I don’t like fancy journals. Hardbound is great for books, but when it comes to things I write in, spiral bound please. No fancy covers – though hard covers can be nice when you write on the road a lot. No fifty-dollar, hard cover, hard bound, engraved with my name on the cover notebooks or journals.
I won’t write in them.
There are no exceptions – at least, there hasn’t been so far in my life. I have given good attempts at writing in the fancy books I receive, but I never keep going.
Just give me a crap notebook and I’ll be happy.
No, you don’t need to run over a perfectly nice notebook just for me, but give me a lined, spiral bound notebook that you or your child would use for school and I’ll be happy. A notebook that will take more damage than an idiot driver in a little red sports car is just fine.
Why the crappy notebooks? Why can’t I write beautiful things in a beautiful notebook?
Well, I can. Or rather, I can try. But the thing is, I don’t write beautiful things from the first go. That’s why there are things called drafts. In my first draft? Well, that’s where I need to give myself permission to write the real crap. Let the hero save the princess just so I can get it out of my system and then go ahead and kill him when he finds out she’s been having an affair with his father in the next draft.
Crappy, cheap, plain notebooks give writers space and permission to get things – no matter how stupid, silly, whatever they are – out of their system. They can explore angles without having to worry about cleaning ripping out pages so they don’t show or scribble marks.
Save your fancy journals. Give me a crappy notebook any day.
#1 by Jessie Mac on August 19, 2010 - 11.16 pm
Give me fancy journals and books. I’ll keep them blank until I think I’ve written something perfect.
I don’t even have a crappy notebook. I do one better. I write on scrap paper that was printed on and used on one side.
It gives you freedom to write crap. But please still give me the fancy journals and books.
Didn’t mean to spam you with my comments today.
#2 by JM on August 23, 2010 - 3.38 pm
Haha. Nice.
First, no spamming. It’s all good.
Secondly, oh, I love the fancy books, too. I just won’t write in them. I think if I printed more, I’d be like you and write on scrap paper. As it is, I take my writing stuff with me everywhere, so having it spiral bound helps.
#3 by JoniB on September 29, 2010 - 11.48 am
I heartily agree with you:
http://daydreamerswelcome.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-i-use-my-notebooks.html
#4 by May :: Earth to Girl on September 30, 2010 - 1.05 am
Give me crappy notebooks, give me nice journals! I’ll use them both! If the crappy notebooks fall apart, I’ll tear out my best doodles and snippets and paste them into the nicer journals. I just need something that can withstand a bit of wear and tear since I tend to bring them everywhere I go.
#5 by Barrett on October 24, 2010 - 6.26 pm
How about this: Find the cheapest notebook with GOOD paper between the covers: at least largely acid-free, fountain-pen friendly (at least in my case), and easily procured. You hardly need Moleskine for this, and you can afford sacks of the things. What say you?
#6 by JM on October 25, 2010 - 5.06 pm
I say you hit the nail on the head, so to say.