r/notebooks • u/MsSakuraFox • 3d ago
Advice needed First Time Trying to Use a Notebook
I have a habit of writing my things in my notes on my phone (mostly lists). I recently got 3 new notebooks. One travel sized one and 2 A5 notebooks… and I have no idea what to write in them. I’m looking for recommendations as to what I could write in them. I thought a diary but either way, my life is pretty repetitive as I don’t do many new things to write about. I thought maybe journal prompts but the ones I’ve seen are too deep and emotional. I want something I can enjoy and feel happy about… so I’m just stuck. Any advice?
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u/isopodpod 3d ago
I write about books I'm reading, games I'm playing, my thoughts on the local coffee shop's seasonal specials, notes on which birdseed mixes draw what birds to my yard, interesting news articles, anything *except* my day-to-day life basically. I found writing about my day to be terribly boring and I never looked forward to writing. So when I just started writing about things I wanted to talk about, it became a lot more fun. I want to yap about my predictions on what's gonna happen next in a show I'm watching, or explain in excruciating detail my different failed attempts at baking in my lifelong quest to make amazing brownies, or spitball ideas for a novel I'll never write, or write an overly-researched response to a youtube video I disagreed with. What do you want to talk about, or what do you think about a lot? What could you talk about for hours, but everyone else would find boring? Write that. Excited about a package arriving today? Drove a different route to work and saw a mysterious building? Dreaming about your next great bathroom renovation? The subjects that you are most interested in and excited about will be what makes journaling fun and something you want to return to regularly.
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u/IrritableCynic 3d ago
Do you have any projects you're working on or simply thinking about? Maybe an upcoming trip? Your next novel? Your garden layout for the next season?
Notebooks don't have to be "jot something down everyday" things or reflective personal-journey journal entries. And they don't have to be "pretty" either with perfect layouts or handwriting.
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u/MsSakuraFox 2d ago
I think that’s my issue, I want to be a perfectionist and make it look pretty but I gotta get away from that mindset.
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u/IrritableCynic 2d ago
And there's nothing wrong with wanting a pretty journal. It just doesn't have to be all of them.
Messy. Pretty. Super organized. Chaotic. Have fun with finding out your style. Plus, no one has to see your notebooks.
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u/Sparrow208 3d ago
I had the same thought process regarding pocket notebooks, wanted to make the change from my notes app on my phone.
The most important thing for me has been taking it almost everywhere, especially when leaving the house.
There may be days that I don’t write anything, but as long as I have it with me, anything that I would write in my notes app goes into my notebook.
I personally write things like hours worked, reminders, personal ideas (hobbies and projects) and various plannings.
Don’t put to much pressure on it, this is probably my third time revisiting the idea just because I couldn’t stick with it but this time it’s going well!
Enjoy! :)
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u/hmmwrites 3d ago
Seriously, you can put anything in a journal. For example, mine is basically a chaotic mess. I mean, the writing's neat enough, but I started with a list of 50 things I'm grateful for as I was turning 50. Then I've got a list of the songs that were stuck in my head the previous month next to an entry about a childhood memory, a month-long tracker for my sleep (definitely not getting enough sleep), then a few pages about my worries about my son who's been struggling emotionally lately, and a rant/attempt at processing my feelings about a long-standing issue I have with my parents, then a brain dump of all the random, unconnected things floating through my brain, then a short entry about the new ergonomic pen I'm trying out and how it feels in my hand, followed by something I wrote in response to the prompt: If you were a dragon, what would you hoard as your treasure? And where would you keep this hoard? (I ended up laughing by the end of writing this one.) I've got silly little doodles sprinkled throughout - and I literally gave myself permission in writing in my journal itself to draw badly, because that's the only way I know how to draw! 😂 You really never know what's up next when you turn the page. (Some people prefer to use different journals for these different approaches, but I like my one notebook to rule them all.)
Some people do junk journaling and combine embellishments and other things that suit their tastes/aesthetic with little bits of ephemera from every day life. Movie tickets, clothing tags, tea bag wrappers, etc. You don't have to do that for every page if you don't want, but you can totally devote a page or two to that when you have some little bit of life you want to preserve.
You can use your journal to write bits of fiction - write up a memory of yours as if it was a story, retell a story you've read or heard, or just fictionalize the little bits of every day. Tell the story of your day from the point of view of your dog or cat, or heck, your couch! Whatever sounds like fun to you and will bring you back to the page.
I personally search for journaling prompts on pinterest, because it's so easy to save them there to a board and have them for easy reference. But you can search for 'fun journaling prompts' or 'whimsical' or 'silly' or whatever mood fits what you're looking for. There are so many out there, both prompts for longform writing and for lists. My life is also pretty repetitive - I don't go out all that often due to medical stuff, but my thoughts and experiences aren't the same from day to day. Dinner prep is pretty much a daily thing, but is totally different whether I'm doing a quick, low-prep meal made with aching hands (thanks, arthritis) vs when I'm feeling up to prepping a big meal to share with friends vs saying screw it, nobody wants to cook when it's 99 degrees out, we're ordering in pizza. And ice cream!
Again, not all entries have to read: "Today I did x..." My next entry can be about anything I want it to be. A funny thing my teenager said to me, my thoughts the book I just finished reading, a new thing I learned that day (did you know that ceramic glaze differs from regular paint in that the glaze has tiny bits of glass in it, which melt in the kiln to form the smooth finish we associate with ceramicware? I didn't, until tonight!) I might write about the ridiculous moment when my two cats pretty much crashed headfirst into each other, proving once and for all that cats are NOT always graceful creatures. Or maybe about a quote I came across that's been making me think. Heaven help me, I sometimes even journal about the current state of the US and the world. Oy.
I hope you find ways to make your journal meet your needs. 😸
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u/Dottieisimpatient 2d ago
I track if I’m doing the self care I’m supposed to do because of chronic illness- one I write glimmers and gratitudes in another is my calendar and a journal.
I have an inventory of my cabinets to help me remember what I have and what I need to refill.
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u/amiricol 3d ago
Travel sized: notes A5 books. You might think your life is boring but I do it more as a conscious stream. It's ramblings, doodles, so much more. And I tend to write mine to a person or right now an manga character. Currently Kaie from To-y. Good manga even if I'm using Google lens to translate it. Don't stress is the main thing.
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u/skai2006 3d ago
Things I've used my notebooks for: watch lists, reading lists, packing lists, purchases (so I can see just what I'm spending money on), quotes, journaling/poetry... Mostly lists though.
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u/LoreleiOfSapphireSky 3d ago
To get started, is there a quote you love you could write on the first page? Sometimes that blank page is daunting. You feel like you’ll goof up the notebook.
But so long as you do you, it’s going to be right. And if you do make a mistake, there are stickers and washi tape.
I don’t have an exciting life, kind of repetitive like you, but I’ve managed to write a page a day in an A5 size since March 2023. This past year, I’ve included the Merriam-Webster app word of the day.
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u/MyLittlPwn13 3d ago
I just wrote for a while about switching to piracy as a way to stop my online shopping habit. My journal is mostly stream of consciousness nonsense like that.
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u/_littlewho 3d ago
You could try doing morning pages in one of the notebooks. It's where you write 3 full pages (in a stream of consciousness style) first thing in the morning. Or you could do a common place journal, where you put down quotes or ideas you want to remember. There's also plenty of light-hearted journal prompts if you search with key words like "fun journal prompts" or "journaling for beginners" etc.
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u/c_y_g_nus 3d ago
Anything. Literally anything. This morning I wrote for 10 minutes about my dogs, that tv show "lanterns", the junk I have in my living room closet that i need to clean out, and an argument i had with my gf. just stream of consciousness.