My Notebook Addiction

My daughter told me that I have a serious obsession with buying notebooks. No, not obsession—a sickness. And she’s not wrong.

While helping me reorganize my home office this weekend, she was taken aback by the different types of notebooks I own. I keep them in random baskets and desk drawers. And I know there are more. If we were cleaning out my bedroom closet, she would have found maybe a dozen more. Those pages are mostly filled with old blog posts and stories I only share with certain people. In my defense, they are keepsake journals, which are entirely different notebooks and shouldn’t count in the grand total.

I’m just sayin…

From pretty journals to practical notepads, I admit to having a nice collection. And by collection, I mean a plethora of notebooks. I can’t help myself. Sometimes, when I want to support an indie bookstore and know I don’t need another novel, I buy a notebook instead. This way, I don’t leave the store empty-handed. I’ve accumulated others that came to me as giveaways at workshops and conferences I’ve attended over the years. I tend to save them, but they don’t collect dust. I scribble down ideas that come to me at 2 am that I know I’ll forget in the daylight hours. These are my “in case of emergency” notebooks for when I have nothing else to write on.

I can’t say that I’m loyal to a particular brand. I was a big fan of Moleskine’s classic notebooks. They are sleek, high-quality journals that come in various sizes and colors. I’m still a fan and often tempted to buy them, but they are expensive. So, I switched to yellow notepads and CVS scratch pads. Soon enough, I worked my way back up to less costly but more appealing bound notebooks with bold colors and inspiring quotes on the cover. My latest purchase is a beauty. The colors are gorgeous, and the quote is from Vice President Kamala Harris. “Dream with Ambition. Lead with Conviction.” They are certainly words to live by.

At this point, I’m sure I have enough journals to write my life story. However, my work life has overshadowed my writing time lately, and the blank notebooks accumulated with only my good intentions to fill them. But eventually, I hope the stories that go into those notebooks will be of great value for generations to come.

I’m glad that my “sickness” is out in the open. Maybe someone will read this, see me at a Barnes & Noble in the stationery section, and pull me away before I make a purchase. When you do, please remind me of the notebooks sitting at home waiting for my pen and my words to grace their pages.

XO,

Elisa