"If I look back over the years I have documented my life on paper I see a map of me - a chartering of uncertain voyage, crystallising tentative footsteps slowly over time."
Charlie, as someone who made the conscious decision to ditch digital tools a couple of years ago, this speaks to me!
I too was terrified to write in a brand new, fairly expensive notebook whenever I bought one. The fear of making a mistake and ruining the whole damn thing on page one gripped me and I'd find my hand trembling as I made those first few, carefully written notes.
Fortunately, that attitude didn't last long and I realized that my notebooks are just like any other tool, made to get banged up, dirty, and worn with use. Now I lean into my sloppiness. With every new notebook I crack open, I mark up the date and the subject in bold, ugly letters with a big-ol sharpie that seeps through to the underlying pages. I feel like it sets the tone, and by intentionally getting that nasty-looking first page out of the way, I'm free to use it however I damn well please 😜
I'm so excited I've discovered your newsletter! I can't wait to dig into more of your work! Subscribed!
"If I look back over the years I have documented my life on paper I see a map of me - a chartering of uncertain voyage, crystallising tentative footsteps slowly over time." I love this! I have a drawer full of notebooks that span across my entire life, and every now and again, I love to flick through them and see where I was at different points in my life. This piece is very well-written, and I may just have to read that book by Roland Allen now.
Do you feel like you write differently in your notebook vs online? I find that I have a different style of writing depending on the format. Curious if others do as well!
I tend to write everything by hand in notebooks first and then edit on my computer so not particularly - I think if I jumped straight into typing on my computer I would write differently.
I have been enjoying watching documentaries about Leonardo Da Vinci recently and seeing the ways he used his thousands of notebooks that he created throughout his life. I find it fascinating. It's like looking into the person's mind and soul. I love writing things down in my journal. There is something quite comforting in that, if I choose to keep them, these books will outlive me.
The BBC documentary 'Da Vinci Behind a Genius' is very good. They suggest that he might have been neurodivergent (Adhd?) as he had difficulty finishing projects and he would jump between vasts numbers of interests - art, science, engineering, anatomy, botany, architecture and allsorts. There's also a YouTube video about how to write to do lists like Da Vinci (by Growth Quest) which is really fascinating!
My notebooks/journals was really the only category of items that I wanted to keep when I immigrated from my home country to the UK some years ago. I suppose that journalling and exploring myself has been a consistent special interest after all these years. Funnily, my journals are filled with me trying to build routines and collecting lists of things - and it never crossed my mind that I could have ASD! Tying back to your blog post, I switched away from paper notebooks to digital notebooks because on paper, I would get so stressed about making mistakes and making things neat/aesthetic. Digitally, I can erase things or create new documents easily. However, one of my regrets is how many times I have switched different journalling platforms (although that was true with my journals too, and tonnes of loose paper). So things are not really ordered in chronological order and I don't can't find certain periods of my records...
Thanks so much for this piece - fascinating. I'm delighted that THE NOTEBOOK spoke to you, and particularly glad that you liked the 'extended mind' chapter - which is really important to me and which nearly didn't make the final cut!
Charlie, as someone who made the conscious decision to ditch digital tools a couple of years ago, this speaks to me!
I too was terrified to write in a brand new, fairly expensive notebook whenever I bought one. The fear of making a mistake and ruining the whole damn thing on page one gripped me and I'd find my hand trembling as I made those first few, carefully written notes.
Fortunately, that attitude didn't last long and I realized that my notebooks are just like any other tool, made to get banged up, dirty, and worn with use. Now I lean into my sloppiness. With every new notebook I crack open, I mark up the date and the subject in bold, ugly letters with a big-ol sharpie that seeps through to the underlying pages. I feel like it sets the tone, and by intentionally getting that nasty-looking first page out of the way, I'm free to use it however I damn well please 😜
I'm so excited I've discovered your newsletter! I can't wait to dig into more of your work! Subscribed!
love that tip!!
That's so interesting about the Extended Mind- I chanced upon that idea in this (very rambling) piece about Memory Places and the structure of the mind in general: https://rosiewhinray.substack.com/p/skull-box-page-box-on-memory-palaces
This looks like a fascinating piece - I've saved it for my weekly newsletter read-through, thank you for sharing :)
NOTHING better than a new notebook. Each one defines an era in my life. Most of my posts are handwritten too :)
"If I look back over the years I have documented my life on paper I see a map of me - a chartering of uncertain voyage, crystallising tentative footsteps slowly over time." I love this! I have a drawer full of notebooks that span across my entire life, and every now and again, I love to flick through them and see where I was at different points in my life. This piece is very well-written, and I may just have to read that book by Roland Allen now.
I do the same! It's such a trip down memory lane as they say. And thank you for your kind words!
Do you feel like you write differently in your notebook vs online? I find that I have a different style of writing depending on the format. Curious if others do as well!
I tend to write everything by hand in notebooks first and then edit on my computer so not particularly - I think if I jumped straight into typing on my computer I would write differently.
I have been enjoying watching documentaries about Leonardo Da Vinci recently and seeing the ways he used his thousands of notebooks that he created throughout his life. I find it fascinating. It's like looking into the person's mind and soul. I love writing things down in my journal. There is something quite comforting in that, if I choose to keep them, these books will outlive me.
Fascinating!! Could you recommend a documentary to start with? Sounds right up my street!
The BBC documentary 'Da Vinci Behind a Genius' is very good. They suggest that he might have been neurodivergent (Adhd?) as he had difficulty finishing projects and he would jump between vasts numbers of interests - art, science, engineering, anatomy, botany, architecture and allsorts. There's also a YouTube video about how to write to do lists like Da Vinci (by Growth Quest) which is really fascinating!
That does sound familiar 😅 Thank you, I'm excited to watch these!
This is wonderful, Charlie.
I appreciate your kind words, Chris - thank you.
My notebooks/journals was really the only category of items that I wanted to keep when I immigrated from my home country to the UK some years ago. I suppose that journalling and exploring myself has been a consistent special interest after all these years. Funnily, my journals are filled with me trying to build routines and collecting lists of things - and it never crossed my mind that I could have ASD! Tying back to your blog post, I switched away from paper notebooks to digital notebooks because on paper, I would get so stressed about making mistakes and making things neat/aesthetic. Digitally, I can erase things or create new documents easily. However, one of my regrets is how many times I have switched different journalling platforms (although that was true with my journals too, and tonnes of loose paper). So things are not really ordered in chronological order and I don't can't find certain periods of my records...
Thanks so much for this piece - fascinating. I'm delighted that THE NOTEBOOK spoke to you, and particularly glad that you liked the 'extended mind' chapter - which is really important to me and which nearly didn't make the final cut!
yes, yes, yes! Thank you for sharing your perspective Lola.