Category Archives: productivity

What Famous Authors Write With

There was an interesting feature at Flavorwire on the writing tools of famous authors. Unfortunately, most of the examples just include a photo of the author rather than the writing tools themselves, but here’s a notable exception:   It’s J. K. Rowling‘s plans for writing Harry Potter, on a sheet of looseleaf paper. Wow. See … Continue reading What Famous Authors Write With

Notebooks on Alexa Von Tobel’s Desk

The New York Times takes a look at the desk of Alexa Von Tobel, the founder and C.E.O. of LearnVest.com: That’s quite a few notebooks on one desk! Here’s her thoughts on using them: OLD TECHNOLOGY I always have Moleskine notebooks on my desk. I am a big journaler. Every day I write down where … Continue reading Notebooks on Alexa Von Tobel’s Desk

Notebook Addict of the Week: Ruth Ayres

This week’s addict was another one found via the wonderful Sharing Our Notebooks site. I just couldn’t resist this photo! Going through my notebooks, I find a driving force in my life is asking questions. It’s a strategy I’ve returned to across time and genre. Check out these notebooks…see the sticky tabs? They mark the … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Ruth Ayres

Can Notebooks Help the Japanese Have More Babies?

Weirdest notebook story of the week: With Japan’s birth rate stuck in low gear, the Abe administration has come up with a new idea to make babies: convince the women to have a child earlier rather than later. It plans to give out notebooks to all young women – and perhaps also to young men … Continue reading Can Notebooks Help the Japanese Have More Babies?

Review and Giveaway: Word. Notebooks from Cool Material

The folks at Cool Material sent me a nice batch of their recently introduced “Word.” notebooks. These are a staple-bound notebook in the vein of Field Notes and the Moleskine cahiers, but with a unique page format. First impressions: I love the cover designs, in cool colors and camouflage patterns. They came packaged very beautifully … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Word. Notebooks from Cool Material

More Good Stuff from Our Readers

From Jennie, a link to an article with some more great reasons to favor paper over digital note-taking: “The notebook has an immediate tactile advantage over phones: they aren’t connected to the Internet. It’s intimate in a way computers aren’t. A notebook has never interrupted me with a screen that says, “Wuz up?” Notebooks are … Continue reading More Good Stuff from Our Readers

Keeping Your Creative Ideas in a Separate Notebook?

Suw Charman-Anderson has an interesting article at Forbes.com about the best ways to use a notebook for creative endeavors. She refers to another series of blog posts called The Entrepreneur’s Notebook, which brings up a controversial approach: I’ve always used my notebooks for everything, whether that was notes from a meeting I was in, to … Continue reading Keeping Your Creative Ideas in a Separate Notebook?

Review: Bound Custom Journals

I’ve had my eye on Bound Custom Journals for a while. The company was launched in 2011 after a successful Kickstarter campaign, inspired by founder Joel Sadler’s desire for a customized travel journal. The result is pretty extraordinary: a website where you can build custom notebooks page by page, with all manner of page templates … Continue reading Review: Bound Custom Journals

Notebook Addict of the Week: Mark William Jackson

This week’s addict wrote a blog post called A Pile of Notebooks, including the photo and excerpt below: I love notebooks, I love the possibilities that a new notebook holds; the clean blank pages, the elastic band that holds it closed, the ribbon page marker. But, being an obsessive-compulsive, each entry would have to be … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Mark William Jackson