I have also started taking notes / book journaling while reading is still in progress! It forces me to be reflective as I go, not just rush to the finish.
It's my first time doing a TBR too... we shall compare notes!
I have kept some sort of journal or notebook for most of my life. Currently my collection is a mess. I have a journal, a notebook I call my “idea farm” where I try to corral my lightbulb moments, but then I have *waves hands* these others … I think your post might be what I’ve been looking for!
I love the IDEA FARM notebook... Is it a small notebook you have on you at most times or do you capture ideas all over and then transfer them into the IDEA FARM?
The part about experimenting and finding what works for me versus copy and paste resonates deeply.
Principles applied to unique circumstances and personal Blueprint.
I’ve also been a seeker of the perfect notebook system in the past. Giving myself more grace these days and still intrigued by people’s personal notebook/journal styles.
Thank you so much for your note, Brandon. I have to keep reminding myself that having a PERFECT NOTEBOOK SYSTEM is not the goal. The goal is to feel clarity, to be organized enough that you get your stuff done and leave a significant amount of room for intellectual and creative inspiration. Having fun with notebooks is a creative act in itself that is super valuable but it's important not to fetishize the objects.
As someone who has started many journals/notebooks & left them all unfinished, I feel seen. This season of my life is perfect for picking up one of those notebooks to tracking all books started reading, as on the reading wagon again.
If you are in a busy time of life, I think keeping a simple reading log is a totally reasonable way to journal. What we read is such a reflection of where we are mentally at a given moment. And you would be shocked how much that simple list will bring back to you over time!
I usually don’t like to spend an extended period of time with a screen in the morning, but I got a notification that you posted about your notebooks and I haaaad to read it! No regrets. Thank you for sharing your lovely practice with us. My notebook ecosystem is somewhat New—for years and years I didn’t have dedicated notebooks for anything, just absolute chaos—so my ecosystem is far from settled, but as it stands now I have: a bullet journal that I use as a planner and short-form diary/memory holder; a reading notebook where I record my journey through most books I read through quotes, thoughts, and questions; a journal for long form entries about what’s going on in my life; a very cheap notebook where I record all of the darker mental health things that I need to exorcise, but want to keep out of my memory-focused journal (this also serves as my therapy journal/notes!); and a scrappy little notebook that is the vestigial remnant of those chaos notebooks I used to keep.
I love the idea of keeping a dark material notebook! As I mentioned in my commonplace journaling post, one of the reasons I wanted to take a break from my morning pages was that I was over-indexing on negative writing and felt like that was not helpful. I think I will try that - write the negative stuff down so that I can still get it out of my system but then toss it or burn it when done....
That’s actually exactly why I started the dark materials notebook (stealing that name btw). I kept mornings pages through 2022-23 and stopped bc of the negativity, but then when I wanted to go back to them to try to remember who I was and what I was doing during that time—I couldn’t make myself re-wallow. So I started the journal with a focus on what’s actually happening (vs aaaaallllll my many feelings). But sometimes the dark stuff just gets SO big. Anyway, I’m glad I could inspire you!
When I was growing up in Bulgaria, I remember watching my grandfather journal EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. He had one of those tiny passport-sized weekly planners. I was so mystified by the whole thing until I learned to read when I realized that his entries were just hilariously prosaic - got up, had breakfast, milked the goat, saw my brother, got my hair cut. Next. When I start getting really into my drama, I just tell myself just stop it.... write about the weather.
I love my notebooks too and generally do all of those things in 1 notebook (with a little notation system). And I use, and love, good old-school, Composition notebooks. I can pick them up for $2.00 when needed. And I always feel a little ‘retro-hip’ when writing in them in a coffee shop. Oh, and blue Bic pens. Always blue ink…
Composition Notebooks are so cool to me, too. I love that they feel so retro in a way, a total classic. Also - just a good reminder that it's the thoughts and ideas on the pages that matter. Better notebooks do not guarantee better ideas. To the contrary, "nicer paper" so often leads to total creative paralysis!!!
"Some days, the only evidence that I existed at all is the ink I left behind." Damn. This got me, Petya! Loved this look at your notebook system- a new-to-me idea. For my own part, I am a panicky notebook keeper...what I mean by that is, I love all things notebooks, but when I get nice ones, I panic about "using it properly", like it deserves some sort of special treatment, and I don't feel worthy of writing in it. I have also looked for the 'ideal' set-up for years; something that captures all, but perhaps an ecosystem is what I've been needing all along...You are a natural on YouTube, btw!
I completely relate to that panicky feeling wanting to do a good job with the notebooks. I do a lot of comfort-watching of stationary-lovers videos on YouTube and feel such a mixture of inspiration and paralysis when I try to make my own notebooks look nicer. The only way to get over it is to make yourself do it and even use the nicest notebooks for the most pedestrian of tasks... just to break through that fear!!!
Thank you for watching the video. I don't know if you could tell but I was completely out of breath by the time I finished filming. I was so nervous!!!
I have TBR lists all over the place… an excel sheet on my laptop, very useful because I can sort it by author or genre, on my phone which is useful when I make a spontaneous trip to the library. Lists on good reads and Amazon and BookBrowse. I do find good reads very useful for looking up something to see if I’ve read it before. I’m not very disciplined about journal writing, having started it many times, pretty recently once again. It would be very useful to have a memory jog about what I’ve read to write it in a journal, but …
Paper is romantic but digital is so practical. I know the struggle.
I think the important thing to remember is that wherever the lists are, you just need to remember to review them periodically. That way the lists are actually useful! I look through my lists when I try to micro-plan future reading and definitely before I embark on a bookstore trip so that I stay on track.
I’m intrigued by your notebook ecosystem - particularly your reading set. Food for thought. Recently I’ve been dabbling with the idea of a poem as a close reading. My idea is still in a development phase. As I’ve worked through my idea I recently thought about Louise Rosenblatt and her idea that reading was transactional. The reader’s experiences guide their noticing and synthesizing of the text. Thus our responses reflect who we are.
Tell us more about your idea of a poem as a close reading!!!
Also, making a note to read more on Louise Rosenblatt's theory - I was not familiar with her work until you brought it up and just a cursory look makes me feel super aligned with her. THANK YOU.
I love this! I also have TONS of different notebooks for any use you might think of - book tracker, planner/bullet journal, poetry, a commonplace book, lists, name ideas for future children, story vignettes... the list goes on.
I am so glad you found this helpful. I am curious if people who don't care about notebooks and stationary look at this and think... lady, get a life. lol
Always great to see how others journal. I feel like I find pearls that are worth trying myself and then determining if they resonate longer term. How have you used the Stalogy notebooks? I am obsessed with the paper!
I just completed a work notebook and switched to a Stalogy notebook for my daily work notes. This is a HUGE breakthrough for me because typically I would want to "save" the nice notebook for something "special" .... and then I never do the special thing because I would be too afraid to worry the nice notebook. I know, it's pathological.
I am less than a week into using this NICE notebook for boring, daily notes and it's honestly the best feeeling ever. Working on a stressful project feels like I little treat because I get to write into my pretty pale blue notebook with my pretty new fountain pen!!! Here's the pen:
Love my Lamy pens and the EF with Lamy, which is on the dry side, is perfect in the Stalogy. I kinda want a Stology as my book journal but right now trying as a commonplace.
I love the grand voyager. I used to create my own calendar each year in a moleskine, and then I’d have to hand transfer all of my written notes- drs names, books I want to read, restaurants I’d want to try, each year, but now, with the voyager, the lined notebook with all of my notes just follows me to the next year. It’s such a better system!
That's exactly my thinking, too! Prior to this iteration, I would dedicate back pages of notebooks to these more permanent notes and then have to deal with transfering them, etc.
I will give this a little time to see if it sticks but I think that next year, I might create a Daily Stack Paper Republic and use their inserts for a planner, journal and work notebook.
I have their day planner, lined journal and a blank journal for art, but the art journal makes the whole thing too beefy. Maybe once the leather stretches it can accommodate a third journal. I hope so! Right now, I just have two in there.
Great post! I’ve kept a journal since I was 8. I love the way my brain trickles out on the paper. I love the idea of multiple notebooks. I’m currently doing a daily log (not too successfully but I have to start some where), my personal journal, a commonplace notebook (I just learned about them since joining Substack) and a spiritual journal. I keep a list on my phone of article ideas, character names, funny observances from the gym, and funny or motivational sayings that would be great on a T-shirt (no, I do not have a T-shirt business, but if I do…).
You did a marvelous job on your video. Your accent is so elegant and beautiful.
I love this look into your notebook ecosystem! I’ve been keeping a book journal since 2017 thanks to Anne Bogel, where i list the books each year on 4 pages, then follow that with more in-depth notes. I have always kept a personal journal, too for working stuff out in. But then I have a nature observation journal, and various visual journals of ideas and quotes for inspiration. I tried putting together everything into a BUJO but found I prefer things separate. I have also kept a gift journal since 2003 where i list Christmas and birthday gifts I have given and received. I also have a ridiculous amount of blank journals just waiting for their time to be filled.
At my desk, typically, but it does move around. I do not always write in the day of, but will go back a couple days if needed and fill in. In my 5 year, I did 4 and took a year off and realized i really missed it. Sometimes it’s just as simple as noting when my Japanese maple leafed out or the chickadees began to nest in the birdhouse. Sometimes it’s just recording what i cooked for dinner and what we were watching…which is oddly interesting when I pick a random day. Rereading multiple years of the same day on one page is pretty powerful in a different way then my typical journaling. I do something similar with my photos…search for a specific day and see what I was doing and how my life has changed.
I have also started taking notes / book journaling while reading is still in progress! It forces me to be reflective as I go, not just rush to the finish.
It's my first time doing a TBR too... we shall compare notes!
I love this in-depth look at your notebook ecosystem Petya! Thanks for the shoutout as well.
Trying to contain my envy, honestly. I wish I had started doing this years ago but since it’s not possible… Thank you for the inspiration!
I have kept some sort of journal or notebook for most of my life. Currently my collection is a mess. I have a journal, a notebook I call my “idea farm” where I try to corral my lightbulb moments, but then I have *waves hands* these others … I think your post might be what I’ve been looking for!
I love the IDEA FARM notebook... Is it a small notebook you have on you at most times or do you capture ideas all over and then transfer them into the IDEA FARM?
The part about experimenting and finding what works for me versus copy and paste resonates deeply.
Principles applied to unique circumstances and personal Blueprint.
I’ve also been a seeker of the perfect notebook system in the past. Giving myself more grace these days and still intrigued by people’s personal notebook/journal styles.
Great post!
Thank you so much for your note, Brandon. I have to keep reminding myself that having a PERFECT NOTEBOOK SYSTEM is not the goal. The goal is to feel clarity, to be organized enough that you get your stuff done and leave a significant amount of room for intellectual and creative inspiration. Having fun with notebooks is a creative act in itself that is super valuable but it's important not to fetishize the objects.
As someone who has started many journals/notebooks & left them all unfinished, I feel seen. This season of my life is perfect for picking up one of those notebooks to tracking all books started reading, as on the reading wagon again.
If you are in a busy time of life, I think keeping a simple reading log is a totally reasonable way to journal. What we read is such a reflection of where we are mentally at a given moment. And you would be shocked how much that simple list will bring back to you over time!
I usually don’t like to spend an extended period of time with a screen in the morning, but I got a notification that you posted about your notebooks and I haaaad to read it! No regrets. Thank you for sharing your lovely practice with us. My notebook ecosystem is somewhat New—for years and years I didn’t have dedicated notebooks for anything, just absolute chaos—so my ecosystem is far from settled, but as it stands now I have: a bullet journal that I use as a planner and short-form diary/memory holder; a reading notebook where I record my journey through most books I read through quotes, thoughts, and questions; a journal for long form entries about what’s going on in my life; a very cheap notebook where I record all of the darker mental health things that I need to exorcise, but want to keep out of my memory-focused journal (this also serves as my therapy journal/notes!); and a scrappy little notebook that is the vestigial remnant of those chaos notebooks I used to keep.
I love the idea of keeping a dark material notebook! As I mentioned in my commonplace journaling post, one of the reasons I wanted to take a break from my morning pages was that I was over-indexing on negative writing and felt like that was not helpful. I think I will try that - write the negative stuff down so that I can still get it out of my system but then toss it or burn it when done....
That’s actually exactly why I started the dark materials notebook (stealing that name btw). I kept mornings pages through 2022-23 and stopped bc of the negativity, but then when I wanted to go back to them to try to remember who I was and what I was doing during that time—I couldn’t make myself re-wallow. So I started the journal with a focus on what’s actually happening (vs aaaaallllll my many feelings). But sometimes the dark stuff just gets SO big. Anyway, I’m glad I could inspire you!
When I was growing up in Bulgaria, I remember watching my grandfather journal EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. He had one of those tiny passport-sized weekly planners. I was so mystified by the whole thing until I learned to read when I realized that his entries were just hilariously prosaic - got up, had breakfast, milked the goat, saw my brother, got my hair cut. Next. When I start getting really into my drama, I just tell myself just stop it.... write about the weather.
I love my notebooks too and generally do all of those things in 1 notebook (with a little notation system). And I use, and love, good old-school, Composition notebooks. I can pick them up for $2.00 when needed. And I always feel a little ‘retro-hip’ when writing in them in a coffee shop. Oh, and blue Bic pens. Always blue ink…
Composition Notebooks are so cool to me, too. I love that they feel so retro in a way, a total classic. Also - just a good reminder that it's the thoughts and ideas on the pages that matter. Better notebooks do not guarantee better ideas. To the contrary, "nicer paper" so often leads to total creative paralysis!!!
"Some days, the only evidence that I existed at all is the ink I left behind." Damn. This got me, Petya! Loved this look at your notebook system- a new-to-me idea. For my own part, I am a panicky notebook keeper...what I mean by that is, I love all things notebooks, but when I get nice ones, I panic about "using it properly", like it deserves some sort of special treatment, and I don't feel worthy of writing in it. I have also looked for the 'ideal' set-up for years; something that captures all, but perhaps an ecosystem is what I've been needing all along...You are a natural on YouTube, btw!
I completely relate to that panicky feeling wanting to do a good job with the notebooks. I do a lot of comfort-watching of stationary-lovers videos on YouTube and feel such a mixture of inspiration and paralysis when I try to make my own notebooks look nicer. The only way to get over it is to make yourself do it and even use the nicest notebooks for the most pedestrian of tasks... just to break through that fear!!!
Thank you for watching the video. I don't know if you could tell but I was completely out of breath by the time I finished filming. I was so nervous!!!
Not at all- you seemed like a pro! Well done for facing your fears 😀
I have TBR lists all over the place… an excel sheet on my laptop, very useful because I can sort it by author or genre, on my phone which is useful when I make a spontaneous trip to the library. Lists on good reads and Amazon and BookBrowse. I do find good reads very useful for looking up something to see if I’ve read it before. I’m not very disciplined about journal writing, having started it many times, pretty recently once again. It would be very useful to have a memory jog about what I’ve read to write it in a journal, but …
Paper is romantic but digital is so practical. I know the struggle.
I think the important thing to remember is that wherever the lists are, you just need to remember to review them periodically. That way the lists are actually useful! I look through my lists when I try to micro-plan future reading and definitely before I embark on a bookstore trip so that I stay on track.
I’m intrigued by your notebook ecosystem - particularly your reading set. Food for thought. Recently I’ve been dabbling with the idea of a poem as a close reading. My idea is still in a development phase. As I’ve worked through my idea I recently thought about Louise Rosenblatt and her idea that reading was transactional. The reader’s experiences guide their noticing and synthesizing of the text. Thus our responses reflect who we are.
Tell us more about your idea of a poem as a close reading!!!
Also, making a note to read more on Louise Rosenblatt's theory - I was not familiar with her work until you brought it up and just a cursory look makes me feel super aligned with her. THANK YOU.
I love this! I also have TONS of different notebooks for any use you might think of - book tracker, planner/bullet journal, poetry, a commonplace book, lists, name ideas for future children, story vignettes... the list goes on.
Thank you, Kyra! The name ideas for future children made me laugh out loud.
It's an important thing to keep track of, what can I say! 😅
This is such a helpful post! Thank you for sharing system. ❤️
I am so glad you found this helpful. I am curious if people who don't care about notebooks and stationary look at this and think... lady, get a life. lol
Ha! Well definitely not me! The more, the merrier when it comes to journals 😊
Always great to see how others journal. I feel like I find pearls that are worth trying myself and then determining if they resonate longer term. How have you used the Stalogy notebooks? I am obsessed with the paper!
I just completed a work notebook and switched to a Stalogy notebook for my daily work notes. This is a HUGE breakthrough for me because typically I would want to "save" the nice notebook for something "special" .... and then I never do the special thing because I would be too afraid to worry the nice notebook. I know, it's pathological.
I am less than a week into using this NICE notebook for boring, daily notes and it's honestly the best feeeling ever. Working on a stressful project feels like I little treat because I get to write into my pretty pale blue notebook with my pretty new fountain pen!!! Here's the pen:
https://yosekastationery.com/products/lamy-safari-fountain-pen-cherry-blossom-special-edition-2024
Love my Lamy pens and the EF with Lamy, which is on the dry side, is perfect in the Stalogy. I kinda want a Stology as my book journal but right now trying as a commonplace.
I love the grand voyager. I used to create my own calendar each year in a moleskine, and then I’d have to hand transfer all of my written notes- drs names, books I want to read, restaurants I’d want to try, each year, but now, with the voyager, the lined notebook with all of my notes just follows me to the next year. It’s such a better system!
That's exactly my thinking, too! Prior to this iteration, I would dedicate back pages of notebooks to these more permanent notes and then have to deal with transfering them, etc.
I will give this a little time to see if it sticks but I think that next year, I might create a Daily Stack Paper Republic and use their inserts for a planner, journal and work notebook.
I have their day planner, lined journal and a blank journal for art, but the art journal makes the whole thing too beefy. Maybe once the leather stretches it can accommodate a third journal. I hope so! Right now, I just have two in there.
My friend Charlee exchanged his grand voyager for the portfolio size and he said that works better for him as it accommodates thicker notebooks.
Great idea!
Great post! I’ve kept a journal since I was 8. I love the way my brain trickles out on the paper. I love the idea of multiple notebooks. I’m currently doing a daily log (not too successfully but I have to start some where), my personal journal, a commonplace notebook (I just learned about them since joining Substack) and a spiritual journal. I keep a list on my phone of article ideas, character names, funny observances from the gym, and funny or motivational sayings that would be great on a T-shirt (no, I do not have a T-shirt business, but if I do…).
You did a marvelous job on your video. Your accent is so elegant and beautiful.
I love your lists!!! The gym one made me laugh out loud. And the tshirts!!! Good tshirt slogans are such an art form!
Thank you for watching the video too. I thought I was going to faint, I was so embarrassed.
I love this look into your notebook ecosystem! I’ve been keeping a book journal since 2017 thanks to Anne Bogel, where i list the books each year on 4 pages, then follow that with more in-depth notes. I have always kept a personal journal, too for working stuff out in. But then I have a nature observation journal, and various visual journals of ideas and quotes for inspiration. I tried putting together everything into a BUJO but found I prefer things separate. I have also kept a gift journal since 2003 where i list Christmas and birthday gifts I have given and received. I also have a ridiculous amount of blank journals just waiting for their time to be filled.
Oh…and after completing a 5 year daily journal, I’m on year 2 of a 10 year. I love seeing how seasonal I am in my observations and moods.
I have seen those and have been so curious. How do you stay consistent with it? Do you keep it by your bedside? Or at your desk?
At my desk, typically, but it does move around. I do not always write in the day of, but will go back a couple days if needed and fill in. In my 5 year, I did 4 and took a year off and realized i really missed it. Sometimes it’s just as simple as noting when my Japanese maple leafed out or the chickadees began to nest in the birdhouse. Sometimes it’s just recording what i cooked for dinner and what we were watching…which is oddly interesting when I pick a random day. Rereading multiple years of the same day on one page is pretty powerful in a different way then my typical journaling. I do something similar with my photos…search for a specific day and see what I was doing and how my life has changed.
I think you just convinced me to start a 5 year journal. I am feeling so nostalgic recently. It sounds wonderful.
I love the concept of a BUJO but my brain, too, seems to want things separately!!!