Notepads For Journals - What To Do With Them

[Pussinboots]

Hello I am new here. This may sound crazy but I have just ordered a box of ten Europa notepads (reporter style) for journaling and I don't know if I want to use them for journaling now.

 

I used to write my journals in hard backed books but they got cumbersome so I thought that using these notepads which have pretty coloured covers would be more handy because they are easier to carry around, easier to store and I can even tear out pages if I want to.

 

But now I am suddenly longing for the hard backed book again. Should I try to persevere with these notepads? I have ten of them now. Does anyone here use these type of notepads and can recommend them? Do journals have to be beautiful bound books?

[chiaroscuro]

You can use them in a holder to get the feel of a book. Look up the Maruman Mnemosyne holders (harder) or Kokuyo Systemic (soft)

[abstract49]

Journals don't have to be beautiful, bound books; it's a matter of personal preference/need. Apparently, at some point, you thought you ought to keep yours in such, so perhaps that is your preference, and you may need to feed it to keep your interest in journaling at a higher pitch.

 

Personally, I like leather, and I like hard covers. I find that I like to look at these, to hold them, and to think about what should go into them; it is more inducive to putting some effort into writing at times when, for whatever reason, I am not quite ready to pick up a pen and start. I have tried other cover materials, and I miss the elegance of the leather. This might be of absolutely no importance to many others - and obviously is - but it's how I feel.

 

If you don't think you want to keep your journals in the new notebooks, don't. Eventually, you will find some use for them, or you will give them to friends and family members. Go find what you really like, and get a couple of iterations.

 

Editing a few minutes later: As Chiaroscuro says, you can get covers for them, which might make you feel better about their appearance. As for being able to tear out pages, well, it's up to you, but I never remove a page - well, hardly ever - from my journals. I might strike angry looking lines through remarks I regret, but I want the total honestly of my feelings at the moment I wrote those regretted remarks to remain as long as the journal exists.

Edited August 18, 2014 by abstract49

[Pussinboots]

Journals don't have to be beautiful, bound books; it's a matter of personal preference/need. Apparently, at some point, you thought you ought to keep yours in such, so perhaps that is your preference, and you may need to feed it to keep your interest in journaling at a higher pitch.

 

Personally, I like leather, and I like hard covers. I find that I like to look at these, to hold them, and to think about what should go into them; it is more inducive to putting some effort into writing at times when, for whatever reason, I am not quite ready to pick up a pen and start. I have tried other cover materials, and I miss the elegance of the leather. This might be of absolutely no importance to many others - and obviously is - but it's how I feel.

 

If you don't think you want to keep your journals in the new notebooks, don't. Eventually, you will find some use for them, or you will give them to friends and family members. Go find what you really like, and get a couple of iterations.

 

Editing a few minutes later: As Chiaroscuro says, you can get covers for them, which might make you feel better about their appearance. As for being able to tear out pages, well, it's up to you, but I never remove a page - well, hardly ever - remove pages from my journals. I might strike angry looking lines through remarks I regret, but I want the total honestly of my feelings at the moment I wrote those regretted remarks to remain as long as the journal exists.

 

Thanks for your replies. The reason I am thinking of ripping out pages is due to my paranoia of my journals possibly being read, though I do live alone there is still always the thought of what if...... The journals I kept before I ended up getting rid of them which I now regret so I feel that if I do write anything I feel someone may find hurtful I can always rip it out of a spiral notepad wihout destroying the whole book.

 

I do keep a scrapbook type diary in an exercise book which is something separate to my journal and that does suffice in the exercise book because of the nature of the book, pasting in photos and mementos etc, but there is something about hard backed books for journals as I only write in my journal when I feel the urge and not every day like I write in the scrapbook.

[Pussinboots]

Just to add, I have tried journaling on my laptop for privacy but its not the same as handwriting my journal.

[abstract49]

Just to add, I have tried journaling on my laptop for privacy but its not the same as handwriting my journal.

 

You got that right! A keyboard and a screen just don't do it for many of us, especially fountain pen users.

[SallyLyn]

If you (the generic you) do everything the same from today till the day you die, I'm not certain why you need to bother to live. How boring is a long wall of black leather journals. Keep 'em, toss 'em who cares. The memories are in your brain somewhere. Rereading my youthful sorrows, pain, losses, even the good times have done nothing except to be delighted I was no longer in that spot and to rush for the shredding machine in hopes shredding could erase the thoughts forever.

 

I do think writing, journaling is good for getting things out of your racing brain. Write it down, close the book, walk away, it's gone. -And yet writing is one of the best ways to learn and remember. Go figure.

[ac12]

Mine are simple wire bound notebooks.

Good because they are cheap and I can afford to write a LOT on them.

[Pussinboots]

Journals don't have to be beautiful, bound books; it's a matter of personal preference/need. Apparently, at some point, you thought you ought to keep yours in such, so perhaps that is your preference, and you may need to feed it to keep your interest in journaling at a higher pitch.

 

Personally, I like leather, and I like hard covers. I find that I like to look at these, to hold them, and to think about what should go into them; it is more inducive to putting some effort into writing at times when, for whatever reason, I am not quite ready to pick up a pen and start. I have tried other cover materials, and I miss the elegance of the leather. This might be of absolutely no importance to many others - and obviously is - but it's how I feel.

 

If you don't think you want to keep your journals in the new notebooks, don't. Eventually, you will find some use for them, or you will give them to friends and family members. Go find what you really like, and get a couple of iterations.

 

Editing a few minutes later: As Chiaroscuro says, you can get covers for them, which might make you feel better about their appearance. As for being able to tear out pages, well, it's up to you, but I never remove a page - well, hardly ever - from my journals. I might strike angry looking lines through remarks I regret, but I want the total honestly of my feelings at the moment I wrote those regretted remarks to remain as long as the journal exists.

Thinking about it I take your point. If I am longing for the pretty books and I kept up with this method in the past it seems that's what I need to do. Exercise books are great for my scrapbook diary but for journalling my feelings I feel I need a nice book. I know they are more cumbersome to carry around but I may just have to find ways round that.

[Pussinboots]

Journals don't have to be beautiful, bound books; it's a matter of personal preference/need. Apparently, at some point, you thought you ought to keep yours in such, so perhaps that is your preference, and you may need to feed it to keep your interest in journaling at a higher pitch.

 

Personally, I like leather, and I like hard covers. I find that I like to look at these, to hold them, and to think about what should go into them; it is more inducive to putting some effort into writing at times when, for whatever reason, I am not quite ready to pick up a pen and start. I have tried other cover materials, and I miss the elegance of the leather. This might be of absolutely no importance to many others - and obviously is - but it's how I feel.

 

If you don't think you want to keep your journals in the new notebooks, don't. Eventually, you will find some use for them, or you will give them to friends and family members. Go find what you really like, and get a couple of iterations.

 

Editing a few minutes later: As Chiaroscuro says, you can get covers for them, which might make you feel better about their appearance. As for being able to tear out pages, well, it's up to you, but I never remove a page - well, hardly ever - from my journals. I might strike angry looking lines through remarks I regret, but I want the total honestly of my feelings at the moment I wrote those regretted remarks to remain as long as the journal exists.

Thinking about it I take your point. If I am longing for the pretty books and I kept up with this method in the past it seems that's what I need to do. Exercise books are great for my scrapbook diary but for journalling my feelings I feel I need a nice book. I know they are more cumbersome to carry around but I may just have to find ways round that.

[byggyns]

If you are just going to get rid of them in the end, use less expensive lower quality books and get a nice cover for them. I suggest having a leather cover custom made. That way, you have the nicer feel when writing, but you aren't literally throwing away the money spent on a better quality journal.

 

If they are something that you want to keep to have for yourself & your family to read later in life and after you pass, buy the good stuff & keep it nice.

 

On a personal note, I will say that the journals, bible study notes, and correspondance that my grandmother kept were so precious to us after we lost her to alzheimer's. It was a comfort to read & remember her thoughts the way she was before the disease stripped her reason & most of her personality from her. After years of seeing her decline, I had almost forgotten how sharp her mind was before hand.

[GatzBcn]

The thing is a journal, for me, is something I want to keep for a lifetime. For that reason, I want it to be beautiful. I would buy expensive journals, but I am a binder, so I make them just the way I want it. I certainly wouldn't tear a page away from my journal. I don't know, it's something that doesn't go into my mind.

 

Here are my two cents .