Foibles and obsessions

First, sorry for not writing yesterday. I was off making maps. Well, to be more accurate, I was off altering maps of real places to create one of my imaginary places. It’s a lot of fun. You should try it! But I digress…Here’s what I really planned to write about:

Foibles. Idiosyncrasies. We all have them. Mine generally tend to involve notebooks and pens and papers. (Um, and bags, but we won’t talk about that right now.) That’s all right. I acknowledge my obsession and indulge it when I can.

Last September, I indulged myself with a slightly expensive but truly fabulous notebook, the Circa from Levenger. Notebook heaven! The cover flips around like a spiral notebook so you can hold it on your lap or wherever you like to write that isn’t a proper desk or table and so isn’t conducive to writing with a big notebook spread out all wide and space-consuming. But…Spirals run out of paper, sometimes before you run out of need for paper. Or, you find you’ve written a scene and it would really be better in a different part of the story, and you can’t move the pages around. Here’s the truly fabulous part about the Circa…You can move the pages the way you can in a three-ring binder! While still being able to flip the cover for compactness like a spiral. It’s true. It’s amazing. I love it.

So why am I writing about something that seems like a done deal? Because I want a new notebook. Not to replace my Circa, no, not that. But in addition to my Circa. I am finding that I want my stories to have a notebook of their own, separate from my journal notebook with its sections for poetry and quotes. I feel like my process will be more pleasurable and work better if my stories have a book of their own. I want a new notebook.

So what should I get? A second Circa, since they are all of that fabulousness and whatnot? Maybe. But then, there are so many gorgeous notebooks out there! Leather covered, covered with beautiful papers or pictures…If I’m being honest, I want them all. And for some reason, although the Circa has the perfect set-up, I am feeling a desire for a thick, fat, pressboard covered spiral notebook, one that’s bigger than half-size but not a full size notebook. I love those types of spirals—they just feel so good in my hand, solid, sturdy, big enough to really write in but not so big that they’re hard to hold in one hand. Glorious, really.

Is this really something that will make my writing process easier? Do I really need to add yet one more book to my overloaded bag? I don’t know. I used to keep separate books this way, and during that time period I was much more prolific than I am now, so it might be at least a useful experiment. Am I going to get a new notebook? Yes. Writing this, I decided. I want it. In the overall scheme of things a notebook is an inexpensive indulgence. It will please me. And it might make moving back and forth from other writings like journaling or note-taking into story writing easier. So there you have it. A rather long, self-indulgent post about how I’m going to stop after work and indulge myself further. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll post a picture of the new addition later this weekend…

Meanwhile, enjoy the extra day off! I know my new notebook and I will.