(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, Root Rot, is now available for pre-order!)
Last year, overwhelmed with work, school, travel, and writing, I aimed to simplify my life by trying to use stationery with multiple uses. Less to carry, more versatility, everything I needed at hand. It got me through a tough year. But I missed using some of the things I love. Did the purely utilitarian approach work? Yes. Is it for me? No. I want to indulge in the endless variety of stationery glee.
This year, overwhelmed with work and more work, and writing and more writing (but no school and much less travel), I'm reverting to the more playful approach to my notebooks. Which means lots and lots of notebooks.
In this post, I'll focus on my daily carry notebooks. Because if we talk about all of them, we'll be here all day.
First up, the planner. The nerve center. The external hard drive of my brain. I'm using a Hobonichi Techo Weeks this year, which I know from extensive field testing, is the best layout for me. Seeing a month at a glance is essential, as is the week-at-a-glance page, and room on the right page to make my to-do list is the perfect time management setup for me. One adaptation I make is that I add the Weeks Memo Book tucked inside the cover for some extra blank note taking pages. In that, I do time-blocking for busier weeks and make important long-term notes that I don't need in the back of the book itself. A Weeks Mega would eliminate the need for the extra memo book, but the Mega only comes in plain, boring covers and I need the fun, pretty covers. Notably (for me), I'm not using the zippered cover for my weeks this year. I always have in the past, but I've found I'm much more likely to use my planner if it's not in a case. I've also come to realize that having my planner and wallet in one system doesn't work for me, as I need to take my planner a lot of places where I do not want to bring my wallet. I also hate how the ribbon bookmark gets shredded by the zipper. And why would I want to cover up the pretty design on this one? So far, after December and January use, it's working great.
My writing notebook right now is the Pebble Stationery Cosmo Air Light A5 notebook with a fresh sheet of blotting paper. That's where new drafts are written after they're planned. I reviewed this in the past, and I love it, but it's filling up fast, so it will be switched out in the next few weeks. The planning for these stories happens in my commonplace book.
My commonplace book for this year (and a good part of last year) is my Plotter Bible Size. I got the Plotter Mini 5 at the Chicago Pen Show last May to try them out and see if I liked the setup. I did, alas. So I went all-in on the black leather Bible Size version, and I have no regrets. I have different sections separated out with their project manager inserts, so I can keep adulting stuff apart from writing stuff apart from hobby stuff. No work things go in this notebook--I have a separate notebook just for work, currently a Leuchtturm 1917 softcover (not shown, because work stays at work!). When I do travel this year, this will be the only notebook I bring.
Lastly, and a recent addition to my lineup, is a separate reading journal. Normally, reading journaling goes in my commonplace book, but this year I wanted to give it more space, and its own space. I also found myself missing my Traveler's Notebook that was my steadfast companion last year. Last year's was the passport size, but I still have my treasured early edition regular size, from back when Traveler's Company was still Midori. I got some fresh inserts and bands from Etsy and JetPens (indulging in a few older book-related ephemera), and that's where I'll track my reading and book reviews for this year. There's a blank insert; a monthly planner page where I can track start and end dates, book club meetings, literary award jury deadlines, etc.; and a grid insert for making lists. I also picked up the zipper and pocket cloth insert for holding stickers, bookmarks, a pencil, and page flags. So far, I love the setup, but only time will tell if I'll actually reach for it. I hope I do.
Other things not shown, notebook-wise, are the three notebooks in which four different books are being written. No, that is not logical or efficient, but that's how deadlines work, sometimes. I don't carry those every day--just when I'm working on that particular project. If I have inspiration related to one of them while I'm away from my home desk, it goes in the commonplace book. The Plotter works perfectly for that, because I can remove the Plotter page with those notes and tuck it into its relevant book. I also still have my old short story notebook, because I'm still working on edits to drafts that are in that book. And then there's a notebook on my nightstand where sleepy Sarah writes things down for future Sarah (often nonsense).
I like this, enjoying a variety of tools and letting each one do just the one thing it's best suited for, rather than picking one thing that does a bit of everything but none of it perfectly. The simplicity of one tool is still appealing, but I also like that I can take just my reading journal with me somewhere, and leave the rest of the world behind. There's a simplicity in compartmentalizing, too. Even if it looks like I'm living in a fort made out of notebooks. I'm happy in my fort.
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