For many years, the “What’s In Your Bag” has been quite popular. People will photograph or share the contents of the bag they carry every day for the voyeuristic crowd. Such trends have been featured in everything from women’s fashion magazines and men’s magazines to the photography sharing website, Flickr, when Flickr was a thing. Personally, I’ve never been very interested in what’s in a person’s bag, unless there is a notebook or planner in the bag, in which case you have my full attention because I’ve always been curious about what people have in their notebooks. My interest is not about the brand or style of the notebooks, but in the contents of the notebooks because I believe that the contents of a notebook tell a story about the keeper of the notebook.
In October 2022, I interviewed Michael Downey about his 40+ year journaling practice for the first story for The Notebook People Project. Since then, I have had the pleasure of interviewing 22 notebook/planner/journal keepers for The Notebook People Project – 11 in year one and 11 in year two. The most recent interview was with poet, educator, and activist, Miller Oberman. I have had the incredibly good fortune of talking notebooks with 22 uniquely amazing human beings. In the twelfth month of the first year, September 2023, rather than interview someone new, I stopped to reflect on everything I’d learned from those interviews during that year; and, as I conclude year two, I’m pausing again to reflect on the journey, the wonderful people I have met along the way, and the insights they’ve shared and I’ve learned in these past 12 months.
As many of you may already know, I was inspired to begin keeping my very first notebook after reading the children’s book, Harriet the Spy, which was written by Louise Fitzhugh, and told the story of a precocious, affluent, New York born 11-year-old, with aspirations to become a writer and spy when she grew up. I had aspirations of becoming a writer as well, and though I really never wanted to be a spy, being a writer certainly shares some of the same qualities. As Joan Didion, wrote in the preface of Slouching Towards Bethlehem, “My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.” which should not be interpreted as malicious, but rather as the byproduct of writers being observant and writing what they observe.
For so many of the notebook keepers with whom I have spoken, one of the most common threads that connect so many of us is the compulsion to observe and then to record what we have observed. Sometimes, the reasons for recording this information are clear, and other times, they are not. Currently, I’m reading a collection of Charlotte Forten Grimké’s journals. Grimké was a 19th-century African-American woman born to an affluent Philadelphia family of activists and educators. Her journals provide rich insight into her life, but also the times in which she lived. In the beginning of her journal, she wrote:
A wish to record the passing events of my life, which, even if quite unimportant to others, naturally possess great interest to myself, and of which it will be pleasant to have some remembrance, has induced me to commence this journal. I feel that keeping a diary will be a pleasant and profitable employment of my leisure hours, and will afford me much pleasure in other years, by recalling to my mind the memories of others days, thoughts of much-loved friends from whom I may then be separated, with whom I now pass many happy hours, in taking delightful walks, holding “sweet converse”; the interesting books that I read; and the different people, places and things that I am permitted to see.
Besides this, it will doubtless enable me to judge correctly of the growth and improvement of my mind from year to year.
C.L.F. Salem, May 1854
In one of her most loved (especially by me) essays, “On Keeping a Notebook,” Joan Didion explores what compels us to keep notebooks, and while for each person I’ve spoken to, the inspiration has been different, what is true for all is the compulsion, the desire, the need to put pen or pencil to paper.
In October 2023, Paul Ward, a longtime user of the Franklin Planner system, shared his belief in the importance of staying organized and using his time wisely and well, so that it frees up his time to spend with family and friends. We decided to call his time management style the “Paul Ward Method” and many readers of his story adopted his system. Paul’s story can be found here.
In November, 2023, Grainger Wyckoff, who was also inspired to keep a notebook after reading Harriet the Spy when she was in elementary school, brought so much excitement and cheerful energy to our interview. Grainger loves Traveler’s Company traveler’s notebooks, Hobonichi planners, and the preloved TSL A5 zip organizer that she bought from me years ago. Her love for analogue tools is infectious. You can read her story here.
In December 2023, Suzanne Alterman, who like Paul Ward, is also a longtime user of the Franklin Planner system, shared her color-coding system with us, which is how she stays organized and productive in her busy job. It was interesting to bump into two really longtime Franklin Planner users in such a short span of time, as I used to work for the company back in the late 1990s! You can learn more about her color-coding system here.
It was a real treat to see Khristina Westbrook-Fordham’s notebooks in January 2024. She’s been keeping notebooks and planners her entire life and has kept all of them. Seeing the archived notebooks was really cool. They are filled with memorabilia from her entire life, including her teen years, which were marked by her love of music and the many 80s music concerts she attended. Make sure you look at the photos when you check out her story; they are really special.
Chelsea Smith, who was a college student of mine years ago and is one of my dearest friends and favorite humans, shared her notebooks, her love of music and film, her personal insights about destroying old notebooks, and one of her favorite John Waters’ quotes with us in her February 2024 story, which you can find here.
I’ve known Soraya Ahyaudin for years, having discovered each other on Instagram. She participated in my Traveling Traveler’s Notebook Project in 2014! When she shared her story for The Notebook People Project in March 2024, we learned how precious it is to have possession of the notebooks of those that we’ve lost when Soraya shared her mother and father’s notebooks and planners with us. You can read more about her story here.
Wakako Takagi, the owner of Baum-kuchen and the woman responsible for introducing so many of us to great artifacts and analogue tools like traveler’s notebooks, imparted some of her peaceful wisdom and calm philosophies with all of us when I shared her story in April 2024. You can find it here.
In May 2024, we got to meet Anilia Hornsby, who shared her very rich and interesting life with us. Having spent the earlier part of her life in Haiti, the child of missionaries, she has a unique perspective on the world. For her, writing means she gets to write down the things that are swirling around in her head, so that she never has to think about them again, if she doesn’t want to. Her story can be found here.
It was a joy talking to Brian Gilchrist, who is a man of many notebooks, many interests, and a love for productivity books. He shared some of his goodies with us, as well as the titles of some of his more recent time management reads. His June 2024 story was really enlightening for me, as I had just recently started focusing more on using a time management/productivity system once again. You can find his story here.
Beate Mangrig, the designer behind the wonderful German notebook brand, ROTERFADEN, graced us with her delightfully creative energy and powerful philosophies in her July 2024 story, which you can check out here. Her thoughts on design and the importance of art and balance in life were so provocative and insightful.
And lastly, New York-based poet, educator, and activist, Miller Oberman, shared the really powerful and touching story of finding his way to a notebook when he lost his aunt, who was extremely special to him. It was at that time that the poet in him emerged. He has been a writer ever since. He also has a soft spot for fountain pens. You can read more about him here in the August 2024 story, as well as find a link to his upcoming book of poetry, Impossible Things, which will be published by Duke University Press in October of this year.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read stories from The Notebook People Project these past two years, and especially to those of you who took the time to leave your comments and insights. Even though I don’t have a way to respond to each comment individually, I do read them all and appreciate every single one of them. And, thank you to Wakako and the Baum-kuchen team for creating this space and allowing me to use it to connect you to all of these wonderful notebook keepers.
