In entering this new season, it’s important to come prepared…
These are my weapons of choice.
“The Newbie”
This is the newbie on the block. It was a gift and I’m planning on using it as a go-to notebook that I keep in my bag. Go-to notebooks are ideally compact and transportable, but still good looking… in them I write grocery lists, flight details, lyric ideas if they come to me randomly, to-do lists, books to read, films to see, that sort of thing.
“The Retiree”
This was my go-to notebook in 2007. This travelled with me all year and documented things I learned or saw in everywhere from the Philippines to Africa to Norway. It is a hard cover in a very sturdy canvas in a soothing kind of blue-gray colour… It proved very durable and I grew very fond of this one. You grow an affection for your notebooks. Just looking at a retired one up on a shelf reminds you of the year or so it lived alongside you.
“The Confidant”
Now this is a different kind of book. With slightly more reverence attached to it than a go-to, a journal should give you that feeling you get when you find a quiet corner in a huge old library and get a spot in a comfy chair next to the fireplace. At least this is what libraries are like in my fantasies. Anyway… cosy, trustworthy, secretive… this is what a journal becomes. It’s not something you always have with you, but something you pick up to confide in with multi-page entries of whatever you need to emotionally purge. I will probably write a separate blog about journalling because it’s something I’ve been doing consistently for almost a decade and think it’s essential to a person’s mental/spiritual/emotional health. Anyway, this is my current one. My husband took a photo of it when I was out one day and I was furious because it’s a really personal thing and I feel like putting it online is like flashing you my knickers, but I’ve calmed down a bit now and am begrudgingly letting him put this up.
“Pens”
To be honest this photo is of a sharpie and a silver pen which I would never actually write in a notebook with… but sharpies are good for writing on wall calendars or drawing on your friends’ faces when they’re asleep. The fine tipped ones are nice for gift tags and sometimes I find them satisfactory to use on customs declarations forms. Do you have any fruit/vegetables/seeds? A very bold NO cross.
[brookalicious]
I feel the same way about my journal. A very bittersweet moment happens when you start a new journal. I tear up every time. It’s like starting a whole new phase of life. You look back on all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful but stretching moments that happened in your previous companion, and have a butterfly in your stomach feeling thinking of all the new and exciting things your next friend will hold.
I’m protective of my paper confidant as well.
Looking forward to reading your blog about journalling – have kept one myself since about the age of 10 or 11 (am now nearly 25), although my early journal entries were rather on the non-sensical side!
You’re right, it is essential for your collective health – I find it easier sometimes to write down how I’m feeling/what I’m thinking before I talk about it. You’re also right about it being a very personal thing – I keep all my old journals in a “secret drawer” (although anybody could access it if they felt inclined, but luckily my family respects my right to privacy!) and I’d be really furious too if somebody picked one of them up, let alone read through one. It tends to be an intermittent thing for me these days, although I wrote extensively whilst on holiday recently and gave myself elbow cramps from holding the pen too tightly haha!
so, how was your visit here in the Philippines? i’m from the Philippines..
I absolutely love this entry because I thought it was strange that I never wanna let go of my journals once the pages run out, and now I see I’m not alone! I can’t wait for you to write a Journaling blog, because I have always also believed it’s important to vent & just write whats going on within. It keeps record of everything. Anyway, these pictures make me wanna splurge on a journal though, my little paper back journal is crying right now because I might just buy a nice one like these..
where did you buy those adorable notebooks ?
did you make them yourself ?
I have to agree, journals, written words on paper, become such treasured places. The art of writing in this technical time, something that must not be lost, of the places on your site; I look forward to this one the most.
Brooke,
Forgive me, but this has been peaking my curiosity for several days, what is the story behind, “Because nobody likes a cranky grocer…”?
Brooke,
Just picked-up “Albertine”, wow!, again thanks for putting into music some of words I have heard in my heart of sometime.
CS Lewis is one of my most favorite writes; I see a lot of his influence in the work, CS Lewis Song – Mere Christianity – Hope; Shadowfeet – The Great Divorce. I can imagine you are very busy with work on your new album, but if maybe in a future blog can you share some of what CS Lewis means to you?
Your humor has me rolling on the floor! So funny yo’.
Aw, your notebooks are so pretty
P.S. These are very nice pictures…like the angle and the crop of the photos. haha, randommm.
Thanks for taking your time and sharing your heart to us .
I though I was the only crazy-maniatic-compulsive one with journals and pens, you made me feel much better now.
God Bless you once again,
Grace B W U
Hallo! Wow, they are pretty journals! What do you mean “[I] think it’s [journalling] essential to a person’s mental/spiritual/emotional health”?
I started journalling a few times in the past, but couldn’t really bear to go back and read them as I found it a bit embarrassing to admit those thoughts were mine! I look forward to reading your post bout journalling!!
i’m glad i’m not the only one. peace-jess
You hit the ball out of the park Brooke. I never thought about having two separate journals. One for “on the go” and one for intimate moments. I like the way you describe your “confidant” journal. Gets me excited to write.
Hi Brook, thanks for sharing photos of your journals, they look awesome, posh and sophisticated.
It’s such a relief that I’m not the only person, keeping a decade old journals. Using Technology (PDA, Smarthphone) was never worth comparing the joy of hand writing your daily thought and notes, it’s really something special and personal.
Ann:)
Eu Amo suas musicas
Hi Brooke.
I’m in the middle of looking for diaries/journals/go-to books right now and haven’t found any good looking ones as these you’ve got up here. Would you refer me to a site or store I can pick them up?
I’ve been going around to Borders and Barnes & Noble but they don’t carry the good looking ones.
Thank you!