Practical Obsession

I am sure I am not alone when I say I love office supplies. Post-Its, pens, Sharpies, folders — I love them all. But my favorite thing of all are notebooks. I cannot get enough of notebooks. I used to buy them willy-nilly, but after over 15 years of buying/collecting notebooks, I’ve figured out what kind I like best.

The bottom row are Studio Oh! notebooks with canvas covers. They lay flat when opened, and are not so small that I can’t scribble freely and not so large that they intimidate with too much open space. They are my notebooks of choice. The two on the top row are different brands, but will be used lovingly as well. The other thing I love about the Studio Oh! notebooks are the endpapers. Check them out:

Gorgeous, right? Okay, so yes, pretty things attract my eye. But, what good is an obsession if I can’t use them to fuel my love for writing? Fortunately, I have figured out a system. One notebook per project. Ideas, notes, character names, brainstorming, timelines, everything having to do with that project goes into one notebook.

I date the notebook and any new entry. It ends up being a journal of the journey of my WIP. Anytime I have a new idea, I start a new notebook. Sometimes I fear I get new ideas just so I can use a new notebook!

These are all the notebooks that are currently in use for different projects. There are A LOT! But I never have to dig through a bunch of notebooks, flip through pages of notepads, or shuffle through loose paper or scraps to find notes for a WIP. If I do scribble something pertinent for a WIP on a scrap paper, it gets transcribed into the proper notebook.

Recently, at my local indie bookstore, I discovered these gorgeous notebooks by Bindewerk, a German company.

They cost more than I normally spend on notebooks, but I couldn’t resist. I loved the cover art, and the pages are thick and luxurious. I knew I’d save them for something very special. And that something very special happened. The one on the left is for recording all my conversations/communications with my editor. The one on the right is for recording all my conversations with my agent. This way, I have everything in one place should I need to recall when a certain something happened or what was said specifically about a draft, or even more importantly, when I need encouragement and a reminder that my editor and/or agent really do like my work, my writing. It’s easier than having to scroll through a ton of emails. A bonus was getting to use the special bookmarks I bought during my last trip to Paris, for these notebooks.

Ah, but my bookmark obsession/collection is for another blog post. Happy writing!

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Debbi Michiko Florence writes full time in her cozy studio, The Word Nest. Her favorite writing companions are her dog, Trixie, and her two ducks, Darcy and Lizzy.

The first two books of her debut chapter book series Jasmine Toguchi will be coming out from Farrar Straus Giroux in Spring 2017, with two more books to follow. She is also the author of an early reader chapter book series, Dorothy & Toto (Picture Window Books/Oct. 2016).

You can visit her online on her web site and her reading blog. She’s also onTwitter.

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