I made a notebook

I’ve been feeling a bit antsy lately, feeling this need to make something with my hands without buying anything new. In the midst of this feeling I read this on The Reading Life,

“I am a StoryGraph fan but my journals are my memory keepers. I have two journals, one of which is a reading log, which is a new habit for me. Instead of restarting my book count every year, I just keep a continuous count. (See image above).

My second journal contains the first sentence, last sentence, and narrative voice, plus whatever else I am drawn to. Those three things really trigger my memories about the book.”

There were pictures.

And I thought, this could work for me. I am one of the few people who I think actually liked Goodreads, but for ethical reasons I’ve switched to StoryGraph and it just doesn’t work as well for me. I think it has to do with not knowing many others who are on it?

And so I started tearing up old notebooks and planners.*

I googled and found this video that seemed easy enough and only required glue. (I had mod podge so that’s what I used.) I wasn’t about to start sewing because I was feeling impatient.

Since they had end pages, I decided I too needed end pages. I used a little dirty and crumpled printer paper for mine.

And for the cover…

An old Decomposition notebook cover.

Once all was dry I realized I should have had that seam wrap around the back instead of the front, but, hey, it still works.

First entry, “Friday, July 24 The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders”

I have feelings about my handwriting but I won’t be re-doing it or tearing it out. The whole thing is imperfect and I’m practicing being okay with that.

*I love that planner plus notebook combos exist but the paper has to be so thin and there is so much of it that I always lose whatever I needed.