I don’t know why I have never thought to put everything in one notebook! As a huge supporter of the one pile method for any papers/documents I need to archive, the one notebook method speaks loads to me. Time is the best organizer. Thanks!
It takes a bit of organization work, but I love it. The index is key. I get to see everything I was up to and thinking about at a certain time all in one place. Thanks for reading!
I'm so impressed!!!!!! I love how you use yours for EVERYTHING. The element of art (sketches and collages) are especially cool.
I've been keeping a joint notebook with two friends since 2016. Each of us has a journal at any given time, and then about 4 times a year, we mail to the next person. That way, it feels both like journaling, but also like writing a letter to a friend. It's "journaling for an audience," if you will. I like to call it Sisterhood of the Traveling Journals :)
The journals began when we were 22. We documented the most turbulent time of our lives! First jobs, losing jobs, relationships, engagements & marriages, moving states, moving countries, making friends, losing friends, having a child, etc. I feel I know them on their deepest level, and they know me.
And you're so right about sometimes not liking the person you see on the page, or reading back on an old entry and not recognizing that part of you anymore. It's fascinating and I wouldn't trade it for the world!
Oh man, I dig this. Your method is much the same as mine and like you I see myself outside the bullet journal club. But, the whole thing of having everything in one place really works for me: I am, after all, one man and it seems to me that keeping things joined up, seeing the whole while spending time with the detail, is an important tool to get one through life.
I wish I could draw and sketch. However, I stick photographs and cuttings on every page, capturing things I like as I see them and making the pages reflect me visually as well written. Sometimes the pictures work with a bit of text, sometimes they have no link. But they are all valuable in their way.
I also, is this nerdy - I don’t know, make a separate paper index of every quote, photo, picture which I tuck into the wallet at the end so that if I want to look for, say Patrick Bringley’s All the Beauty in the World, I know which pages I’ll find it.
Thanks, Nicolas! I'm thrilled to hear that and read your comment. I love what you have to say about seeing the whole. It feels like a better picture of what I did and who I was during the time it took to fill that notebook that it would if those elements were scattered across multiple notebooks.
For the record, I used to think I couldn't draw and sketch. That's a recent addition I find a lot of joy in. You gotta start somewhere. But I also use photographs.
That IS nerdy—but you're not alone. I'm bad at maintaining it, but I have made attempts at a "master index" of sorts for all my notebooks. First paper, then digital.
Hooray notebooks! I certianly wouldn't want to give up mind. (Matter of fact, I now keep a notebook for Substack correspondence. These very words started out on pen and paper; I typed them up separately a little bit later.)
No wrong way to keep one as long as it makes sense to us and doesn't become some mindless chore.
Between reading on the kindle and writing comments in notebooks, you seem very good and conscious about not spending too much time on this app/website.
I keep a journal of life events and what I'm thinking of, but don't currently keep a sketchbook or catch-all book right now because I struggle with how to always keep them on my person, plus a writing instrument. Any tips or am I overthinking this
This might be overkill, but I have a wallet that is designed to carry a pocket notebook and a pen. I use that when I’m out and about and for scrap—no rules or organization. When I finish a main notebook, I tuck the pocket notebook I used during that timeframe into the back pocket. Sometimes i transfer pages to the main one if they’re important enough or relate to any of the pages!
I tried keeping a bullet journal last year, but it was very much a “bujo” and I abandoned it because it was “too much”.
You may have inspired me to try again, but keeping it less fancy, lol. I could certainly benefit from having everything in one notebook as opposed to using three different planners 😅
The wonderful thing about the system is that it lends itself to iteration and you can add or abandon things that do or don’t work—and “work” is the operative word for my notebook. Start simple!
Fantastic to see all of these past notebooks of yours, Nathaniel.
This post is timely, too, as last year, I came across dozens of my old notebooks (actually journals/diaries) that I took one look at and then immediately burned.
Perhaps if they were visual documents, I'd have kept them, but unless you're Proust, I think a writer's early efforts at the craft are excruciating to reread. Ah, youth!
I understand the impulse to burn them—I conveniently left out some of the more cringeworthy writing. But I think there’s value in seeing growth, change, and improvement.
Okay you didn't write those 18 year old journal entries, you stole them word for word from my notebooks, "not writing a lot when things are going well" "I'd want a cig if I were a smoker" and all. Stay the hell out of my closet, man.
I loved your description of why, with all of the fantastic samples here, Nathaniel! Keeping one book makes lots of sense, and I've shifted toward this idea, too. As of late last year, I keep a separate health journal to track those details, but my primary notebook is a bullet journal, which is also practical and not done for the beauty of it.
Thanks Mike! I use a pocket notebook for when I’m out and about, but I love knowing there’s just one book to use for everything. Like not having to choose what you’re going to wear.
Thanks Alicia! Might just trot this one out every January … maybe as much as a reminder to myself as others! I didn’t sketch so much in my last book of this year.
You will pry my decorated, stickered up, painted over, washi taped bullet journal from my cold hands! In all seriousness, i love keeping journals. The decorating is the only way i found to keep my audhd brain focused on them long enough ;)
The original method and the key symbols are lifesaving, i don't think i could ever be this organized if i didn't have them!
Hehe. I still use stickers on the covers, and my version of decoration might be collage and drawing. I just don’t like the perfectionism that is implied to be the goal by all that stuff (not saying this about you specifically, just in general). I just need to be contrarian about it, I guess.
One notebook to rule them all… maybe I will try this because I have too many. I am always afraid to take my “processing” notebook out of the house. Colleagues are welcome to scratch their heads over left behind chicken scratch bulleted lists combining to-dos like “call Bill” with questionable aspirations like “learn to knit socks” but my inner turmoil and speculation about who in my life might be showing signs of undiagnosed mental disorder because what else would explain this behavior are mine alone!
That’s a fair concern! There’s trade-offs for sure. I mostly work from home so I’m not too worried about colleagues seeing the same depressed observations every January.
So many beautiful examples! Thank you for sharing them. Last year, I came back to writing my diary in a notebook (as opposed to a laptop), and it's been so rewarding. This year, I'm planning to transfer my book reflections to a notebook as well. I also keep a small, easily portable notebook for doodles and random thoughts. I find it's a good alternative to scrolling when I'm on the bus or walking around the city and want to jot something down.
That’s so great! I also find the notebook a welcome respite from my screens. And I also keep a pocket notebook—I even own a special wallet for carrying one 🙂
I don’t know why I have never thought to put everything in one notebook! As a huge supporter of the one pile method for any papers/documents I need to archive, the one notebook method speaks loads to me. Time is the best organizer. Thanks!
It takes a bit of organization work, but I love it. The index is key. I get to see everything I was up to and thinking about at a certain time all in one place. Thanks for reading!
I'm so impressed!!!!!! I love how you use yours for EVERYTHING. The element of art (sketches and collages) are especially cool.
I've been keeping a joint notebook with two friends since 2016. Each of us has a journal at any given time, and then about 4 times a year, we mail to the next person. That way, it feels both like journaling, but also like writing a letter to a friend. It's "journaling for an audience," if you will. I like to call it Sisterhood of the Traveling Journals :)
The journals began when we were 22. We documented the most turbulent time of our lives! First jobs, losing jobs, relationships, engagements & marriages, moving states, moving countries, making friends, losing friends, having a child, etc. I feel I know them on their deepest level, and they know me.
And you're so right about sometimes not liking the person you see on the page, or reading back on an old entry and not recognizing that part of you anymore. It's fascinating and I wouldn't trade it for the world!
Paige, I ADORE this. Please tell me you have plans to scan and/or archive these books!
Now I do!! 😅
As a fellow compulsive notebook/journal user, I greatly enjoyed this. Your journals are awesome, especially when you mix some watercolor with words.
Thank you, Camilo! I like those pages, too. My sketching habit has been a little neglected, recently—I'd like to get back to words AND images in 2025.
Oh man, I dig this. Your method is much the same as mine and like you I see myself outside the bullet journal club. But, the whole thing of having everything in one place really works for me: I am, after all, one man and it seems to me that keeping things joined up, seeing the whole while spending time with the detail, is an important tool to get one through life.
I wish I could draw and sketch. However, I stick photographs and cuttings on every page, capturing things I like as I see them and making the pages reflect me visually as well written. Sometimes the pictures work with a bit of text, sometimes they have no link. But they are all valuable in their way.
I also, is this nerdy - I don’t know, make a separate paper index of every quote, photo, picture which I tuck into the wallet at the end so that if I want to look for, say Patrick Bringley’s All the Beauty in the World, I know which pages I’ll find it.
Thanks, Nicolas! I'm thrilled to hear that and read your comment. I love what you have to say about seeing the whole. It feels like a better picture of what I did and who I was during the time it took to fill that notebook that it would if those elements were scattered across multiple notebooks.
For the record, I used to think I couldn't draw and sketch. That's a recent addition I find a lot of joy in. You gotta start somewhere. But I also use photographs.
That IS nerdy—but you're not alone. I'm bad at maintaining it, but I have made attempts at a "master index" of sorts for all my notebooks. First paper, then digital.
Hooray notebooks! I certianly wouldn't want to give up mind. (Matter of fact, I now keep a notebook for Substack correspondence. These very words started out on pen and paper; I typed them up separately a little bit later.)
No wrong way to keep one as long as it makes sense to us and doesn't become some mindless chore.
I love that, James!
Between reading on the kindle and writing comments in notebooks, you seem very good and conscious about not spending too much time on this app/website.
I am not. Haha.
I keep a journal of life events and what I'm thinking of, but don't currently keep a sketchbook or catch-all book right now because I struggle with how to always keep them on my person, plus a writing instrument. Any tips or am I overthinking this
This might be overkill, but I have a wallet that is designed to carry a pocket notebook and a pen. I use that when I’m out and about and for scrap—no rules or organization. When I finish a main notebook, I tuck the pocket notebook I used during that timeframe into the back pocket. Sometimes i transfer pages to the main one if they’re important enough or relate to any of the pages!
That's really cool! I'll keep my eyes peeled for something like that, thanks!
I tried keeping a bullet journal last year, but it was very much a “bujo” and I abandoned it because it was “too much”.
You may have inspired me to try again, but keeping it less fancy, lol. I could certainly benefit from having everything in one notebook as opposed to using three different planners 😅
The wonderful thing about the system is that it lends itself to iteration and you can add or abandon things that do or don’t work—and “work” is the operative word for my notebook. Start simple!
Best of luck 🙂
Fantastic to see all of these past notebooks of yours, Nathaniel.
This post is timely, too, as last year, I came across dozens of my old notebooks (actually journals/diaries) that I took one look at and then immediately burned.
Perhaps if they were visual documents, I'd have kept them, but unless you're Proust, I think a writer's early efforts at the craft are excruciating to reread. Ah, youth!
Thank you Frederick!
I understand the impulse to burn them—I conveniently left out some of the more cringeworthy writing. But I think there’s value in seeing growth, change, and improvement.
Well this was a wonderful read, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading and the kind words!
Okay you didn't write those 18 year old journal entries, you stole them word for word from my notebooks, "not writing a lot when things are going well" "I'd want a cig if I were a smoker" and all. Stay the hell out of my closet, man.
Hahaha. Great—er, something—minds think alike?
I’ve often liked the idea of keeping a notebook yet struggle to treat it as a non-precious thing—which would help with using it.
Seeing yours in action gives me a felt sense of what my own notebooks could be: unafraid of leaving a past me to nod at.
You could scribble a bunch on the first page to set the tone 🙂 or buy some cheap ones to start!
Thanks for reading, Zach. Cheers to imperfect records of our imperfect selves
I probably need to scuff up the cover too, just to get it over with!
I’ve been enjoying & learning from your cover design insights. Keep it up, imperfect or no.
I loved your description of why, with all of the fantastic samples here, Nathaniel! Keeping one book makes lots of sense, and I've shifted toward this idea, too. As of late last year, I keep a separate health journal to track those details, but my primary notebook is a bullet journal, which is also practical and not done for the beauty of it.
Thanks Mike! I use a pocket notebook for when I’m out and about, but I love knowing there’s just one book to use for everything. Like not having to choose what you’re going to wear.
Good to see this one again. :-) keep going!
Thanks Alicia! Might just trot this one out every January … maybe as much as a reminder to myself as others! I didn’t sketch so much in my last book of this year.
It’s a great reminder for sure!
You will pry my decorated, stickered up, painted over, washi taped bullet journal from my cold hands! In all seriousness, i love keeping journals. The decorating is the only way i found to keep my audhd brain focused on them long enough ;)
The original method and the key symbols are lifesaving, i don't think i could ever be this organized if i didn't have them!
Hehe. I still use stickers on the covers, and my version of decoration might be collage and drawing. I just don’t like the perfectionism that is implied to be the goal by all that stuff (not saying this about you specifically, just in general). I just need to be contrarian about it, I guess.
I agree about the method!
Oh i agree totally! The perfectionism is so hard to get above, and the rampant comparison game can make it hard sometimes!! I was just joking hehe
One notebook to rule them all… maybe I will try this because I have too many. I am always afraid to take my “processing” notebook out of the house. Colleagues are welcome to scratch their heads over left behind chicken scratch bulleted lists combining to-dos like “call Bill” with questionable aspirations like “learn to knit socks” but my inner turmoil and speculation about who in my life might be showing signs of undiagnosed mental disorder because what else would explain this behavior are mine alone!
That’s a fair concern! There’s trade-offs for sure. I mostly work from home so I’m not too worried about colleagues seeing the same depressed observations every January.
So many beautiful examples! Thank you for sharing them. Last year, I came back to writing my diary in a notebook (as opposed to a laptop), and it's been so rewarding. This year, I'm planning to transfer my book reflections to a notebook as well. I also keep a small, easily portable notebook for doodles and random thoughts. I find it's a good alternative to scrolling when I'm on the bus or walking around the city and want to jot something down.
That’s so great! I also find the notebook a welcome respite from my screens. And I also keep a pocket notebook—I even own a special wallet for carrying one 🙂