Monday, May 07, 2007

Finding a Goodly Writyng Notebook

This weekend I bought a new writing notebook, having realized that the old one had only two or three blank pages remaining. I'm not hugely picky about my notebooks but I do have certain standards. Criteria, you could say. Buying a new one got me thinking about what those criteria are and my reasons for sticking to them, which I shall present here forthwith:

1) Light weight: Because where I go, it goes. Heaviness is a disincentive to keep it with me.

2) Paperback-sized: Because that makes it easier to stack with the other books I'm prone to carrying around.

3) Durable: Because coffee is bound to be spilled and it is sure to be dropped and generally banged around. I'm especially careful to look for notebooks with strong and flexible bindings, and I prefer those that lie flat when open.

4) Plain: Because it is above all a working journal and I need to feel free to make a mess of it. Like other writerly types, I frequently receive truly lovely journals as gifts, but I can't use them -- filling them with my scribble just makes me feel guilty. The writing notebook has to be both canvas and dropcloth.

5) Unlined: Because it allows my creative spirit to roam blithely about the page.

6) Black: I don't know, it just feels right. Plus it hides the scuffs and stains (see #3).

Looking for a good one? I highly recommend the classic Moleskine notebooks (which is what I ended up with this weekend). Simple sketchbooks sold by art supply shops will fit the bill as well. I'm also a softie for the old black-and-white speckled composition books, though they are a little too big for my liking and the pages are lined.

15 comments:

Kris Underwood said...

I sometimes use Claire Fontaine notebooks-durable and flexible, lined and unlined. They last forever. Moleskine, of course, is one of my favorites. ANother I am trying out is boku journals. Not quite a journal, Very much like a notebook in size, plain covers, it seems sturdy, has sustained several coffee spills and is still okay. will conform to stacks of books and papers carried around.Seems to be working out great for me. Moving to these types of notebooks was a big change for me-I used to just write in small-ish spiral notebooks. Then I found out those do not hold up so well as the years go by....Looks as if I wrote something the length of a novella here...

Anonymous said...

I can totally relate to the trouble in finding the right notebook. It's funny, but I also felt guilty scribbling in expensive journals. In the end, I've decided to just stay with the trusty old composition books. After a while you start to ignore the lines.

Anonymous said...

Rather amusing opinion

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And how was the reading? I might could be easy to buy a book and not so easy to read, what about the fluency text? I think you must be comment about it, becuase the books sounds very interesting.

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miami air conditioning said...

nice option, looks like harriet the spy book lol.
but let me tell you something, those notebooks are the best, i use it a lot, it have all the points u need

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