I’m here to confess: I’m a notebook geek. In this video I dish on my obsession, letting you into the pages of the various notebooks I use. I also share some great resources for journal lovers and at the end of this long-ish video, something unexpected and funny happens.
If you’d like to be this geekish with notebooks, join me in filling your pages on a daily basis. In my popular Free Write Fling class, we write every day for at least 15 minutes. This is guaranteed to get you past the fear of the blank page and help you overcome that tendency to fill only the first few pages of a notebook.
Join us now to write every day in March.
Very funny, Cynthia. I share your notebook obsession. I have several boxes of completed journals (dating back to the 1960s!)in my storage bin. There’s a box of unused journals there, too, which I never seem to get to because I keep finding new ones I have to have.
I also work in several journals at a time, including a couple of art journals, a book diary, and a softside Moleskin that I carry in my purse so I always have something to write in. I received a Beatles yellow submarine journal for Christmas and I’m saving that for something special. Most of my other journals have overlapping purposes.
One of my favorite things is making my own journals and giving handmade journals as gifts.
Maybe we should form a group for people who love notebooks too much. My brother could also join.
Dixie,
We’re in this together!
I keep my blank journals on a bookshelf. That way I can see them and feel journal-rich! When I need a new notebook, instead of reaching for my wallet (all too easy to do!) I head there. I like seeing them on the shelf.
It’s cool your brother shares this obsession. It’s also a fun thing to do when traveling – look for foreign notebooks!
I love this video. It made my day. I love journals of all kinds and have many but can never decide which one to use for what. You’ve given me some great ideas of how to use them and now I won’t feel guilty for not being loyal to just one kind of notebook. My latest brainstorm is to type and print things to then paste in journals. I have shaky hands, which slow down my handwriting so much that I don’t do it as much as I’d like. So far I don’t find that the typing limits the flow of my thoughts. Sometimes it seems to expand them since it is physically easier. Thanks for the fun video.
Bonnie,
I’m glad this has given you some new ideas for how to use your notebooks. I also like your idea for creative use of them. That’s what’s so fun about them – you can adapt them for your own uses!
Glad this made you happy!
I have a few notebooks people have given me (a couple of friends know I write and always include a notebook as a Christmas gift). However, I rarely use them as I can’t draw and have dreadful hand writing that even I can barely read. I always end up shredding old note books – anything creative gets put on my computer, and my attempts a journaling are revealing only by how poor I am at journaling are. My Artist’s Way notebook was characterised by pages of “I don’t know what to write”. I’ve learned that I don’t like writing about myself – unless I do it through a character in a story. When I do that, it comes out easily.
My obsession is Apps – for my iMac, iPad and iPhone. I can sync everything and access most things anytime anywhere. Awesome! I have Evernote, Day One (a journal – which I manage to keep cause it reminds me to write in it, even if only a sentence), Streaks (a tracking calendar that marks the days I complete tasks), iDone This (sends me a messages every day to ask me what tasks I’ve completed in a day), Wunderlist (a to-do list so I know what to do in a day), Reminders (has my daily affirmations and reminds me to use them), Nag (a timer), Follow Up (to plan and track my writing tasks), DropBox and iAWriter (so I can work on stories or my novel anywhere, anytime), FD Reader (so I can edit my Final Draft screenplays anywhere, anytime), Mind Node (mind mapping), Outline (for anything from story outlines to simple project management) – plus a whole of Apps not related to writing or productivity.
Karen,
If I were you, I’d re-gift those notebooks, or take them to the thrift store (do they have those in Australia? What are they called?) Imagine how happy someone else might be to get a new notebook.
Thanks for your app list. Do you blog? That comment there would make a great post – Apps for Writers Who Can’t Stand Notebooks.
I recently heard an interview with Dan Pink and he mentioned IDone This. That sounded great.
The cool thing about your list is it sounds like you actually use all those apps. It does seem like the digital equivalent of many notebooks!
Thanks for sharing; I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy reading your recommendations.
Great post! What do you do your free writing in?
Great post! Glad to know there are others out there equally notebook obsessed!! Just curious, What type of notebook do you do your free writing in?
Thanks, Susan!
I’m currently using the Jill Bliss notebook I showed in the video for my free writing flinging and my journaling.
I must confess: I ordered a new Jill Bliss notebook. I expect it to arrive today, and when I finish with this one, I’ll start in that one. Can’t. Stop. Notebooking. 🙂
Oh that did make me laugh Cynthia . I hold my hand up – I have a similar affliction ! I’d say I have about 5 on the go just now. Of course Moleskin, big and little ones.I stick Moo stickers on them to tell them apart – or washi tape. Also a few nice big ones from Paperchase that are half paper and half brown kraft paper – I like the brown pages for doodling and sticking stuff in. And also some cute decorated ones from Hema in the Netherlands. I feel naked if I leave the house without a notebook !
And Karen – great list of apps – will investigate those as I do like the digital side of life as well.
Rhiannon,
I know, I feel very weird without a notebook with me. Usually there are at least four on my person. I wonder sometimes if I’m a bit too weird but I’m having fun and not hurting anyone!
I’d love to see a post on your blog showing your journals! I’m curious to see the ones with the kraft paper.
Your video made me smile! I crush on notebooks too. 🙂
Glad this made you smile, Coleen! Notebook geeks unite!
Checking out your notebook obsession after seeing it mentioned in your newsletter – LOVE this video!! I thought I had an obsession but my notebooks don’t ‘stack up’ to your collection 😉
Glad to see that I am not the only one who is obsessed with blank books, but I’m working on filling them this year…so I can buy some fabulous new ones NEXT YEAR!! =-)
Definitely fill them, Monica! That’s the fun part.
Enjoy the play!
Please explain which Moleskin accordion notebook you use. I would like to journal and sketch. Also, where can I find the pen holder?
Teressa,
I’ve been using the Moleskine Japanese album for awhile now. It thrills me beyond measure that when you google those words and hit the ‘images’ link, the first two images are my journals.
Okay, enough of that self-enjoyment. Where can you get them? Sometimes they’re hard to find. Even art supply stores often don’t carry them. I usually buy mine online or at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder.
They also come in larger sizes. I tried that once and it intimidated me. But I recently got another big one and will brave it.
The pen holder I bought in Paris at Muji. That’s a hip Japanese store that has shops in major cities. But they have an online store and you can find the holder here:
http://www.muji.us/store/stainless-pen-holder-clip-double.html
I’m sure other places carry that kind of thing too.
Have fun sketching!
Oh my G! I didn’t know it was a thing amongst society but I’m relieved that it is. I have gone all my life buying journals I see that I love even though I have dozens of empty ones at home!. I’ll buy multiple at a time and it’s really bad! I spent £60 on journals today I really have a problem
I didn’t know it was a thing amongst society but I’m relieved that it is. I have gone all my life buying journals I see that I love even though I have dozens of empty ones at home!. I’ll buy multiple at a time and it’s really bad! I spent £60 on journals today I really have a problem