses: Response by Tania Prputniewicz Notebooks I Have Known by Kelly [...]

This week’s Notebook Addict has been intensively documenting his life in daily journals, kept over many years. The photo below shows 5 years’ worth of notebooks, from 1985 to 1990. I love how beat-up they are, totally covered with writing and doodles. Here’s 15 more journals covering 1994-2005: Here’s what Sean has to say about [...]

I’ve gotten terribly behind in trying to answer emails from some fellow notebook fans with their questions. Please leave a comment if you can point any of these readers in the right direction! From Robert: I am hoping you can help me with my search. I saw someone take out a piece of paper from [...]

A while back, a reader named Gil wrote to ask for help in finding an elusive notebook. I’m stumped, so I’m turning the question over to all you other notebook fans! Gil says: “i’ve been trying desperately to locate any surviving specimens of a spiral notebook i used as a junior high student in 1968-1970. [...]

The Elle website features eleven favorite notebooks (with a wee mention of a review by yours truly), including Moleskine, Smythson, the Shopsin Diary, and the oh-so-high-school Trapper Keeper– who knew it’s been revived as a trendy accessory!

A reader named Jonel sent me a link to her Flickr page, where she has some great photos of her prodigious notebook collection: This photo only captures about half the spread– it was too big to fit in one shot! (The Flickr shots are tagged with notes.) And it doesn’t end there, as Jonel added [...]

Here’s an interesting article from The Simple Dollar, in which the writer’s notebooks are a key example of something many of us struggle with: I like pocket notebooks. During my years as a young professional who still harbored some little sliver of a dream of someday becoming a writer, I would often pick up a [...]