advice for a newbie?

[tinkaton]

Hello! So I recently discovered the concept of a commonplace book, got really excited about it because I haven't journaled by hand since high school and every previous attempt of mine at keeping a planner/bujo has failed, and have now ended up here looking for advice. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos of people showing off their own commonplace books to get ideas on content, setup, etc. and am curious what kind of supplies you guys would recommend for somewhat casual journaling? There's a lot more to consider about notebooks/pens than I realized before looking into the subject and I have basically no knowledge of paper types and fancy pens and whatnot.

For reference I've done a little browsing and I'm eyeing things like this Hobonichi Plain Notebook or this Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover (I'd probably want something medium size, with dot or grid paper), but I'd love to see what you guys prefer, or what pens you'd recommend, that kind of thing! Any advice you'd give for someone who's only previous notebook concern was whether the cover was cute or not lol.

(Any tips on commonplace books or journaling in general is welcome too! I love seeing how people prefer to set up their journals/how they like to decorate/etc.)

Comments

[octahedrite]

I had a commonplace notebook for a few years. I'm curious about the different setups you mention; I would just fill it in page by page lol.

Anyway. Use a book that you're okay with getting beat up a bit. Like if it's an expensive delicate notebook, you'll end up wanting to "preserve" it and not write in it. Also, the desire for perfectionism is less with a cheaper notebook, which is important if your hand cramps up copying out longer stuff. You might also end up sticking printouts in it, so consider the best type of notebook for that case.

Finally, the best advice I can give is to just stick with it. Start with a slim notebook so you'll have the satisfaction of filling it.

[tinkaton]

Mostly I saw people had different organizational systems for their books, like doing a page-by-page index at the front or categorizing the entries with colored stickers. I always get too caught up in organizing and planning things out so I feel like just leaving everything un-indexed would be easier for me.

Thank you for the advice! Given my track record never finishing things I start, doing a practice run with a cheap/small notebook is probably a good idea lol