I'm wondering how many active notebooks everyone has? I have a quandry. I have one main notebook where I journal everything (it was recently collapsed from 3 notebboks, divided for fiction, poetry, and daily musings), however, I have been considering taking a second notebook on for notes on readings. The reason whay I like the second "reading notebook" idea is because it organizes (which I also like) my reading notes by text. I'm hesitant to commit to this because I think having all my work together will be easier for transport, and also allow me to make easier connections with other materials. What do you all think?

Thanks!

Let's see... there's one for work; one for journaling at home; and a new one (recently added) for building a new house.

As many as it takes.

I've separated out as I found it difficult to track down my writer's groups, research, bedside notations as the inspiration strikes me and so forth. The key is whatever works for YOU.

I have a few.

One for my personal journal.

One to jot my professional notes before I get to transcribe them when I'm away from the computer.

A few index card-based 3X5 and 4X6 Circa books for "literature trail" notes (i.e. one card for each book or article I should be digging out).

Lots of pads.

And a Circa junior foldover "binder/notebook" that I use as planner, but also as research diary and general notetaker. The research diary pages are then taken out to a bigger "binder/notebook" with only research diary pages in it for archival purposes...

I strongly recommend that you look into the Circa system (not necessarily the Levenger papers, but at least the ring/punch system) if you have notebook troubles! It solved A LOT of such problems for me.

Currently four:

One for work,

one for a course I'm doing (Clairing - Rolla-esque and very handy for this),

one for 'creative' bits (fiction and 'poetry')

and a journal.

It is certainly whatever works for you. I write in three, but they are due to location more than logic. I keep one by my bedside, one by my favorite chair and one in my RV trailer for trips. I wouldn't want to be far from a journal when I felt like writing.

I agree that it's a pretty personal choice; what works for any of us may not work for you, so experiment and see what you like.

I use three and a half or so (three large moleskines and one small one). One is a general journal, one is for class notes, and one is mostly for blog posts but it also doubles as a general place to scribble notes.

The small one is also a general journal; I use it when I want to take one more easily portable somewhere.

For me, I have 2 active ones and then there are the filled up ones I refer back to with ideas, sketches and notes of other things. They are all related to my organizational needs which revolve around business stuff. The active sizes are the smallest Rhodia pad which I carry with the Lamy Agenda pen and holds all my card stuffs. The other is the Rhodia A5 size (#16) where I do all my sketching, planning and sorting of ideas. That one has slots for 4-3X5 cards on the left of it.

My journal is an entirely different matter. It is entirely free form and more personal and exhibits the true disorganized state I prefer to wallow in.

I have recently been making some stuff for some built around the circa books and so have just started integrating them in my organizational routine.

A Moleskine pocket for journalling

A Moleskine large for notes on procedures at work

A Moleskine reporter for general notes

An interesting question...

I have one leather-bound journal that I use for, well, journalling. I do have a tendency to pick up whatever notepad or steno pad is lying around and use it to jot things down, but then I pick up another and lose the first. I've been thinking along the lines of getting another notebook to use for that sort of thing, and this thread only reinforced the idea. Thanks!

Cheers,
Tom

Three.
Work: Staples Spiral Bound Notebook for work.

Personal: hardcover spiral bound notebook in the purse (church notes, grocery lists, etc.)

Journal: composition book. I usually use the hard cover Barnes and Noble journals, but I had some leftover composition books.

One... And a bunch of assorted pads...

The one is a Lee Valley Everyman Journal. It gets carried everywhere, virtually without fail, for my journaling.

Everything else, design ideas, sketches, notes, lists, daily agendas get jotted wherever. I have pads and scraps all over the place. For a long time I tried having a second notebook for design ideas and sketches (the other non transient, non disposable stuff), but it became cumbersome to carry two books and I tended to always have the "wrong" book with me when I wanted it.

The second book is sitting someplace at home, untouched in years.

Every once and awhile I feel like I need to manage this better but I haven't come up with a viable solution yet... Maybe its a folder with loose pages and then I can file the pages in the right place when I get home each night.... But that seems a bit cumbersome too...

Who knows...