How I end a journaling notebook
Just about everyone has offered advice on how to start a journal. From Oprah to The NY Times to JetPens and others. There are fabulous articles on strategies we can use to start a brand new journal. Reflections on how to end using a notebook are rarer.
I am to share just that: an overview of how I close out a notebook. For me, ending a journal is a three step process. A process that has grown into a tradition I find fun. Whee.
This week, I finished my trusty A6 Stalogy notebook. This compact notebook is intended as a planner, with date lines along the top and the hours of each day pre-printed along the left-hand side of each page. I use the top line to date my entries. This Stalogy has accompanied me since last December. And it is now full.
Mario coin sound
The three stages I use to close out a notebook are: a flip-through review, which I use to build a list of lessons and patterns from my journaling; a highlights index; and the old date-and-shelve. Together, they take five-to-six pages to complete.
First is the flip-through review. It’s fun to skim over my reflections and lists and scribbles from the past few months. I rediscover memories I made. Revisit challenges I faced. And stumble onto patterns where I make similar mistakes or have similar successes.
The flip-through results in a short bulleted list at the back of the notebook. The list captures highlights from the past months which I treasure. Lessons I gleaned about myself. These lessons often turn into small, attainable goals for myself.
Lessons and highlights from the past four months of living life
For example, I was struck that the pages which I filled with scribbles and doodles map onto days when I had a lot of fun exploring new pens or repairing pens. I am reminded that pages with doodles and scribbles aren’t wasted pages. They’re evidence of joy. My lesson: allow myself doodles because happiness is worth recording.
Second is an index of highlights. The Stalogy ends with a list of my favorite poems, sampled from the poetry I ended entries with. This index is also populated with the pages of entries I know I’ll want to revisit. For instance, the page in a prior journal where I recorded my wedding vows. You know, the big stuff.
A jotted date helps me to locate each poem within the notebook. Because Stalogy notebooks do not have numbered pages. I interchanged colors for each poem to keep the index easily skimmable. And to keep testing gel pens.
These entries make their ways into my virtual commonplace index. That index is for another post.
Finally, I date the spine of the journal. The month and year provide enough detail to keep my journals searchable even years afterward. For safe keeping. On the shelf.
For shelf-keeping
A cornerstone of learning philosophy is that all learning is loss. We must shed who we were before we added new knowledge. Change is part of what makes learning challenging.
I’m sad to see this journal go. This Stalogy has been my stationery companion for four months. But I’m also excited to finish the notebook. Because my next journal is going to be great.
Here’s looking at you, kid
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. There can be no doubt that the standout combo this week is the lovely Sailor Pro Gear, kitted with a MF nib, and inked with Arima Amber. Tapped twice for journaling duties. Joyful feedback. Consistent writing, even on reverse. Manuscript edits, journaling, reading notes, d&d statuses. Feed only.
Platinum 3776 (F) — 2/5. Continues on as an excellent combination. Wet enough to write smoothly. Round nib accommodates writing quickly. Dries quickly. Writes a consistent Japanese F line. Not even one complaint. Task management, scratch notes, reading notes.
Pilot Custom 74 (EF) — 1/2. Wrote wet and dry at turns. Inconsistent as a result. I’m still exploring the root cause. A great line width for detailed notes. Journaling, margin notes, and manuscript marking.
Kaweco Sport (BB) — 3/5. The BB nib lays down a B-width line. Consistent. The feed easily keeps up, even after a full page of writing. My long-writing session partner this week. Journaling, reflections, drafting.
Lamy Safari (B) — 4/5. After some tuning, this B nib offers a smooth, true-to-size B line. The round nib sports a wide writing plane with four rounded edges. The result a forgiving pen that writes at just about any angle. Excellent for quick-writing tasks where I tend to rotate my pen. Also suited for longer writing sessions when I do the same. Journaling, reading notes, manuscript drafting, and scratch notes.
TWSBI Vac700R (F CSI) — All but 1 air bubble. Still. This Vac holds an ocean of ink. The Vac sat in my penvelope most of the week. One bout of reading notes on Wednesday and one partial journal entry Saturday. That’s it. Perhaps it’s time for a change.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Not even one line. I took time away from working to honor my break this week.
Journal. Stalogy 1/2 Year Editor’s (A6). Weeks away from work offer me plentiful time for journaling. This week was no exceptions. Five new entries and 14 new pages. The final 14 pages of this Stalogy. The little notebook that could.
I tagged the Sailor in on two occasions, Sunday and Friday. Arima Amber, the Saior MF nib and Stalogy paper play excellently together. Bang up job.
Most excellently.
The TWSBI and Kaweco helped out on two long reflections. The Pilot hairline EF carried a poem — well, the lyrics to Sleeping Lessons by the Shins. That song was stuck in my head throughout the week.
The Lamy wrote a brief reflection on the newest Chillhop seasonal playlist. Paper Plume’s ink feathered fiercely on Stalogy paper. Drives home the importance of the stationery triad: nib, ink, and paper. You need all three playing well together.
Written dry. Five of the week’s six pens survived with ink remaining. The Sailor alone is down to its feed. As a result of marking two journal entries and nearly half of my reading notes.
I simply can’t get enough of Sailor’s excellent MF nib.
This nib is what’s at the end of the rainbow. Maybe.
Newly inked. I made it through the week without the urge to ink a new pen and ink combo. My waterfall of new gel and ballpoint pens kept me enjoying my writing. Another win.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. No new acquisitions this week. However, next week looks to be more exciting. Moving firmly outside of the proverbial box.
Outgoing / trades or sales. Static hiss.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I dug into the first nine chapters of Brian Jacques’ Mattimeo this week. This is my evening reading, which helps me to come down from the day and calm my mind before heading to bed.
I’m enjoying the easy language Jacques uses and the tidy storytelling. Nothing fancy or intricate. Simple, direct storylines. This third book follows Mattimeo, the teenager-seeming son of Matthias. Matthias was the main protagonist from the first book.
Nonfiction. I had a great week. One book down and a second book half done. I fly through academic books as most lean on an easy-to-follow argumentative formula. Dig it.
I started and finished Sara Ahmed’s theoretical exploration of how queer theory can focus on the essential characteristics of an orientation. 240 pages read by Wednesday night.
I finished using a black Blackwing pencil while making margin notes. I dig the look of the pencil, especially the black eraser. But the core is soft enough to require a quick turn in a sharpener just about every page. Not made with marginalia in mind.
I started The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder on Thursday. He offers a history of Ukraine and Russia through the impact of one specific philosopher’s ideas: Ivan Ilyin. 220 pages in as of Sunday morning. Fascinating history to help explain major current events.
Chillin’ and Ilyin [not sorry]
I turned to the much firmer core of Blackwing’s Natural pencil line for Snyder’s book. But I do enjoy the sleek black eraser of my prior pencil. So I swapped them. Easy-peasy.
New book day, and a fine looking new pencil
Music. The Shins played all week. I swapped back and forth between two albums. Spotify’s sampler playlist was an easy choice while reading non-fiction and making reading notes. And The Shins’ excellent album, Wincing the Night Away, was my walking and fiction reading buddy. Energy without pretension.
For those who prefer their thinking soundtracks without vocals, Chillhop’s Spring 2022 playlist dropped on Wednesday. These seasonal compilations are always great fun. The final four are definitely a highlight for me.
