As I noted in my recent “using now” post, I tend to carry around a sketchbook and a journal, two separate notebooks. (And this year, I’ve added a third standalone notebook, a Nolty diary for logging, planning and lists.) There are a few reasons for this– paper type is a major one. I enjoy writing on lighter paper such as what’s found in a Moleskine squared notebook, but for drawing, where I may also use watercolor paints, I want to use something with unlined heavier paper, such as a Moleskine sketchbook.

At the moment, I’ve been using the Bindewerk linen cover notebook as my journal– this paper would be fine for drawing and light watercolors, but the dot grid pages are not ideal for anything other than casual sketches. My journal pages contain a variety of writing, doodling, minor scrapbooking and the occasional rough drawing:

For more serious drawing, I just finished a Moleskine sketchbook and started using a Leda Art Supply pocket sketchbook for the first time. It’s a nice chunky size, and the paper is very good, even though it is thinner than Moleskine paper. The notebook has double the number of pages of a Moleskine sketchbook– this is a good thing in a way, but it also makes me feel like it will take too long to finish it! (Sometimes I just get antsy to unwrap a new notebook…)

Because the Leda paper works nicely with fountain pens, I’m tempted to combine my journaling and sketching in this one notebook. This would cut down the number of notebooks I’m carrying around in my bag every day, and I like the idea of my journal entries being interspersed with colorful drawings and paintings. But the biggest problem with that idea is that my friends and family often ask to see what I’ve been sketching. I usually just hand them the sketchbook so they can flip through at their own pace. But there’s no way I want to hand someone a notebook that contains all my journal entries! (The stuff that is blurred out in the photos above.)

I’ve had a similar worry about taking notes in meetings at my job– I usually had a dedicated work notebook on my desk in my office, but it was a large notebook and I didn’t always carry it with me on business travel. So sometimes I’d take out my journal to make notes in a meeting, and I’d always worry that I’d inadvertently reveal a personal page to someone sitting next to me. I’d also be paranoid about leaving the notebook at my seat if I got up between sessions– it is unlikely that some nosy person would just start flipping through it but what if they did?

All this leaves me feeling like it works best to continue to maintain multiple notebooks to separate public things I might want to share, and writings I’d rather keep private. How do you handle this dilemma? Do you let other people look at some, all, or none of your notebooks?