A new year means a new notebook, even if the old notebook is not completely filled, it’s January and I crave freshness. (By the way, my choice is the classic black Moleskine) This new notebook, however, means I experience one of my many neuroses, this one I like to call “new-notebook-itis”, in which I am unable to start using it. It is so perfect and new I can’t get myself to crack the spine and flatten down that first page (why does that page always stick up so much?), and suddenly I feel like the list I’m about to write down needs to be something big and profound because it is the first item on the very first page. Luckily this only lasts a few days but I feel mighty silly while it does. Tell me, are any of you similarly afflicted? Or can you hardly wait to start scribbling away?
i love looking at notebooks on etsy~!! but i honestly don’t own one myself. i guess i’m too embarrassed at my horrible handwriting.. but sometimes when i am out and get an idea i wish i had a place to jot things down!!
I find it so hard to break in a pristine book.
I have so many empty notebooks. Maybe that should be my resolution!
I love notebooks – and so much better than the 50 million bits of paper I tend to accumulate. I use mine to just jot down things to remember so I don’t have the intimidation factor – you need to just christen it with something simple!
I couldn’t agree more. In fact I am supposed to ship my filled sketchbook to the sketchbook projects by Saturday… I haven’t even made a mark. Lots of ideas and sketches scribbled on random sheets of paper in the bottom of my purse, but I can’t seem to kick my new-notebook-itis. Tonight will be the night. I just know it.
Oh I love my Moleskins… I have a personal journal, which I have resolved to write in more often, and one of those thin lime green Moleskins for notes, lists and the like. Then there is a small one in my bag for random things that hit me during the day! I’m definitely a fan!
*kate
Yes, yes…i’m totally affected too! My strategy…I leave the first two pages blank. That way, if the first thing I’ve written down isn’t so profound (i.e., a grocery list?) then it’s not like I’ve written it on the first page! I can save the first page for something else! So strange that I’m actually admitting this. Surely you understand.
-Jordana
p.s. My notebook for the moment…a white one I picked up at Chapters (bookstore in Canada). I switch it up each time I need one.
I am most definitely similarly afflicted, but once I got over the fact that this year’s new notebook was a fancy Moleskin I was totally hooked. In fact, I got the Moleskin planner as well! Have you seen them? It’s fabulous
One of my favorite things about moleskines is that everyone has their own way of approaching them- I can’t wait to get started whenever I have a new one, and I can’t start a new one until I’ve finished the last one! I usually leave that first page blank- it’s too much of a pain to try to prevent it from popping up.
I think that the pile of fresh notebooks in my apartment confirms that I too suffer from this! This year I’m telling myself that even the mundane in my life should be beautiful – so if I want to write my to-dos in that gorgeous handmade notebook I was given last year, so be it.
I most definitely experience these kinds of things. It’s weird how our minds work!
I’m such a sucker for a new notebook, and I’m just like you-each January it’s a fresh Moleskin, even if the old one isn’t full! As for filling it, I start right away by putting some of the critical info from last years into the first few pages of the new one, curing my anxiety to scribble!
You see, this is why I love you all so much!! Kindred spirits to say the least, I can always count on you to make me feel like I am not alone in my quirks!
Ha, I’m starting a new notebook too! I also have “new-notebook-itis”, but I think it’s because I’m afraid to let go of my old notebook. It has an empty half page and I feel I should fill it before moving on!
I’m the same way. I love my red moleskin.
First off I just stumbled across your blog and have really enjoyed reading it. I love this post about beginning anew with a new notebook. I bought a new journal awhile back and sadly, haven’t really filled it up yet. My inspiration for 2011 is to write or sketch something everyday. Creativity is essential to individual growth. I am your newest follower!:)
xo,
Molly Jane
PS. Stop by and follow me too if you want!:)
http://www.browneyedcharmer.blogspot.com
Me too!! I just started it last week since I’ve been busy so I’m catching up a bit. But I do my notebooks from places I live rather than year to year. Last one was France. The new one is NYC!
I always have problems starting a new journal. Oddly, my biggest decision is how to write the date — I usually choose a European style, but if for some reason, I get it wrong and forget, I get really angry, as if somehow my journal should be perfect (like the blank page was). That’s not the point of the journal though.
Brandi – So cool that you write the date the European way! I can not tell you how many times I’ve been told I don’t exist in different databases because I’ve gone and written my birthdate the European way, oy. Sometimes I still stare at a blank check and have to think which goes first, month or date.
I love my moleskin too. I write funny things my little ones say and do….it’ll be fun to look back on it when they’re grown or even when they’re a few years older.
I aaalways feel that way! So much so that I usually leave the first couple of pages blank so that I can go back and fill them when I find something amazing or profound or perfect to write or draw. usually they just remain blank though! x