Category Archives: Diary

90 Years of Diary-Keeping

A lovely story from the Washington Post: Woman, 100, has journaled every day for 90 years: ‘No excuse for me not to’ Evie Riski’s father gave her a diary so she could follow his tradition of recording the day’s events in her hometown. It was a week before her 11th birthday. Nine decades and almost … Continue reading 90 Years of Diary-Keeping

Brian Eno’s Notebooks

I recently watched a documentary about Brian Eno, which was streamed online as part of a 24-hour event where you could watch it up to 6 times. Each showing is different, generated randomly from hundreds of hours of interview footage from across Eno’s career– a very long and interesting career including his time as a … Continue reading Brian Eno’s Notebooks

Book Review: “The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper”

I’ve been looking forward to reading Roland Allen’s book “The Notebook” ever since I first heard about it. I mean, a book about the history of the notebook, what’s not to like? And yet, when I looked at the table of contents and started flipping through the book, I wondered if I would find it … Continue reading Book Review: “The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper”

2025 Planner Set-Up

This year, I feel like I’ve seen more Instagram and blog posts with this title than ever before. Setting up one’s planner for the coming year means different things to different people– for some, it seems to be an elaborate and labor-intensive process! I admire the creativity and care, and I’m sure beautiful, hand-crafted planner … Continue reading 2025 Planner Set-Up

Jack Parham’s Notebooks

I came across a very interesting post on the website of the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Their Heritage Education Officer Ruth Butler writes about working on a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, in 2016. She found what she describes as “a treasure-trove of sketchbooks, diaries, letters and photographs … Continue reading Jack Parham’s Notebooks

Hallmark Diaries from the 1970s

I have saved almost all the pocket size notebooks I’ve used in my life, except for the very earliest ones. I was drawn to small diaries and notebooks before I could even write, and the very first ones I remember using were Hallmark promotional diaries given away at the local drugstore– but I don’t have … Continue reading Hallmark Diaries from the 1970s

Techo Kaigi

I was reminded of this phrase by a marketing email from Plotter, linking to this post. Techo Kaigi means “notebook meeting,” and the idea is that you should have a meeting with yourself to contemplate your notebooking methods and make sure they are right for you. This is generally done in the fall, when planners … Continue reading Techo Kaigi

Filofax Fever

A few months ago, I went down a rabbit hole of reawakened interest in all my various Filofaxes. It turned into a big research project, the results of which I’ll soon share in a series of posts. The research project ended up involving some shopping, so my Filofax collection is now even larger than it … Continue reading Filofax Fever

Interesting Japanese Diaries

Every so often, I spot interesting looking Japanese notebooks and planners on Instagram. Without knowing any Japanese, it’s sometimes hard to figure out what the brand is, but sometimes I manage to click around in various hashtags and find at least a keyword or two that might lead to a link I can copy and … Continue reading Interesting Japanese Diaries

The Drew Family Diaries

In my post about Denbigh notebooks, I linked to a site that had a photo of a Denbigh notebook from the 1960s: Drew Family Diaries. These diaries are worth a post of their own! Roger Drew created a website to share this amazing collection of diaries kept by members of his family, starting with his … Continue reading The Drew Family Diaries