Category Archives: Diary

Notebooking through the Pandemic

How’s everyone doing? Are you staying home? Are you writing a lot? Drawing? Filling notebooks to fill your time? Recording what life is like during this historic pandemic? These are such strange times. I’ve stopped carrying a bag or any notebooks with me when I do my weekly grocery run so I’ll have less stuff … Continue reading Notebooking through the Pandemic

Notebooks from Hancock Hill

How would you like to sit at this desk and do some writing in a notebook? That desk is on Hancock Hill, in Alpine, Texas. It’s been there for 40 years. At first, the guy whose idea it was to put the desk there just stashed a notebook in the drawer so he could record … Continue reading Notebooks from Hancock Hill

Gage & Tollner Notebooks from the 1960s and 1970s

I lived in Brooklyn for years, but never went to Gage and Tollner, an old-fashioned steakhouse that was an institution there for over 100 years until it closed in 2004. They’re working on reopening soon, and in the process, came across some amazing artifacts. From an article in the New York Times: For an individual, … Continue reading Gage & Tollner Notebooks from the 1960s and 1970s

A Japanese Chef’s Notebooks

I love getting tips from readers, and this is a really special one. (Thanks Matt!) Itsuo Kobayashi, a former Japanese soba chef born in 1962 … has recorded his meals in painstakingly detailed, hand-drawn food diaries of sorts for the past 32 years. In addition to recollections about taste, Kobayashi’s pen has accounted for every … Continue reading A Japanese Chef’s Notebooks

Nolty Daily Book and Other 2020 Diaries

My Nolty addiction went a little overboard this year. I was so intrigued by some of the 2020 formats that I ended up buying 4 diaries, including the new Nolty Daily Book. I’m not totally sure how I’m going to use all of them! First, the Nolty Efficiency Notebook Gold. This is my second year … Continue reading Nolty Daily Book and Other 2020 Diaries

Notebook Addict of the Week: Isabel Val Bento

This week’s notebook addict was spotted on Instagram, with quite the stack of notebooks and journals! (There are more in the video.) View this post on Instagram 💕🖤 Read them All 💕🖤 💕🖤 The Good & the Bad 💕🖤 💕🖤 " Ah to be able to express myself as an engine expresses itself " – … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Isabel Val Bento

2019 Image Diary

As mentioned in a recent post about my daily carry notebooks, I’ve been using an extra Nolty diary to keep a scrapbook of interesting images, often artworks seen in the newspaper or a magazine, or sometimes just random clippings and bits of washi tape. A couple people have asked if I print out online images, … Continue reading 2019 Image Diary

Productivity Planners

Here’s an interesting reader question about productivity planners: Hi I wonder if you have reviewed (productivity) Planners or if your readers can recommend some. Semi-business types with annual goals to help track goals break down tasks and monitor progress. Something like these type of planners: – http://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-undated-planners-productivity.html Of the undated planners mentioned in the linked article, … Continue reading Productivity Planners

Books to Inspire Notebooking

Shaunta Grimes at The Every Day Novelist has some interesting posts about notebooking. This one was particularly appealing to me: 10 Books That Will Make You Want to Keep a Notebook I was familiar already with a couple of the notebooking books she recommends. Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a classic, and contains the … Continue reading Books to Inspire Notebooking

David Sedaris’s Diaries

A reader tipped me off to what looks like a really interesting book: In this richly illustrated book, readers will for the first time experience the diaries David Sedaris has kept for nearly 40 years in the elaborate, three-dimensional, collaged style of the originals. A celebration of the unexpected in the everyday, the beautiful and … Continue reading David Sedaris’s Diaries