#on keeping a notebook

[elektramouthed]

But our notebooks give us away, for however dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable “I.” We are not talking here about the kind of notebook that is patently for public consumption, a structural conceit for binding together a series of graceful pensées; we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its maker. And sometimes even the maker has difficulty with the meaning.

Joan Didion, from On Keeping A Notebook in: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

[crimson-kas]

“It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch, and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about.” — Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook

I designed these commonplace inserts to encourage me to make connections with what I’m reading and what I’ve read previously. As I commonplace more, I’ll be able to fill out the other sections of this insert, which will get me linking together my thoughts on various subjects.

[vesperalities]

I started a new blog called @ontakingnotes where I post everything related to, well, taking notes.

My premise has always been that a notebook is a tool of thought. However, the socioeconomic climate today promotes the commodification of self-improvement practices such as journaling, often reducing them to what's see-able, post-able, like-able, and purchasable.

Far from being grudgy and judgemental, I am the first person to post pictures of my notes, journals, etc. I am also trying to be more thoughtful in my consumption, and in my online presence. By that I mean I am trying to be more careful in what I take or give to the (on/off line) community. But I am not self-decieving and that’s why I recognize I will probably keep sharing this kind of content, because it makes me feel good and it is also a form of self-expression.

All that is to say that although the aesthetic part of taking notes is very valuable, it is also hyper-explored. And most importantly, it is not what note-taking is all about, contrary to what retailers want you to think.

If you want to expand your vision of the meaning and the different ways there exist of keeping a notebook, this is for you. In this new blog, you will find inspiring classifications, diagrams, metaphors, and reflections on note-taking and how it might actually change the way you think, and therefore, your life.

[sptimocielo]

On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion

[expendabledreamer]

[revacholian-ham-sandwich]

"Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss."

–Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook

[girlwithlandscape]

Buttercup Festival

[orchidego]

source

[specters-notebook]

"It's looks like you're losing function in your hip."

I just turned 22.

The physical therapist looked scared while I was describing my levels of pain and discomfort.

I just turned 22.

[ordinaryheavenn]

on keeping a notebook - joan didion

[elektramouthed]

So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. That would be a different impulse entirely, an instinct for reality which I sometimes envy but do not possess. At no point have I ever been able successfully to keep a diary; my approach to daily life ranges from the grossly negligent to the merely absent, and on those few occasions when I have tried dutifully to record a day’s events, boredom has so overcome me that the results are mysterious at best.

Joan Didion, from On Keeping A Notebook in: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

[vesperalities]

too good to be true

[obsob]

to be loved is to be held!!! print

[kori-senpai]

Netflix took down Voltron and managed to revive the klance nation with it, good job

[revacholian-ham-sandwich]

"The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion triest to justify itself."

–Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook

[briery]

Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”