Esmé has been featured here as a notebook addict before, back in January 2014. Since then, their collection has been expanding , filling a whole additional shelf!

Esmé writes:

“So I’m now 17, as of last week (I was 15 when I last submitted I think), and I’ve been collecting notebooks for the last couple of years. I have journals from when I was 9, and since I was 14-ish I’ve been keeping all my general notebooks, creative writing notebooks, and sketchbooks (I used to tear out the useful pages and bin the rest…)
In the photos, you’ll see

• my entire filled notebook collection (except my first 12 journals, which are in my loft)
• some pages from old journals (the small black moleskine is the one I took with me to Namibia this year, on a school expedition)
• my collection of in-use notebooks and examples of their contents (a page from my sketchbook, a page from my creative writing notebook, a page from my quote book, a page from my current general notebooks, and a spread in my current journal)
• my blank notebooks

Writing down my thoughts has helped me figure out so many things- opinions, feelings…most importantly to me, my gender identity, which I finally understood after several pages of “I don’t feel like a girl or a boy at all ohh no!” ramblings.
My friend told me recently that “someone could take all your notebooks and just… become you”, which is pretty indicative of how much I write and draw day-to-day!

Thanks for being a reminder that if my notebook habit is weird then I’m not the only weirdo around!”

Indeed, we’re all pretty weird here if notebook addiction is any indication… but hey, who needs “normal!”

Here’s Esmé’s photos:

I love Esme’s dense pages of writing and collage, and the commitment to filling lots of those pages, especially at such a young age! Keep it up, Esmé, and thank you for sharing your addiction!