I’ve been sharing notebook images from this blog on Pinterest for quite a while (as well as re-posting lots of other people’s notebook images). Over time, I’ve built up a surprisingly large following there, but in recent months I’ve noticed that a particular image of mine seems to have gone viral!
The photo in question is this one:
I’m not sure exactly when I posted this image on Pinterest, but I believe it would have been when I shared it on Instagram, October 9, 2022. I shared a similar photo of another box of notebooks when I wrote my 2023 post about the custom cardboard boxes I ordered to store my notebook collection. The boxes are sized to perfectly fit my usual 3.5 x 5.5″ notebooks, and I’ve been archiving all my finished journals and sketchbooks and diaries in date order, with the bottom edge facing up so I can see the date on each notebook.
My original Instagram post was popular, with over 600 likes, but people on Pinterest seem to find it even more interesting, as it’s gotten over 227,000 views and over 1600 re-pins– and that’s just in the past 6 months, which is the limit of the Pinterest stats. Some seem to be fascinated by the discipline it takes to keep this many journals, and to keep them this well-organized. Others just seem to think I’m nuts, and that writing in notebooks this much must mean I’m some sort of emotionally disturbed hermit. Lots of people have re-posted this image on Pinterest, usually without crediting its source (and sometimes responding to comments as if the journals were their own). Some have added captions, and those images have been reposted too– and voila, I’m a meme, with quips like “journaling cuz murder is wrong.”
The image has also gotten a lot of attention on other sites, including these:
Reddit :
It’s a little disturbing to feel like I’ve lost control of my own intellectual property, but that’s always been the risk of Pinterest and social media and the internet in general–I’ve never taken the trouble to watermark my images, though I probably should! But I’m also kind of tickled that people have enjoyed this image so much, and gotten creative with it. I just wish they’d credit the source. Ultimately, I hope most of those people who have enjoyed my photo are notebook fans who will somehow find their way back to this blog and enjoy some of my other content too. I’ve got lots more notebooks where those came from, and sometimes I even remember to sneak my website address into the photo!
