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At the end of every year, I publish a photo on Instagram cataloging the Field Notes notebooks I used over the previous 12 months. Here is the most recent picture:
Every year, I get questions about this. I wrote a bit about the topic in 2014, but I thought I’d do it again here. So, uhhhh, here’s an FAQ:
What do you write in the notebooks?
I try to operate on the “Nothing Doesn’t Go in Here” principle. Flipping through the notebook that is on my desk right now, I see shopping lists, notes from conference calls, sermon notes, a little chart I made when working on some invoices for Relay, a doodle of the Widgetsmith icon I made for some reason, and a lot more. A receipt for a recent meal with a friend fell out of it onto my lap; I’ll probably tape that into the notebook for safekeeping.
How quickly do you use up a notebook?
Looking at the shelf, it’s a notebook every 4-6 weeks.
Why Field Notes? Are you sponsored?
I am not, haha, but I’ve gotten to know some folks there over the years. In 2017, I helped record a live episode of The Pen Addict at the Chicago headquarters. It was awesome.
What do you do with a notebook once it’s full?
Beyond making cool Instagram posts, I scan every notebook and store them on Dropbox and in Apple Notes for future reference. I just scanned notebook number 129.
Here’s what that folder looks like in Finder:
I use a plain, old-fashioned flatbed scanner to do this. I used the same scanner for over a decade, but it died a while back, and I replaced it with this thing. I use the Mac’s built-in Image Capture application to make 300 DPI PDFs with OCR data. The OCR is pretty hit or miss with my handwriting, but I don’t often rely on it to search for old notes anyway.
Do you ever look at old notebooks?
Every few months, I need to refer to something I had written down in a previous notebook. I often do this by scrolling to when I think the information may have been captured, and then I skim through the notebook for that month. Has this ever radically changed the course of a project or saved my butt in some other way? No, but that’s not really the point. These notebooks are a trail of breadcrumbs dating back almost 15 years. If I flip through an old one, I get a glimpse of what was going on in my life at that time. I can go to the notebook I was using when we launched Relay, or when I quit my job. I like having them on hand; seeing them in my studio each day makes me happy.
I don’t see 2013 in that photo. What happened?
In 2013, I started working at a web design firm and took a lot of notes there, so I switched to a Moleskine journal for a while. I have a scan of it but do not know where the notebook is. It’s been missing for a long time, and it bothers me.
Why not just use, like, a computer?
I love Field Notes’ tagline:
“I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”
There’s something about the act of writing that helps things stick.
What pens do you use?
For years, my go-to has been the Uni Jetstream Sport Ballpoint Pen. I like the 0.7 MM weight in blue. I also like the 0.5 MM Zebra Sarasa Clip in blue-black ink.
Why am I afraid of notebooks?
You shouldn’t be! Yes, they can get lost or damaged, but they shouldn’t be precious. I’ve torn them, gotten them wet, and misplaced them from time to time. They are tools; as long as they’re on my desk, in my pocket, or in my backpack, I know I’m ready for the day.