How many notebooks do you use at once? Notebook Strategy.

July 11, 2021

Work- Muji A5, dotted, wire bound. Probably my favourite notebook at the moment.

Journalling- Midori A5, plain. Have a Life Noble Plain B5 to try after I've filled the Midori.

Scribbling- Rhodia A5, lined, wire bound. Will be replaced by another Muji when full.

Diary- Hobonichi Weeks.

July 26, 2021

1) I started keeping a daily diary in high school, in 1995, using marble composition books. Over the years I've used a lot of different journals ranging from A5 to A4, but because I started in the comp books I tend to gravitate toward B5. The entries started getting less regular in 2010, I think partly because I was doing so much electronic journaling—sometimes more than a week would go by without paper journaling. I recommitted myself in 2018, partly because my thought and attention tend to be more fragmented on a computer, and there can be benefits to the slower processing handwriting requires... though I do find myself staring out into space quite a bit in front of the paper journal. I use the diary mostly used for processing personal, psychological and philosophical conundrums, though it can be more frivolous and playful (e.g., where different pens "talk" to each other).

Currently I'm using the larger Paper for Fountain Pens journal — a Google search turned up this item and indirectly got me into the fountain pen habit! While the writing experience is quite elegant, I find using the journal overall to be a bit of a hassle (due to sweat, smearing, pages blowing in the wind if I write outside, and switching the guide sheet); at this point, I'm looking forward to reaching the end of it and trying something new. (I insist on filling each journal before moving on to the next — it's a discipline, I guess.)

2) This year I started using the B6 Café Note as a "daily," in a way splitting the old diary in two. The daily starts with a list of things I managed to achieve the previous day, goes on to a few brief remarks (things that got in the way, things I enjoyed, observations about health) and is followed by a list of things I intend to do in the day to follow. So it's like a bullet journal, though less rigorous. I really like this notebook; the size suits brief writing, and I get the benefits of the TR paper without the issues I mentioned above with the larger paper. I should probably order more when the Nanami Paper store opens again, since TR paper reportedly is on the way out.

3) A little over a year ago I started keeping a dream journal. Until recently I used Peter Pauper press A5 hardcovers. These are attractive objects for the price and play pretty nicely with fountain pens. My only real problem with them is that they take up a lot of space for the amount of writing they hold. So I've just started with an A4 Franklin Christoph Fermaflex. I was going to use this for (1) above, but want to take a break from larger journals because I tend to want to carry the diary with me, which I don't do with the dream journal. The challenge here is that I have to try and capture the dream before I forget it, and I'm not fully coordinated in mind and body, so I could never deal with the TR paper under that circumstance (dealing with FPs can of course bring issues as well, but I seem to be committed to them right now).

4) I've got a seyez-ruled Clairefontaine notebook (40 sheets) on which I try new inks and pens and make various notes and scribbles. Probably a smaller unruled notebook would make more sense for trying inks, but I haven't been at all systematic about it. I wanted to try seyez ruling because I liked the discipline it suggested in French films like Pierrot le Fou and Diary of a Country Priest. I took the time to learn the seyez rules and follow them with my less than stellar handwriting. Then I went back and looked at the films and realized that the writers in both films aren't following the rules at all (Belmondo in Pierrot uses a marker).

5) I have an A6 Cafe Note for a pocket notebook in which to make quick notes like call numbers for library books, or lists of books or albums I'm seeking in stores, or a quick thought on the road. I probably will not go the TR route again for a notebook of this purpose because of the smearing issue (though I have a little piece of blotter paper in it).

Keeping track of music listening, trip planning, books read and films watched mostly happens in word processing documents. I went back to my 750 Words account (which I started on a whim in 2010, so my account is free) as a place to do freewriting when I get stuck on whatever task I'm trying to make myself do and don't want to do (at this point, the job hunt). I admit to chasing badges.

July 26, 2021

I'm kind of in the same boat.

-- I have a day planner, hobonichi cousin, that has a lot of notes in it, mostly professional.

-- I'm a prolific writer in my journal! Prayers, thoughts, notes, poetry, mementos, ideas . . . Journal stuff.

-- I always have a Spanish notebook going

-- I always have AT LEAST one CEU notebook going but usually several. Professional continuing education that I just always like to keep going. Right now I'm only working one but I usually have two and often have three.

I've tried to consolidate but it just doesn't work out. I am a grown-up PROFESSIONAL and still carry a purse AND backpack everyday. I guess it's as professional looking as a backpack can look but . . . It's still a backpack.

I'd like to do something else but . . . Maybe I'll get some ideas here!

Oh, and, idk, maybe I'll start carrying a sketch book now. Who knows. Maybe it'll take off!

July 28, 2021

1) work, A4 ringed notebook, meeting notes, to dos, strategy schemes

2) work, A4 ringed notebook dedicated to periodic training, we do a lot of this and the info is large, it fills up quickly and requires a dedicated notebook to have everything in one place and be able to refer to it easily

3)work, A5 notebook, projects, a page for each project with a summary of most important info.

4) post it collection. A5 notebook, where I collect all kinds of notes and info often unrelated that needs to be traceable in future. I've used post it in the past and still do when the info needs to be scribbled fast, but the risk of loosing the info is to high, so periodically I transfer the information in a notebook. Most information is not work related.

(smart phones are very good at collecting such info, just take a photo... but then you need to trace it, among millions of photos!... I find google Keep is a valid note collector app, that you can access from any device - I also use other apps that can password protect the notes)

5) personal to do A6 notebook. Only personal to dos go here, no work. I often divide between actual to do and to buy lists.

I also use electronic means, but I like the feeling of crossing out done tasks and rewriting things still to be done. It forces you to give new priority order to things.

6) ideas, A4 ringed notebook, collection of all sorts of ideas, often with simple drawings about the project.

I usually doodle on loose paper...

August 5, 2021

I'm still on a single notebook paradigm for work, but I'm finding that, because I have a few side gigs going on, I need to amend that single notebook paradigm to something that allows me to keep things separate.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Conan the Grammarian
ETA - "for work"

August 23, 2021

I admit it! I have gone down the notebook/paper rabbit hole. But, I have standardized on a size - A5 - that works best for me. I loved my Traveler's Journals, but found them a bit confining.

I generally only have 3+ notebooks going at a time.

1. My regular journal - currently a Seven Seas Writer. I journal every day - my daily quiet time, prayers, quotes, lyrics to songs I like, notes of about important issues in my private life. It also has my calendar, daily planner, to-do lists, etc. - anything that relates to my personal life. I hand number each page when I start the notebook, and keep a Table of Contents in the front so that I can always refer back to what I need.

2. I keep a Rhodia A5 spiral bound pad for pen and ink related issues - my pen/ink combos by date; etc.

3. Since I own a consulting business, I keep a separate notebook for each client. These notebooks contain notes of conversations, project information, daily entries for the project with time entries, etc. For these, I have rotated through several different notebook types. I currently am using an Apica CD Notebook for one client, a Cosmo Air Light for another, a Kokoyu Campus for another, and other off brands for other clients. Like with my regular journal, I number each page and keep a Table of Contents in the front.

This system seems to work fairly well. I have varied things from time to time. At one time, I keep everything in one notebook, but that got to be a bit cumbersome. And I have tried the Circa system. I like the ability to remove pages and move them around, but I just don't care for the paper. I also don't care for the lack of rigidity with the discs. I remember one day, I inadvertently knocked to notebook off my desk and the notebook completely fell apart. I have considered the William Hannah style, but they are a bit pricey.

I am considering adding a Hobonichi Weeks for 2022, but I haven't decided yet.

August 23, 2021

On 7/4/2021 at 1:04 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I have Miquelrius 600 page soft cover journals

@inkstainedruth

May I ask where you get these and, roughly, what price should I expect?

I presume they are FPF or you probably wouldn't use them.

Is that correct?

August 23, 2021

In the past they've run about $14 US. But I've a had a LOT of trouble finding them. I spotted a couple on Amazon last week from a 3rd party vendor in Fishkill, NY (scarily, I actually know where that is) but when I went to make the actual order they were sold out. The first ones I ordered directly from Miquelrius. The second batch I contacted Miquelrius-US and someone there pointed me at another website, which I can no longer find (I thought I had saved that site's URL but can't find it now -- it was "OM something, IIRC). I sent Miquelrius email a week or two back but haven't heard a peep from them. I may have to contact Miquelrius-US and see if they can help.

I really hope they didn't stop making the 600 page journals. I really liked them for doing morning pages, and I think I only have one or two left after the current volume (even at that capacity I really was going through just over 3 per year).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

August 24, 2021

16 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I really hope they didn't stop making the 600 page journals

Do you use the 6 x 8 size, or something different?

I too noticed that it seemed to be difficult to find them.

However, it looks like this place might have them:

https://kalikeepsakes.com/products/miquelrius-soft-bound-journal-6-x-8-lined-300-sheets-600-pages?variant=37821108846746

It might even be the same place you reffered to.

September 10, 2021

Late to the topic but as i read the replies, i saw the many varied ways in which all of us here use journals which is actually more interesting. 🙂

pardon me if its off-topic but of late, here is the recent change/s to my journalling habits …

i have been using a JIBUN TECHO BIZ SLIM B6 planner this year so far.
and so far it helps a lot , especially in tracking appointments and or events as they unfold.

I have come to realize the benefits of tracking things (one can practically track everything ! )

and now i am experimenting tying the tracked stuff to my other journals.

I use symbols , colours , pictograms? to differentiate these tracked events. Then these would appear in respective journals specific to that theme.

to come back to topic … and in order of frequency of use …

1. I always have a gratitude journal ( my own handcrafted (leather covers) A6 journal - TOMOE RIVER paper)

which includes

new things I’ve learnt ,

blessings realized upon hindsight, now made possible becos of tracking,

positive responses / reflections to circumstances and or people

2. a kind of a ranting journal (MIDORI A6 - paper with some tooth 😒)

negative responses/ refections to circumstances and or people

3. A journal for sketches / doodles ( large square watercolour paper sketch journal for more deliberate sketches)

4. a journal for design ideas (HAHNEMUHLE B6 slim DIARYFLEX REFILL)

5. a tiny (brandless) notebook documenting all of the FPs that i have ever owned.

Now i am looking forward to a JIBUN TECHO LITE MINI B6 SLIM 2022 to succeed this one i am using.

i used to laugh at the smiley emoticons on these japanese planners that are printed on every single day ! I thought why on earth would it matter? But now i think I am beginning to see the logic ? Reasons? behind these…

I use to think these planners appear to be overly complicated, but now I guess not quite so, especially when one chooses to use it in a comprehensive way. It can be a very detailed log of one’s life marrying dates, and events with reflections and musings in life.

Over time, one might just perceive a pattern when we pan back and see the whole year or chunks of it in retrospection.

September 10, 2021

3 hours ago, TMLee said:

have come to realize the benefits of tracking things (one can practically track everything ! )

and now i am experimenting tying the tracked stuff to my other journals.

I, on the other hand, want to report that I've stopped tracking what books I've read.

i started this a while back when I realized that I was no longer reading actual books, just doom scrolling. It was very difficult to get back to reading, and writing it down helped me stay focused on the task.

Now, thanks to a number of changes I've made in my habits, I'm reading enough books that it's a chore to remember to write them down. So I've stopped trying, and am declaring success!