Colin Walker

I look at my new notebooks with, perhaps, a little trepidation.

I am determined to write more by hand, to slow down and spend time with my thoughts. But I want to do them justice.

I have seen if said that it is better to buy cheap - that way you're not afraid to make a mess of it. Or less afraid.

Getting away from this mindset as soon as possible is key. Making a mark on the pristine paper, anything at all, will break the spell.

After all, I'm not a medieval monk transcribing manuscripts with a need for exactitude; I'm just a regular guy scribbling down his thoughts.

#bypen

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  1. jack says: #
    I've taken new notebooks and drawn a big sloppy "X" across the first few pages and said, "There, now I can begin." Every filled page does a notebook justice, IMO.
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  2. kulturnation says: #
    I still try to find a magic spell for my "expensive" notebooks while I use the cheap ones so much. My handicap is that I come from a printers family with a tendency to book fetishism ... But as long as I have enough of the cheap ones I can keep on searching :)
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  4. Colin Devroe says: #
    I've had this challenge as well. You have to throw out that mindset immediately. I now use my notebook for everything from meeting notes, UI mockups, bullet journal, and everything in between. The more I use the notebook the better. Paper isn't sacred.
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    1. Colin Walker says: #
      I'm so used to digital that paper seems precious and not to be sullied with my terrible scrawl but the more I do it the more natural it becomes (again) and the better my scrawl looks.
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  5. Colin Walker says: #
    I have a number of cheap ones but they’re all small and I feel cramped. So, regardless of cost, I’m hoping these afford me greater creative freedom.
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  6. kulturnation says: #
    I found some Picadilly in A5 for about 5 EUR, and there are A4 books with awesome paper for 5 EUR at a present shop (Nanu Nana) that took away the fear of using them. And even the Leuchtturm Bullet Journals are fine to use. But the nice looking Moo or the Grids&Guides, and the ExtraLarge Leuchtturm ask to be used for great ideas & notes. And having more than 100 pages I am afraid of the white desert :) @jack
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  9. kulturnation says: #
    „cross-polinate“ is a good concept :) For me, it is helpful to have dedicated books for reading excerpts (the last book I read gave me 85 A6 pages of notes, written with an EF nib). But I have two EDC notebooks, and the bed book is there just to make sure I have one whenever an idea strikes me :)
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  11. kulturnation says: #
    The book was an autobiography, sharing a lot of ideas and impressions about the years that were and still are important for my life - so a lot of brain food :) I found out that taking notes let me remind the books much better.
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  12. schuth says: #
    I believe @merlin writes “The first page is profound.” when beginning a new notebook.
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  13. tonybloggs says: #
    Good thread. I start my notebooks by writing "Ripped out pages tell stories too" and "Process, not product."
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  17. Colin Walker says: #
    Ah, but there is also the mystery as to what they contained - the possibilities and potential they held…
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  18. tonybloggs says: #
    learning to embrace the ugliness is part of the process. for me it's about getting the pen on paper, not what happens after. I've destroyed whole notebooks after fillling them up... no matter.
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  20. kulturnation says: #
    About two years ago I bought Keri Smith’s „Wreck This Journal“ as a chance to heal my paper&book fetishism. Guess what happened to the book since then? („Dust, anybody?“) @colinwalker
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