Journaling in 2023: Use It or Lose It

There’s one final New Year’s goal that I haven’t yet started on: Picking a personal daily journal and making time for at least 30 minutes of personal writing every day. This should be easy, right? It’s not as though I suffer from a lack of options around here, with dozens of different notebooks awaiting review, not to mention a retail store where I can “shop” pretty much any time. Regardless, I still struggle with putting pen to paper and actually getting words on the page, and I’ve found myself in a journaling rut for several months now.

How I Plan to Kickstart a Journaling Habit in 2023

When I look to add a good habit (or break a bad one), my main technique is to set an arbitrary goal for myself and start stringing as many successful days together as possible. For example, while I was planning out this post last night, I looked around and grabbed the first five half-finished or just-started notebooks and journals that I could find sitting on or near my desk.

The five notebooks off my shelves, from bottom: Write Notepads Classic Hardcover Notebook, Paper Mind Passepied Notebook (which I’m extremely excited to use since I love this paper), a Letts of London hardcover I was sent for review, a Write Notepads Paper Notebook/Journal, and my Theme System Journal. The last two are half-full and what I plan to finish first.

“At least 30 minutes a day until these five notebooks are full.” Until then, no new notebook purchases for me. It sounds trite, but these sort of mental games keep me on track. What I’ve found more difficult is actually snagging 30 minutes a day to write. I still have a full-time day-job, which for the time being has to take priority over anything else and occupies the overwhelming majority of my time. T.G.S. is my “morning project,” which I work on during the quiet hours before anyone else is awake in the house. When I get home at night, I spend time with my family, eat dinner, and read, often too tired to do much of anything else other than possibly pack a few orders before going to bed. It’s not particularly difficult to find time to jot a few lines in my Midori 5-Year Journal, but I enjoy writing, and I’d like to do more.

Savor the small victories: So far I’ve only screwed up the date on two of my three 2023 5-year journal entries!

So how do I work in a bit of journaling? The obvious answer is to do my daily personal writing during my lunch break - and to actually take a lunch break - as opposed to continuing to work, surf the internet, browse social media, or whatever other bad habits I’ve fallen into. Taking a brief 15-30 minutes to write a few “morning” pages, process what I’ve been reading in my commonplace book, or simply reflect on whatever’s going on in my life is certainly a healthier way to decompress, if only briefly, and break up the work day.

Journaling technique is a topic that I plan to explore further in 2023, both personally and here on the blog. Do you have any favorite journaling techniques that you’d like to share, or tips and tricks for making time to write? If so I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to share them via the “Contact” link above or in the comments.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Check out yesterday’s post for more details about what Patreon membership entails! This post does not contain third-party advertising or affiliate links.

A Closer Look: Best Notebooks for a Commonplace Book

One of the new habits I've been trying to adopt in 2021 is keeping a commonplace book, which, to me, is a notebook that serves as a repository of notes, quotes, and clippings from books and articles I've read. There are many different ways “to commonplace,” in terms of how you organize your notes and index the information. Personally, I'm still experimenting with different techniques and plan to write more on this in the future, as it's become a bigger part of my everyday life and writing setup.

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One thing I have thought a lot about (unsurprisingly) is which notebook works best for my style of notetaking and commonplacing. There are a range of different factors to take into account, but for me the key considerations are (1) paper versatility, meaning that the paper works well with a wide range of writing instruments; (2) portability, meaning that the notebook can move with me, not only when I travel but also when I change work locations; and (3) archival options, meaning that the notebook will hold up to long term storage and can easily be organized for posterity - after all, one reason to organize reading notes in this manner is to be able to go back and look things up later. I don’t feel like this is mere “gear obsession.” Rather, by finding a system that works for me on the front end, I will have a consistent set of notes that will be easy to reference for years to come.

1. Write Notepads Hardcover Notebook. My current commonplace book lives in one of these lined A5 hardcover notebooks from Write Notepads. Lined paper typically isn't my preferred ruling, but ultimately (1) the paper quality and (2) the ability to store a durable hardcover notebook over the long-term won out. I can't emphasize how great these notebooks look on a shelf, and the sturdy binding will ensure they last a long time. While I’m happy with this notebook, the downside is size, as you end up having to carry an extra hardcover book with you - not a minor thing if you’re like me and prefer to read physical books as opposed to using e-readers.

2. Traveler's Notebook. Though I’ve enjoyed the Write Notepads Hardcover Notebook, I'm considering moving my commonplace book inside my Traveler's Notebook, likely to a 128-page, "Lightweight Paper" refill. The paper quality on this refill is excellent, and while it's not labeled as such, I assume it is Tomoe River paper. Why move to a Traveler's Notebook? Portability and the ease of having all of my various notes, planners, and journals under one cover, but separated into different refills. I also use one of the PVC zippered pouches to carry some Book Darts linemarkers, and if you use sticky notes, there's even an insert for that! The downside to Traveler's Notebook inserts would appear to be the ability to archive them, but the availability of refill binders, each of which holds five used Traveler’s Notebook inserts, may solve this issue.

3. Nanami Paper Seven Seas Writer or Crossfield. If you exclusively use fountain pens, and/or want a notebook with as many pages as you can cram into it, Nanami Paper’s Seven Seas series offers nearly 500 pages of Tomoe River Paper. This A5 notebook also fits many standard leather covers, including those sold directly by Nanami, and the stand-alone notebook is durable enough to withstand a long "shelf life" after it's filled. You'll want to keep up on your indexing as you go, however, as 500 pages will hold a LOT of notes.

4. Index Cards, or Alternatively, Pocket Notebooks. Ryan Holiday, who writes The Daily Stoic website and has published several books, is a big proponent of commonplacing, and he also uses an index card system that's incredibly versatile, especially if you plan to use your reading notes as research for a book or another larger writing project. (Obviously, index cards are much easier to organize by topic than notes in a notebook.) The downside to this system, at least for me, is storage, since it requires a large box (or boxes) to store and index the cards. I also see how one could utilize this system with pocket notebooks, if you don't fancy the idea of carrying loose cards with you on the go. Field Notes pocket notebooks are relatively inexpensive, and you can file them away by topic using the Archival Box with included dividers.

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And finally, something different...

Day One Journaling App. I’ve actually started to use two tools for commonplacing: a physical notebook and the Day One app on my phone and computer. Basically, I use a notebook if I'm taking notes on a book or magazine article that I'm reading in physical form, and I use Day One to collect links, book recommendations, and quotations from articles that I'm reading on my phone, tablet, or computer. If you haven't used Day One, it was originally designed as a journaling app but can also serve as a flexible notetaking or commonplacing tool for organizing information using dates and tags. While I don’t necessarily encourage anyone to go entirely paperless because I believe there are concrete benefits to thinking “offline” and writing things out by hand, this app is very deep, with lots of functionality.

UPDATE: A Late Addition….

I don’t recall exactly where I picked this tip up, but sometime during 2020 I started sticking “library pockets” in the back of my books, that I would use to hold index cards for notetaking while I was traveling or reading. I’d later transcribe my notes from the notecards into my commonplace book. The habit has stuck (especially for books I can’t or don’t want to annotate or mark up), but I WAY over-purchased library pockets, and accidentally ordered more than a hundred of them. I don’t want to just throw them out, so I’m giving them away. If you order a notebook from the Curated Shop (hopefully for commonplacing but it’s not necessary), I’ll throw in a couple of these pockets, free of charge. The promotion will last until I’ve exhausted my excess supply. (Just to be clear, you’ll receive two pockets per person, per order, not two pockets per notebook.)

Disclaimer: This post does not contain affiliate links, though I have chosen to stock many of my favorite items in the T.G.S. Curated Shop so that I can sell them directly. Sales through the Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program are how I support the site.

Personal Journaling Setup Part 2: Revisiting the Commonplace Book

One of the (admittedly few) benefits of the lockdown earlier this year was that all the time at home really jumpstarted my reading. Without a daily commute, I find myself with blocks of unoccupied “extra” hours for the first time in years. I’ve tried to fill most of it with constructive activity like reading, a favorite pastime that I’ve neglected over the years as we’ve all been pushed increasingly online. It’s also given me the opportunity to address an issue that’s concerned me for some time: I feel like I don’t have a good system for organizing and retaining what I read, particularly nonfiction. This, to me, presents a real problem and a serious opportunity to put the pens and paper I love to actual use in real life. The solution is obvious - start a commonplace book - but with so many options out there for tracking and organizing information, both analogue and digital, where do you even begin?

What Is a Commonplace Book?

A commonplace book, in its most basic form, is a type of scrapbook in which you record quotations, passages, aphorisms, notes, and more from your reading. Think of it as your own personalized encyclopedia, curated from the books, articles, or whatever other inputs you process throughout the day. A commonplace book is distinct from a traditional journal in that you record information, as opposed to serving as a place for thoughts and reflections.

Commonplace books have been around since the Renaissance, use by writers and scholars from Isaac Newton to Mark Twain to Virginia Woolf. Originally, of course, commonplace books were actual books. Today, modern practitioners use everything from index cards organized in boxes to digital apps. I don’t plan to address the digital option - part of the reason why I’m drawn to the idea of a commonplace book is because I process and retain information much better when I write it down by hand. That really leaves me with two options: notecards and notebooks. While each has its own advantages in terms of ease of organization and indexing (notecards) and long-term durability (notebooks), it probably won’t surprise most readers to hear that I’m a notebook guy.

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When I read, I typically take notes in the margins or in a pocket notebook, and if it’s a key passage I want to remember (or, going forward, record in my commonplace book), I’ll mark the passage with a Book Dart.

Why a Notebook?

Honestly? Mainly because I’m a creature of habit. I enjoy the act of writing in a notebook, I’ve become accustomed over the years to jotting stuff down on loosely indexed pages, and I’m not doing academic research or organizing large amounts of information for a longer writing project. If you fall into the latter category, you probably really want to consider index cards, or even a digital option, because it will make it much easier to track sources for attribution, etc. My own commonplace book will be for my personal enjoyment and to source material for the occasional blog post, so I can live with the inefficiencies.

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One thing I love about Write Notepads’ new Classic Hardcover is that you can easily maintain a continuous matching set as you fill up notebooks, or separate your notes by subject matter using different colors.

More Importantly, Which Notebook?

The answer to this question is: whatever notebook you will use regularly. Find something that’s relatively portable, contains paper versatile enough to use with the full range of writing instruments you use in a typical day, and finally, isn’t so nice that you’ll be afraid to use it. Most importantly, choose something durable that will hold up over time. Personally, my notebook of choice is a Write Notepads Classic Hardcover Notebook (which, full disclosure, I sell in my shop). Not only does this casebound hardcover notebook contain high quality, versatile paper, but the cover will hold up to repeated perusing over the years, and the notebook stores nicely on a shelf. If you like to organize your reading notes into volumes by subject, as many people do, it’s easy to pick up a matching set of notebooks, and you can even use different colors to signify subject matter. Other great options to consider are the Baron Fig Confidant and the MOO Hardcover Notebook. But use whatever you want - I write here about my own personal preferences, and as I always say on this blog, the key is to find something that works for YOU.

I plan to track my commonplace book project moving forward, either on Instagram or here on the blog. In addition to writing out quotes and passages that I find meaningful to me, I may even incorporate clippings from articles or paper notes. I’ve been following with interest Brad’s visual journal project over at the Pen Addict, and I’ve got the glue sticks and Washi Tape. If only I could find decent pair of scissors….