My name is Kate and...
I collect journals. Rather obsessively, it appears. Of the sixteen photographed, only three (the Moleskines with pens attached) are in active use—I didn’t include the filled ones in the photo. I’ll get around to using them, though it could possibly take me the rest of my life. I wouldn’t discount the possibility of a few more showing up in the array between times, either. In fact, I’d count on it.
When I’m in a store, face to face with a rack of blank books, my resistance completely crumbles. Of course I don’t need any more blank books, but a couple of weeks ago I discovered a new display at Staples - the light green and blue books at the bottom of the photo. I might call them Moleskine knockoffs with the elastic band closure and the pocket in the back. They aren’t as sturdy as Moleskines, but the paper is better and I like the color choices. And, naturally, one wasn’t enough. I had to have two.
Of them all, the Moleskines and Miquelrius are still my favorites. They are well made and feel substantial in my hands. They hold up well to wear and tear, too. The small Moleskine with the red duct tape wrapped around it and pen attached, third row down) has served as my wallet/notebook/calendar for the past few months. It’s a little worn around the edges, but still sturdy and strong. The Miquelrius books have an indestructible leather-like cover and the paper takes liquid inks very well.
The red Miquelrius in the upper right corner is still encased in its original plastic wrapping. The day that I open it will be an event. The rest I can hold, open, and sniff. Paper smells good. It’s part of the experience for me and I think that goes with the addiction. The dark green one in the third row, has a luxurious leather cover and thick elegant paper inside. I purchased it at Kate’s Paperie in New York City a few years ago. I’m a little afraid of it because it is so luxurious. But I still like to open it and sniff and touch the pages. And think about what I’d put in it if I could drum up the courage to mar a page with ink.
One thing is for sure, the lad will never wonder what I thought about anything when he gets his hands on my journals someday. And that doesn’t bother me a bit. I wish my mother and father had kept journals. Or my grandparents. One of my journals is specifically for the lad...one I’ve kept since he was a baby. It includes a series of letters to him and I’ll keep writing them for as long as I breathe. The rest? Well, they’ll hold things like thoughts, events, ideas, scrapbook inserts, lists, diy measurements, supply lists, and so forth.
I suppose all of this makes me borderline certifiable, but as addictions go, there are worse.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve kept a paper journal for 25 years. I use simple spiral notebooks like any student has, but somewhere along the line I developed the affectation of only using notebooks with college logos on the covers. Fortunately, my kids have kept me supplied with those. I just started journal #27 last week (University of Oregon at Eugene). Recently I thought that I should go back to my original journal and start reading in sequence. I got about 1/3 of the way through the stack before I became so completely embarrassed by my entries that I couldn’t go on. I suppose my kids will read them some day and shake their heads, finding that their dad wasn’t Superman after all.
I thought you might like to read a feature story about me Kate, ... I’ve finally had my 15 minutes of fame. *hahaha*
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Living/541643.html
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Steph - Paper offerings in Europe far exceed anything here and the quality is way superior, too. It is so difficult to find quality domestically manufactured paper. You can sneeze through most of it. The paper is geared to ball point pens—liquid inks bleed and feather horribly. Japan is now manufacturing wonderful pens. Really exciting designs and colors. Can’t get them here, but they’re getting a little easier to acquire online.
Most of my journals are manufactured in Spain or Italy. Unfortunately, Moleskines are now made in China and I’ve seen a distinct drop in their quality. That’s terribly unfortunate for those of us addicted to them. The company appears to be very concerned by that, though.
Pablo - I used to journal in spiral notebooks, but the paper got so horrible that I could only use one side of a page. Since I use fountain pens and roller ball pens, paper quality matters. Drove me nuts. For my really hard core journaling and morning pages I use 5” by 8” ruled index cards which can be neatly filed in a box with monthly dividers. It’s easy to index them and they take any ink at all. My little bound journals serve as the idea factories with brief thoughts or observations noted. Maybe that’s a complicated system, but it sure works for me. 
And don’t you think it’ll be good for the kids to know that we weren’t superman or woman? I mean, it’s nice when they treat us like that, but I think they’ll also find a lot of value in knowing just how human we really are/were and that we struggled with the same issues they will. That makes us multi-dimensional rather than just Mom or Dad.
Lynn - That’s a wonderful article. Good for you and excellent news on remission. I’m so glad that you have a show/exhibit. At last! I wish I could see it in person. How exciting!! Now there’s another example of a way to journal for posterity and self-expression. You have such a gifted eye for the world around you.
Posted by Kate on 11/19/06 at 07:23 PM
Nah, you aren’t certifiable.......yet, anyway. Heck there are worse obsessions and we all have them to some degree!!
My great aunt (died in her 90’s about 35 years ago), religiously kept journals and I have boxes of them all on my closet shelf, sometimes I pick one out at random and read it. She always wrote in the same beautiful script, I do not think I have ever seen a crossed out word or thought. What was even more amazing was reading of the birth of my two brothers and then 14 years later the excitement of my imminent arrival. It was amazing and sort of strange all at the same time. 10 years later I read her thoughts on the death of one of my brothers in a car accident and that gave me the chills. I wish there was something I could do with these, but I do not know what...... She was a “spinster,” by choice she always said and traveled all over the world, a college graduate along with her sister, my grandmother, at a time when women in higher education were few and far between. She used to entertain me by telling me stories of all her travels and I have some lovely pieces of jewelry she gave me as a result........
Posted by cyn on 11/19/06 at 08:08 PM
What a treasure your aunt left you, Cyn. A life well lived and recorded. Most of us don’t have lives that exciting, but even the small daily details are interesting. My Mom didn’t keep a diary for most of her life, but one year she did and I have that book. Just one little year out of her entire life, but it’s so fascinating to me. Nothing much happens in it...just day to day stuff, but that’s what life is all about. Reading it is like being there with her.
Posted by Kate on 11/20/06 at 02:16 PM
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It’s not too crazy. I like to pick up notebooks and pens while I’m on vacation. For me, they’ve got to be suitable for work. I’ve got all of the past ten years of work filled in notebooks. And maybe enough blanks for the next year or so. And the Dutch are so chintzy when it comes to pens and paper that almost anything I find on vacation is nicer than what there is here.