Notebook

planner, journal, codex, zibaldone, дневник

What kind of magpie keeps this notebook?

Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of it actually happened? Did any of it? Why do I keep a notebook at all?

Joan Didion, “Sloughing Towards Bethlehem” (1968), “On Keeping a Notebook”

The notebook is mostly made up of lists or logs. Besides being my main planner, it also acts as a note- and a sketchbook. I made this one myself. It’s in A5 and made up of 288 blank pages—nine signatures of eight A4 sheets each. The paper is 90g/m2g/m^2, it’s what I had, but it isn’t great for writing. It’s alright for sketching. It’s also pretty thick for paper. I prefer blank pages for such multi-purpose notebooks. Writing in straight lines isn’t an issue, however, any markings tend to interfere with drawing. For only planners, I’d prefer dot grid. I use squared notebooks for writing morning pages, since the line spacing is tighter.

General Constituents

Some Notes

It minimizes wasted pages. When I’ve dedicated two pages to some collection and have already started some log right after these pages, I find the next empty page, or a spread, and mark next to the last page number of the collection where it continues. The footer of the notebook may look something like this:

100             ->p. 110   101

Issues or Things to Think Through

Markers

Markers are found before each log item. They tend to start off as a “•” and then get turned into a different one.

Specifiers

A log item’s marker may be preceded by an optional specifier.

Future log

The future log collects tasks scheduled for some time in the future, beyond the current month, that for this reason cannot be logged in the monthly log. It consists of columns for months and a column for the tasks. The tasks are logged sequentially and marked in one of the monthly columns with a bullet. Scanning down the monthly column then reveals the tasks associated with the particular month.

J|F|M|A|M|J|_______________2023
>| | | | | |  1 jan: task 1
 | |•| | | |  3 mar: task 2
 | | | |•| |  5 may: task 3
 | | | |•| |  9 may: task 4
 | | | |•| | 15 may: task 5
 | | |•| | |  3 apr: task 6
 | | | | |•|  6 jun: task 7

Monthly log

Monthly log is always two facing pages with a calendar, made up of a list of dates, on the left page and a log of tasks and other notes on the right page. The calendar could be filled in after the fact to be used as a reference for a monthly or yearly reflections. The list of tasks on the opposite page initially gets filled from tasks from the future log and any unfinished but still necessary tasks from the previous month. The bottom half of the right-hand page has a weekly calendar for recurring tasks. It is drawn as a nine by nine grid with the first square dedicated for daily recurring tasks and the next seven for recurring tasks on a particular weekday.

The calendar accommodates a habit tracker–some number of columns along the right side:

        November
                     M R
 1 M                 x x
 2 T                 x 
 3 W                   x
 4 T
 5 F
...
30 T

M - meditation
R - reading

The habit tracker can also provide an overview, like an index into the day. When I see later, for example during a reflection, that I had missed a day, I can check the daily log which may give some context into why I didn’t follow through with my habit that day.

Daily log

This is the most typical log. It tends to get created at the end of the day.

Reflections

Reflection, playing back the tapes, takes place at the end of something–end of the day, end of the week, end of the month, or year.

Collections