I like my notebooks messy
If you spend any time on Instagram or Reddit looking at people’s notebooks–how they lay out pages, what materials they use–you’ll see there are essentially two groups of people.
For one group, aesthetics are very important. They use elaborate layouts, lots of color, and mixed media.
For the other group, using the notebook is most important, so it doesn’t matter how it looks. They tend to use simple layouts and simple materials–in many cases, simply a black pen and nothing else.
Both groups are using notebooks in the ways that work best for them.
But I like my notebooks messy. Here’s why:
1. My notebook is a playground
I use my notebook to play and experiment. Anything and everything can go in it–snippets of writing, lists, quotes. It’s okay if it’s random and unorganized.
2. My notebook is a rough draft
When I have new ideas, I start working on them in a notebook. It’s the place I flesh out ideas and refine them. The final outcome won’t be in my notebook, so I don’t worry about being neat during the process.
3. My notebook is my space
I don’t share most of my notebook on social media, because I use it as my own work space. It’s for brain dumping and collecting ideas, with the purpose of reviewing notes later to see if there’s something I want to work on more. By nature, it’s messy.
4. My notebook is for everyday writing
I treat my notebook as the place to capture anything, so I tend to write in it quickly, whenever, during the day. Treating it like an everyday, ordinary thing (and not something that might have to be polished to post on social media), helps take the pressure off of what I write down or how it’s organized. My pages can be filled with whatever.
This post was originally published on Mythical Type on May 3, 2020.
New zines I picked up from Antiquated Future. 🙂
I just signed up for Mastodon because my curiosity outweighs my attempts to spend less time on social media. 🤭 Any recommendations for iOS apps to use for Mastodon? I know there are options and I did some quick reading. But let me know if there’s one you like.
I spent a lot of time this weekend saving local copies of blog posts from Mythical Type. Partly because it’s been a while since I saved backup copies of posts and partly because I’m thinking about moving my blog off WordPress, so I’m tidying up.
I’m going to keep Micro.blog for short-form posts and quick updates. I think it works really well for that. But I’d like to have long-form posts on a separate blog. TBD if that means staying on WordPress or moving to something else.
FediDB - Users and software statistics on the Fediverse.
New month, new log in my bullet journal. I make a page like this every month to list events and appointments.
The “CO” column is for “creative output.” I put an X in that column for any day I’m working on a creative project (outside of my day job). Creative practice counts, too.
On WordPress, I would love something like a “simple view.” Just show me the essential buttons and menus to make a blog post, and hide everything else. And then when I want to tinker with the site design or build out pages, I can choose to see the full view.
I made similar posts earlier across WordPress, Tumblr, Pika, Ko-fi, and here on Micro.blog.
WordPress felt like the most effort to publish the post. I didn’t actually count number of steps on each platform but WordPress had the most friction.
Contributor zine: Urban Legends
“Urban Legends” is a quarter-page zine that collects art and writing about urban legends, myths, and folklore. Eighteen people contributed stories, poetry, illustrations, and collages. Work was submitted from the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Belgium, and Germany.
The finished zine is 36 pages (including covers); 4.25" wide x 5.5" high; printed in black & white; and bound with staples.
The cover is white cardstock. Interior pages are 24 lb white paper.
I’m mailing copies to contributors this week. Limited copies are available in my Etsy shop (U.S. only).
If you’re outside the U.S. and interested in a copy of the zine, please message me.
I made some simple Halloween stickers to tuck into zine orders. 👻 ✨ 🎨
Designed in Canva. Printed on a thermal printer.
I’m thinking (again) about moving my personal site off of WordPress. I keep going back to, WordPress is more bloated and complicated than what I need for a simple personal site.
I need the ability to have a blog and standalone pages. Categories or tags would be nice but not required. I don’t need a whole content management system.
I’ve already got this site on Micro.blog. Do I want another site here? Or I could try another platform. (I’m always curious about trying other platforms.)
But when I think about migrating to something else, I go, ooof but I have blog posts going back to 2008. 🥲
I organized a contributor zine about urban legends, myths, and folklore. Yesterday I printed out a bunch of copies. Now I’m cutting and folding pages. 🎨
🍿 Uglies (streaming on Netflix) - Same genre as Hunger Games and Divergent (and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing). I read the book years ago and liked it, so I watched the movie. Uglies is not super amazing, gonna blow your mind. But not every movie has to be. This is fine for what it is.
Friendly reminder that art doesn’t usually come out the way you want it on the first try…or the third, or the fourth. 🙃 🎨
Yesterday I led a zine-making station at a public library fundraiser. I had a table full of young zine makers in the afternoon. Hopefully they’re inspired to make more zines! 🎨
My September newsletter is out. :)
📺 Kaos (mini-series streaming on Netflix)
I like that this is a modern telling of Greek gods. Cars, concerts, and cell phones, and everyone knows the gods exist. At first glance, Jeff Goldblum seemed like an odd choice to play Zeus, but he does a really good job portraying someone so powerful and so paranoid.
Watching the relationship between the humans and the gods was really interesting. Most of the gods think humans are beneath them and don’t matter, but at the same time, the gods pay a lot of attention to human actions.
I recommend watching it if you like Greek mythology. But content warning: There are a few gory scenes in every episode and when it’s gory, it’s really gory.
🎵 New music from Linkin Park - “The Emptiness Machine”
I’ve seen a lot of comments on Instagram with, she’s great! And also comments like, ugh this is bad.
But I like how the new vocalist sounds and mostly, it’s great to have new music from Linkin Park.