How to start writing in a beautiful notebook….

EmilyHarburn

Enjoy the notebook. it can serve a multitude of purposes mostly about your thoughts and feelings. this is a link for journaling
www.journalbuddies.com/journal-prompts-writing-ideas/topics-for-journal-writing/

But you can also use it from time to time as a gratitude journal,. I have a David Brooks gratitude journal which I take on holiday or on courses etc. Its lovely to look back at what I enjoyed and also what I hoped to enjoy.

Awesome. Thanks for the resources.

I’ve been given the most beautiful hand-bound notebook, with the smoothest unlined paper. It has a loose page with narrow lines on one side and mathematical squares on the other side to use under a blank page if needed. It was from my family in Lisbon and they also gave me pencils made from fig tree wood, which smell gorgeous. I’ve yet to put pencil or pen to paper yet and I’ve been looking at daily sketching challenges, but still haven’t found the inspiration yet.

Tomorrow, I’m going to start using it with my fine line pens and pencils, both writing and sketching, thanks to reading the ideas here!

I am devastated that I wrote a wrong date in my new diary in ink!!
Always use pencil, at least for January.

I only tend to write useful things in a book, eg curtain measurements etc.

I too was given a really lovely journal as a gift. It is bound in soft leather and the pages are unlined - somehow, that's more intimidating

I noticed that Hobbycraft are offering an online course in "brush script" and plan to enrol, and start to use my journal to practice .

One of my daughters loves to record what has happened to her in a day. If something strikes her as amusing or informative she writes it down, dates it and where she was at time of hearing it or reading it. She does read it to me at times and it’s very worrying some of the things she scribbles down. ?

I have a beautiful notebook which I have used as a concert journal, detailing concerts attended and the programmes I’ve heard. I was trying to hear as many different orchestras as I could. Unfortunately I’ve not heard any live performances for a long time!

I had a whole stack of different beautiful notebooks which had been given to me over time. On 21st March 2020, I started a lockdown journal, which I still write every night. That has taken care of nearly all of them! I realise this doesn't help the OP, who is already doing this, but it has been such a relief to use them.

How about something factual?

I've invited a French friend for lunch on Sunday and couldn't remember what she didn't eat and whether she ate fish.

If I find a new recipe that I like I will cook it every time we invite friends to eat.

I don't want to give people the same dish more than once (or maybe twice if I really like it) and so I'm going to start a notebook with details of whose come for a meal and what I've cooked. I can also add notes of what they do/don't eat.

Great thread. I found an unused notebook when trying to tidy/ declutter the other day. I think I will use it to write down new things/ recipes/ authors/ travel destinations etc I hope to discover this year

BlueSky

I was amazed how many people, both women and men, still keep journals! It’s something I used to do as a teenager, and I used to keep all of them, till I got married and burned them all. They would have made fascinating reading now!

I did the same.
Not only did I write about boys I fancied and stuff I got up to with my friends, I kept a log of chart records, books I'd read, quotes and money I'd spent on clothes/makeup!!
How I regret burning those journals!!

I wouldn't call my notebook a journal, but it is a reminder of sorts.....I love to read, and around 3 years ago I started writing down the name of the book I was currently reading, plus the authors name, and occasionally I write at the side if it was enjoyable. I find it helps me as I'm getting older to remember, and the little brain cells sometimes refuse to work ! Also I can tell from how may books I read over the year if I have slowed down any.
I love stationery of any kind, my husband, who doesn't like reading (takes him all day to read a newspaper, and even then he skips pages) or writing thinks I am slowly going "doolally".

What a wonderful gift. I’m sure you’ll enjoy filling the book with your important things. I’m a little envious I think!!!

Our local museum suggested that people could keep a Covid diary along the lines of Mass Observation Housewife 49 sort of thing. I started it on on 20th March 2020 and write about how we are dealing with Covid, news and views, frustrations and joys and much more. The museum/ library said that they might archive them for future use and/or publish extracts. I have loved doing it and it has kept me sane through 18 months of OH shielding. Don’t know if I’ll turn it over to the museum as my daughters want to have it when I’m gone to add to other family memorabilia.

Thank you Laura Meredith for finding and posting the link to Morning Pages

What a lovely gift! I've always loved opening a new notebook or journal and staring at a pristine blank page. It's both exciting and terrifying. And that wonderful smell of new paper..... hmmm! I'm delighted that so many people still like to have paper notebooks as opposed to digital.

My mother wrote in a diary every day of her life, just daily happenings. She gave me a pink lockable diary which I wrote in for a few months then abandoned, perhaps because what I really wanted was a bike!

I make handmade journals or notebooks for each of my granddaughters for their 10th birthdays. I'm continuing a family tradition that dates back to my great-grandmother, maybe even earlier. The books she gave were leatherbound and quite small.

I make mine A5 or larger with a variety of papers for writing, drawing, painting etc, and include handwritten quotations, little sketches and small pockets and sleeves for storing notes or photos. It's then handbound with lavishly decorated covers, a pen holder and handmade clasp.

They love receiving them but whether they will ever use them I don't know. Maybe when they're older. I should be working on one right now for a birthday next month, but I'm a bit stuck for ideas to be honest. Hopefully inspiration will strike in time!

Enjoy your book Willow

Thank you so much for all the wonderful ideas and contributions. It makes fascinating reading….I now have a flow diagram with all the ideas jotted down and web site links to notebook recommendations. I agree….just start! Love the idea of writing a poem on first page, or leaving it blank. I too am a pen geek….there’s something about the physicality of wring by hand which is part of the process to me, so yes…..some women buy shoes….I buy pens, note and sketchbooks!
So pleased that this thread seems to have inspired more of you to start.
Incidentally, the 5 year diary I have is a Q&A a day one from Waterstones. You can’t write more than a small paragraph but it poses a short random question each day. It makes fascinating reading through the years!

In 2014, I read somewhere that people in their mid sixties had, on average, 170 months to live. Being 66, this would take me up to 2028. I decided to write my 170 month blog, and to that end, I bought myself a nice notebook. I started by writing an introduction, explaining the reason for the blog. It means that there will be a chronological record of the happenings personally, nationally and worldwide, depending on what I want to write. I’m halfway there! Fingers crossed I make it to ‘ the end ‘. You already write a diary, but you might want to choose more specific topics, or more detailed accounts.

What you write depends on who you are writing for.

If you intend to either destroy your diary or leave instructions that it is to be burnd unread upon your death, you can write your innermost thoughts.

However, most of us would find it hard to not read a close relation's diary after their demise, so bear in mind that what you say of a potential reader might just be hurtful or misunderstood. I think most of us censor our thoughts in diaries and private letters for this very reason.

From a historian's viewpoint any diary is interesting whether it is an account of daily doings, haphazardly recorded, a gardening diary kept by an ardent gardener, or a housekeeping dairy. Or one dealing with any other subject.

They will all, if they survive, give future generations a close-up of our times.

I'm a compulsive purchaser of notebooks. I have a huge collection of used and un-used lying about. I try to carry one with me all the time and use it to catch thoughts and ideas and jot down notes. I find writing by hand too slow for writing large chunks of text though. If I'm writing a story, I always do it at a computer, but that's just what works for me.

Enjoy the notebook. it can serve a multitude of purposes mostly about your thoughts and feelings. this is a link for journaling
www.journalbuddies.com/journal-prompts-writing-ideas/topics-for-journal-writing/

But you can also use it from time to time as a gratitude journal,. I have a David Brooks gratitude journal which I take on holiday or on courses etc. Its lovely to look back at what I enjoyed and also what I hoped to enjoy.

There are LOTS of beautiful notebooks out there (and a lot in my house), so I say use it and enjoy - even if it's only for your shopping lists - because when it's full you can go and buy another one

Willow 65 … I wonder what you put it n 5 year diary, Is it just say things of where you been and who you seen or feelings ect? I like sound of it I may get one x

Good topic, thank you all. I am a lover fountain pen/ink also and am sad that fewer and fewer opportunities to use same in daily life. I do have a book with clippings and some written 'wise sayings'. I think maybe a nice idea to get a better notebook and fill up again by hand. The recipe book is a good idea also, I wish I had given one to my mother years ago. She had an old diary filled up and now passed on to a grandchild.

www.oliverburkeman.com/morningpages

I had this problem until I hit on the idea of leaving the first page blank. Somehow starting on the second page is easier. Also a very good article by Oliver Burkeman about a writing exercise called Morning Pages (in the guardian newspaper ) helped me overcome the shyness. Perhaps another more tech savvy granny could find the article and post a link.