I got a kick out of this post from Gothamist, about an elderly lawyer who kept a notebook labeled “Tax Journal,” in which he dutifully recorded expenses that he later deducted. Good idea, in theory, but not when those supposedly tax-deductible expenses are, for 2002 alone, “$111,364 for ‘therapeutic sex’ and massages ‘to relieve osteoarthritis and enhance erectile function through frequent orgasm.'” The IRS declined to accept his visits to prostitutes, etc., as legitimate deductions, since they were illegal, AND he hadn’t saved the receipts.
The story reminded me of the mobster in the movie Casino who meticulously documented all his business expenses whenever he was sent across the country to help whack somebody, much to the enjoyment of the FBI!
I’ve yet to visit the Muji store in New York, but I used to go to one in London sometimes and always liked it. I never bought any notebooks there, but this is a great review of one: the Chronotebook, which offers a whole new way of looking at a daily planner. Each page spread shows an AM and PM clock face, and you can write in your appointments with a line to the time, taking up as much space as you need– more flexible than the hourly lines most daily planners offer.
I was in Paris this past weekend. Though I was trying to squeeze a lot of sight-seeing into a short trip, of course I tried to look for notebooks! I didn’t come across too many stationery stores, but I did find one place that was selling Moleskines, in what I think is considered part of the St. Germain de Pres area. This is a very upscale shopping zone, so perhaps that is why they could get away with charging 15 euros for a pocket size Moleskine! At the exchange rate I got at an ATM, that works out to $22.18! I think I will stick to buying Moleskines back home.
Do you have a place where you like to work? Do you ever pack it up and take your work outside? If so, what do you take with you? I mostly work in my studio at home. A messy place all my own. Sometimes, in the evening, I’ll stitch or sketch while watching TV with my husband.
As for going outside, one of my very favorite things to do is to go out with my sketch bag and draw and paint. I carry a Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook, pencil, permanent ink pen, kneadable eraser, a small palette of watercolors and my Niji waterbrush (a paint brush that holds water inside its cartridge). I consider my sketch bag my entertainment center and I can go anywhere, be anywhere and thoroughly enjoy myself sketching and painting whatever catches my fancy. I try to draw and paint in my sketchbook a couple of times a week, whether at my house, or on location. My husband also sketches, and we’ll often go together and hang out somewhere for an hour or two and draw.
on one for the blogs I read recently, the author (who shall remain nameless not because I’m trying to protect her, but because I can’t find the link, so I don’t actually remember her name) said that journalling is not writing.
*gasp*!
I know! Because most writing advice websites and books and instructors strongly advocate journals. “Carry a notebook at all times!” they say. “Jot down things!” “Do this writing exercise!”
But the blogger I read before said all this is crap (not her words). “Writers WRITE”, was the basic tenor of her advice. “They don’t fool around with ‘jotting.'”
And I have to say, I agree with her. And I keep a journal.
But those two things are very different–I keep a journal because I like it.
Available on Etsy, some lovely leather-bound journals. Some are quite embellished, but I like the look of the plain brown leather ones the best. And at $17, these seem very reasonably priced. You can even get free monogramming!
Another good idea is to write down your feelings about school in a journal. You can use a journal or diary or just write in an ordinary notebook. It’s a great way to let out emotions that may be stuck inside you. And you don’t have to share what you’ve written with others.
But if you’re a kid who’s the outcast at school, be careful what you do with that notebook! You don’t want to end up like Harriet the Spy, with everyone reading what you’ve written about them! I remember being completely distressed as a 7th grader when I lost a wonderful notebook. I hadn’t written anything nasty about my classmates, but I was just dying thinking someone might reveal embarrassing things I’d written about myself!
