A few blog posts back I talked about my use of Evernote for daily writing, and keeping all my writing in one place. While I still use Evernote daily there are moments where I still prefer the tactile sensation of writing in a quality notebook. Over the years I’ve used a wide variety of writing mediums such as napkins, scraps of paper, or the back of my hand. All of which served a purpose.

The first real writing notebook I used I can still remember the smell of the paper as I peeled off the plastic, and cracked open the pages. The smooth black leather cover filled with acid-free paper, which ended up being a writing experience that let my pen glide across the pages. It was a Moleskine. At first I was afraid to write anything in my first Moleskine notebook. It felt as if I should only write truly important thoughts and ideas, but as that fear eventually faded and my writing passion took over. Notes, story ideas, thoughts, ramblings, poems, and so much more. it became the place where I recorded everything that involved growing my writing skills.

A Train of Firsts

I started a new Moleskine notebook a few weeks ago. The first words set the stage for the rest of the notebook. So I started off my newest Moleskine notebook with notes from a Bible study, and figured that would be the best way to begin another year of writing. To be honest I was even more ecstatic for the weekends to be able to sit in a dark corner with a blank page, a pen, and my cup of coffee to start filling the first few pages properly.

Where would I take this notebook, and what memories or thoughts would encompass this portion of my life. Each notebook I’ve filled seems to take on different characteristics, or a slightly odd personality. My wife noted a few months back that she couldn’t read my early writings, because they were too depressing. I agreed with her on that fact, since my high school notebooks were filled the years when I was most depressed. My last notebook encompassed my growth in the Lord and my thoughts on various scriptures I’d been reading.

Exposure

The first time I learned about Moleskine notebooks I was in my first college writing class. Up until that point I had used spiral bound notebooks to write down my thoughts and usually I hated writing on white paper because trying to read over tended to hurt my eyes. Though I digress, so when I learned about Moleskine notebooks from my professor I bought a pocket sized one that I could carry with me and take notes in. Needless to say my first one I filled in no time, but I realized that the writing experience on the paper was so much smoother and I was hooked. From that point on the only notebooks I carried were the familiar black, 5x8.25 soft-cover Moleskine notebooks. What types of notebooks do you use?