Tuesday, 1 July 2025

MY PERFECT NOTEBOOK by Penny Dolan

 Last night I finished a notebook. Today, the first of July, I will start a new one. The empty pages will be a kind of invitation, but how will this new book and I get along?

Stack of books and notebooks Free Photo Download | FreeImages 

Notebooks meet a variety of needs. They work as a home for ideas and inspiration on the run, for the safe storage for facts and research notes, as canvas to fill with 'morning pages' thoughts, as a creative space for collecting words, memories and images,or simply as lodging for ephemeral everyday needs. 

Many books have lined or - worse - narrow lined pages, which, while being useful, must carry a feeling of restriction for anyone with big handwriting. Some newer designs have squares, like French notebooks, or dots or hearts as markers instead. Plain pages are, to me, a whole other writing experience.

Notebooks also come in different shapes and sizes.  I've used all sorts in my time: cheap school exercise books; hard covers rigid with efficiency; indulgent 'travellers' notebooks with back pockets for tickets & stubs; annoyingly tiny notebooks for tinier fingers; huge wire-bound books, sectioned for subjects;  a couple of those richly embossed notebooks with magnetic closures - and less than rich paper inside, imo - and many other models alongside and inbetween.   

 

2 comments:

Sue Purkiss said...

I am very intermittent in my use of notebooks. I always start them with the best of intentions, but... The only one that I do stick to is my travel notebook. I use this to keep a record of trips and holidays - what we/I did, where we went. Every now and again I look back through them, and the entries are a lovely reminder of happy times.

Penny Dolan said...

Your travel notebook must be such a joy to read through, Sue. Well done with your persistence on that. I often start with a place to make new notes as we travel, but keeping up with the next plans, sights and sounds does use up quiet personal writing time. My daily notebook works quite well, though the quantity of daily mumblings can hide the more interesting travel stories.