Do you use those little 3.5 x 5.5 inch notebooks? Love ’em or hate ’em? Are they your container for the fleeting but brilliant ideas? Or practical, mundane lists of things?
I’ve always adored those little things — so portable! But never utilized them to their full potential. The only time I’ve written to the very last page of a pocket notebook was for a house-hunting, jotting down details of each property. I have to say it isn’t a very fond memory. The idea of shopping around and deciding what to buy is stressful to me (so I usually end up not buying, which is a good thing overall…) Having to drive/walk around to buy something is even worse! We ended up with a very satisfactory house and I hope to not deal with real estate again for a long long time to come.
Back to the notebooks…
I rarely used those little ones because 1) I am not a list person, 2) I am not a poet, 3) I am not a sketch artist, 4) I think I can remember (and then never remember what it was that I thought I would remember).
Lately though, I feel like I can understand why some people constantly write. As I get older and my life gets more complicated with more things to keep track of, the things that floated around in my brain disappears so easily. There are many days that I know were impressive (I was crazy-busy or crazy-productive) but cannot remember why. Unless there is a hard, physical evidence, whatever that left an impression in my head might as well have never existed at all.
So, I just began jotting things down. I started carrying those notebooks in my bag, my pocket, in the car… I write it down when I hear a memorable podcast, when I have a conversation that I want to remember, when I make an appointment and can’t put it on my Outlook calendar right away…
As I began this new habit, I also learned the Field Notes company offers subscription service. The Field Notes intrigued me with its unassuming, yet distinctive design, and with the subscription service, I can get my hands on their non-traditional special edition notebooks. (Top photo featuring my first subscription box!) The best part? I don’t have to shop around!
Besides the incidental memos on the go, I’ve discovered another way to use these notebooks: projects!
Leuchtturm1917 A5 for long-term notes, and Field Notes for temporary notes and brainstorming
Their small size with only 48 pages makes it perfect for a short-term project with finite content. Today, I opened a new Field Notes memo book as I began reading a bunch of papers for a final exam. I already have an A5 size Leuchtturm1917 that I’ve been using for academic note-taking. But I consider that as a rather permanent location for long-term record-keeping. The little memo book, on the other hand, will contain ideas and information that I will need just to complete my write-up for this exam, and would not necessarily want to carry around with me afterwards. If I ever want to look up what I planned and what I did for this exam, it will still be there somewhere on my shelf.
As I complete more and more projects with my life, I will have records for them in a discrete manner. It appears that there are many avid collectors of Field Notes out there. I’ve seen beautiful photos of colorful collections. I don’t think I will ever become a serious collector (looking for rare editions, etc), but I am quite looking forward to the day when I will have stacks of well-used Field Notes.
~meow~
jottermeow 
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