A recent piece on the Elle magazine website compiles the thoughts of 4 women on how keeping a diary has affected their lives and their writing. Unfortunately there were no photos of any of their diaries, but below are a few excerpts from the article: Dolly Alderton: Now I record everything, from dialogue I overhear … Continue reading Four Authors on Keeping a Diary
The folks at Rollo London have continued to expand their product line, and recently introduced the Otto collection of notebooks. Let’s take a look at the sample Otto notebook they sent me: This is another pretty standard A5 format notebook. Like Rollo’s Hardy notebook I previously reviewed, the Otto notebook has a hard cover, ribbon … Continue reading Rollo London Otto Notebook Review
I love hearing from past notebook addicts who update me on how their collections have grown. JournalJoy was featured as a Notebook Addict in April 2015. Since then I my notebook collection has grown substantially and I recently uploaded a video on my Youtube channel featuring my entire journal collection. I love to take my … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week (Again): JournalJoy
I’ve previously featured Jordan Mechner’s Sketchbooks on this site, and more recently, I spotted an article he wrote on Medium about his habit of keeping a journal: I’m a journal-keeper. With over a hundred notebooks filled since 1982, it’s become part of who I am. I couldn’t have expected or anticipated all the ways my … Continue reading Jordan Mechner on Journaling
For me, size matters. When it comes to choosing a notebook, I mean. I have hundreds of notebooks, in a variety of styles, materials, colors, and brands, but most of them fall into a pretty narrow size range. My preferred size has evolved over time, perhaps in proportion to the size of my own hands: … Continue reading What Matters?
A fun look inside the world of Kevin Aucoin, the celebrity makeup artist who sadly died way too young. He seems to have used a variety of diaries in a similar format but with different page layouts. I’m not sure what brand any of them were. Kevyn Aucoin was a makeup artist decades ahead of his … Continue reading Kevyn Aucoin’s Journals
I’ve seen various stories about people documenting their time under coronavirus lockdowns, using sketchbooks or journals. Here’s one example, a visual diary kept by a Scottish architect: Prof Alan Dunlop has filled six A4-size sketchbooks since the start of restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus. He has sketched scenes inside and outside the … Continue reading Lockdown Diaries
I enjoyed this article from Nature by microbiology PhD student Adeline Williams. As a scientist, she keeps lab notebooks in both digital and paper form, and she also keeps a personal journal. She has some great observations about these different forms of journaling and their benefits. Since my school days, long before I started working … Continue reading Keeping Two Journals
From the Minnesota Star Tribune, a profile of a college hockey player who is also a dedicated journaler: Before and after every practice, every game, the Gophers goaltender hunches over a Moleskine not much bigger than his palm and writes. Jack LaFontaine has five journals in all, each to collect different thoughts — practice focuses, … Continue reading A Hockey Player’s Notebook
Such an amazing story from the NY Times, with lots of images of the diaries! Anne Frank listened in an Amsterdam attic on March 28, 1944, as the voice of the Dutch minister of education came crackling over the radio from London. “Preserve your diaries and letters,†he said. Frank was not the only one listening. … Continue reading Dutch Diaries of World War II