The way to my heart is through a notebook. It’s not surprising, and maybe a little sad, but I am a sucker for a beautiful notebook. I’ll go into a stationery store to calm myself, and am usually good about not buying anything new. Occasionally I cave, if one is pretty enough…

….Even if I carry 4-5 on a daily basis as it is. What isn’t pictured are any legal pads, because I’m currently between book ideas. Well, “between” is used loosely — I got frustrated with one book idea and set it aside, and haven’t started outlining any of the ideas I’ve been tossing around in my head. Plus I’m not 100% sure my bag or back could handle too much more weight.

To be fair, the brown one on top doesn’t leave my apartment too often. It’s my personal, “no one will ever read” journal. I am a strong believer that every writer should have one of those, even if you don’t write in it every day. My twitter becomes a dump for thoughts frequently, and based on reading it, you can kind of imagine how this journal looks.

The second, small journal is my book idea journal. It’s literally just for the purpose of jotting down book ideas, notes for book ideas, etc. I keep this on me 100% of the time. You literally never know when inspiration going to hit — I’ve spent an hour in the Natural History Museum jotting notes and ideas down. (I found the museum horribly disappointing outside of that hour, which is sad as I could not wait to visit it!)

The third notebook is literally a collection of lists. It has my new year’s resolutions, my book challenges, my bucket list, my 30 day challenges, my current grocery list, hiking list….you name it, I’m working on a list of it (hopefully?) I am such a scatterbrained person naturally, so I need ways to focus. And unfortunately, I can’t get on board the electronic route. This notebook doesn’t always travel with me, but it’s with me usually (especially during the work week.) Have I proved how odd I am yet?

The fourth notebook is the smallest, and I have it in 5 more that size plus 3-4 larger ones. I don’t know what I love about this brand (Cambridge Limited), but it’s a decent daily writing notebook. I use it for my daily writing prompts (which I go in and out of doing regularly… currently “in.”) I think it’s their floppiness yet sturdiness — allows for easy crossing out!

The final notebook is one I received from Women in Aviation International when I went to their conference in March. It’s a gridded notebook, so I’ve turned it into a daily calendar notebook that looks like this….

Note the WAI logo? It’s a fantastic organization. I’m sure this isn’t what they want their notebook used for, but it works for me. Each thing done daily gets a colored square. I am embarrassingly behind on this month’s coloring (and…well…accomplishing anything) or I would post a picture of what it looks like currently.

I should feel more organized in life, or at least like I am on my way to becoming someone who doesn’t casually consider themselves a writer, but really I’m just a notebook hoarder. I have a shelf with so many on them, and yet I think it might be time for a new one….