I see some very good topics here. Once I liked is the topic on notebooks. I have a collection of them, but frankly, [don't flame me here], I don't know what to write in them! Any suggestions?

I'm a card guy myself for notes. Use a good stock printed 3x5 card, but these are harder and harder to find with rounded corners in bright white stock that don't allow your FP to bleed through. Suggestions?

I use 3X5 cards too.

You can buy your own corner rounder to round the corners of the cards you have. A good one will cost about $150 and will last forever for personal use. The 1/4 radius is the best size for cards. Alternately you could go to your local printer. They should have something like that. It takes all of about 60 seconds to round corners on about 500 cards on the more expensive corner rounding machines. If they are nice people they may just do it gratis.

Re. Card stock and brightness. If you print your own cards then Hammermill makes a paper called Color Copy. It has a brightness of 98 and you can get it in 110 pound cover stock. That is heavier than what L_ _ _ _ _ _ r uses for their cards.

My wettest pen is a Visconti VanGogh with a med nib and Visconti ink which is a pretty wet ink. I have had no problems with feathering or bleed thru on this stock.

I have 3x5 index cards that I purchased from Office Max, thatseem to work weel with a coupleof mywet writing pens.
What do I write in my notebooks? Mostly a description of whathappened thatday, what I thoughtr about thatday, anything interesting that I read or talked about that day, or that I saw etc....

Notebooks are essentially for work. To each notebook its function, but basically I use them for first drafts, fieldnotes (I do ethnographic research), logging certain contacts, etc.

I have been "Circa-fied" (see diyplanner.com for details, but basically it's all about using the Circa (Levenger) / Rollabind system for notebook-making and note-taking) so most of my notebooks are custom.

I also have a personal journal.

A mentor once told me, "The first rule of good writing is to write down everything you think of that's good." So, if it is a thought that I find interesting enough to ponder more than 10 seconds or so, it is good enough to write down. And if I don't do it then, I will forget it. It takes getting used to at first, but quickly becomes habit. I guess the Corollary to the First Rule is "always have paper and pen."

I use a variety of media. Reporter's Moleskine in the hip pocket (they work for me, sorry about you others), 3X5 cards in the shirt pocket (pocket briefcase is a nice piece of kit), and so on.

I have one notebook that I use to write down things to study for job interviews, and also for things that might be useful for work. Rather than having to search in various places when preparing for an interview, I just open the notebook and study.

I usually carry a pocket-size Moleskine or Apica notebook when hiking, and record any interesting things found along the way - small maps, plant and animal life, very simple drawings (I have the drawing skills of a baboon), things that might be useful to bring for next time and any other relevant information. When traveling, I carry the same size notebook and record things such as hotel, restaurant and pub/bar info, things to remember to do next time, contact info for people, etc. I usually do not keep a journal of what I did while traveling, although I think many people do.

I jot down everything that comes to mind. Then, and over time, it either grows into something or doesn't. But, if it doesn't grow into something I leave it and let my mind work on it a bit. Nothing brilliant. I tend to blend letters, words, symbols, and sketches together to form a thought. I don't do this by design, it just comes out that way. Currently, I'm exploring (with words) why I think I might want to whittle. This brings me to another thought. I kind of know my interests, albeit varied, so I jot down whatever comes to mind for those when the thought happens.

I have not to date found the perfect tool, but I do keep obsessing over it. I've owned countless dozens over the decades, and so what. I hope to own dozens more, and who knows some day I may find the grail of record keeping. Currently, I'm finding Levenger's Pen Pocket Briefcase a worthy purchase. Also, I've recently asked Arthur over at Renaissance Art to build me one of his 5x8 leather folios which accomodates a pad versus journal or diary. I think this may to better permit me doddle, write, sketch, and who knows what.

As you can see, I ramble, but that's me being me. Who knows where I will head to next.

Good subject for a post. Thanks.

d.

My journal doubles as a notebook. I write down what happened during the day, log my work and time, and rant a bit. I also write down my thoughts on various topics. I spent some time lately writing down stories from my youth that my boys can read one day when I am gone.

I use mostly Moleskine notebooks lately. I have used other methods in the past, such as the Day-timer and Franklin-Covey systems. I have stacks of notebooks sitting around that I have kept since 1989. I don't know why, but that is when the bug hit me to start writing everything down.

Everything from who called me to what houses are going for in my area to who I need to call back and the things I need to do that day.

Let's go, Mountaineers!

M.S.W., WVU, 1982

My notebook is a multi-purpose journal: if I have a business meeting, I might just write a few notes to say what was discussed and agreed on - plus anything that I wouldn't be able to discuss, like my personal impression of a client's integrity, motivations, etc. But I might use the same notebook to write what I think about something I read in a newspaper. Or a relationship issue. Or the plot of a film. Or some old memory or impression. Bit messy, mixing them all up like that, but I can't seem to work out a system for multiple journals.

I try to use loose leaves, actually, so is that still a notebook? I bind 'em up every month. I just don't like carrying around a month's worth of personal observations and such - could be seriously embarrassing if I left it somewhere.

In fact, it happened, and it was almost critical. Having a very nasty argument with some clients over a major project, ugly talk about lawyers, penalty clauses, the works - and I really thought the clients were showing a serious lack of integrity. My long-suffering wife advised me not to talk about it to other people - quite right - but to write it down. We went to have a long, serious negotiation to work it all out, and we settled it, all friends again - and then, when I got home and looked in my bag, I found that my journal wasn't there. Cold sweat: the only place I'd been was down at the clients' office. Quickly called up my business partner, another long-suffering woman, to 'fess up and explain that this could get a bit nasty, considering that I'd written down my desire to hang the clients over hot coals and poke them with a stick, etc, etc. In a very syrupy tone, she said "Left something in my car earlier, did you?" Luckily, she's sympathetic to the concept of journaling, so I just asked her to leave it somewhere safe and kindly refrain from reading or letting anyone else do so. In the same syrupy tone, she agreed.

Now, whenever I get out of line or she wants to bring me back down to earth, she just looks at me and says "Blue journal."

A year's work on the line, tens of thousand of dollars: seriously, I would have had to leave town ....

I have a few notebooks. One is strictly for business and meetings. A second is multi-purpose. I'll write journal entries in it and first drafts for scenes that I'll use in stories. I have a third that I use for story ideas, character sketches, bits of dialog, and markets for stories. I usually have a few in reserve too since I can't resist buying one that I like when I see it.

Jim

Hey, I like very much that idea of yours about writing past experiences so your children can read it some time... I think I have to do something similar some day... what makes me think what combination of paper - ink will last for so long...Any idea on that?

Oh, I don't know. About any good quality (sewn binding) notebook and good ink will work. Some people get entirely too anal about this subject. I like blue black inks and have found the Dupont Night Blue, Montblanc Blue Black and Diamine Blue Black all to be waterproof on the papers that I tested them. All of my early journal were taken with ballpoint pens (Parker Jotter with Parker refills, black ink). The ones that I wrote in four or five years ago were written with Sanford Uni-Balls or Parkers. I found the Parker ball pen ink superior to the Sanfords. I will be picking up a couple of Dupont ball pens soon, and I may go back to using these for some applications, particularly in my Cigar journals. The main thing that I like about the Fountain Pens is the ability to select the colors of ink that I like, and the fact that I find them nicer to write with for long periods of time. I do not find them to be the best pens to use in the dirty and industrial environments that I often find myself in when writing.

A friend of mine writes letters to her young children in a book all the time: she started when she was still carrying them. She says she does it partly for herself, but she wants to give 'em the book when they are older, when she thinks they are ready or need it. I was quite charmed by the idea, so I asked her how she thought of it. She said her mum, a doctor, used to work late all the time, but always left her notes by her pillow when she came in and she kept them all and values them. So she wants her kids to have something like that, too. I think it's quite a cool concept.