Beyond the Pages – A Notebook Meeting

As someone who loves to document as much as possible about life, I was very intrigued to come across Carolyn Yoo’s recent Substack about her Techo Kaigi, “notebook meeting”. Maybe it’s the writer or the family historian in me, but the idea of sitting with each journal, planner, and notebook currently in use and really assessing what’s working and what’s not sounded like a blast.

Allowing myself to run with my excitement, I prioritized my meeting with my notebooks and dove in. Here’s a little background and what I found.

I currently have six active notebooks on my shelves, desk, and bedside table.

1. Everyday Journal
2. Weekly Planner
3. Family History
4. Heritage Journal
5. Grimoire
6. Art Journal/Sketchbook

I use Modern Artisans blank 5.5×8.5 refills seated inside Oberon Design leather covers for my Everyday Journal, Heritage Journal, and Grimoire.

Moleskin notebooks are used for my Weekly Planner, Family History pocket notebook, and Art Sketchbook.

The above are not affiliate links. I’m a creature of habit and know what I like, what more can I say?

Let’s dive in!

Everyday Journal  

This memory keeping journal is also used for brainstorming, reflecting, quotes, marking important life experiences, and documenting worldwide happenings. I also enjoy creating “junk” pages with all the random items I throw in my desk drawer because they hold a memory or a moment and I just don’t want to get rid of them. These pages usually include stickers, receipts, cards or notes, hot tea tags, pressed flowers, etc.

What’s working well:

• I love the blank white pages. Crisp and clean.
• The wildly informal format of this journal allows me to add in virtually anything I’d like to whenever I’m moved to do so.

What I plan to change/have begun implementing:

• I tend to pressure myself to write in this journal more often holding childhood dreams of having the time and capacity to truly keep an every.single.day journal. Life doesn’t work that way, so I’ve begun giving myself grace, keeping it by my bed, and writing in it whenever it moves me.
• I would like to re-introduce a weekly oracle or daily pull to these pages in addition to more consistent short gratitude lists.
• I’ve also moved away from tracking my reading in my journal since I’ve shifted to using theStoryGraph. However, I’d like to document my reading in analog again as well, I just need to explore how that feels best.

Weekly Planner

The classic weekly planner has worked for my brain and needs for close to two decades now. Though I did hit a bit of a hiccup with it when I quit my last non-profit job and became a stay-at-home CEO of Everything, I’ve found my groove again and rely on it’s pages to help me remember all the facets of all the balls I’m juggling.

What’s working well:

• Having the days of the week broken down for me on one side of the spread to add in appointments and special dates as well as “work life” vs actual life.
• The facing lined blank page on the other side of the spread is used for listing the week’s to-dos. Anything that isn’t prioritized in a given week is simply added to the following week.

What I plan to change/have begun implementing:

• In 2024 I was looking for inspiration in my day-to-day task listing and leaned heavily into decorating my weekly planner with a variety of stickers and washi tape and it was a lot of fun! It also took more time than I wanted to continue devoting to my weekly planning. I wound up a bit burnt out by the end of the year and rolled into 2025 barely using my beautiful blank planner.
• I decided to start over with an 18-month planner which will take me through December of 2026 and am keeping it simple. If I want to throw in some decorations, fine, but it’s not part of my weekly planning session anymore so I don’t feel pressure to maintain an aesthetic.
• I have excluded my habit tracking in my weekly planner for now, in trade for a digital tracker I’m trying out. The jury is out on this one, still.

Family History

This little pocket-sized notebook, holds all my current family history and genetic genealogy questions, brainstorms, and basic documentation of findings.

Its small size is easily transportable and offers just enough space for a few questions and facts per page. This offers me the opportunity not to feel pressure to fill all the pages with all.the.research.

It’s just my little research buddy.

The pocket size of this journal was inspired by my Uncle Kent who, when asked if he had an old family recipe, knew exactly where to find it in a stack of tiny notebooks. As if by magic, a recipe I’d hoped to find for years was exactly where Kent had left it, I just didn’t know to ask.

Nothing to change here for now.

You can read more about my Family History pocket notebook here.

Heritage Journal  

Used as a spiritual practice to help me integrate my knowledge of and connection to all of my biological ancestors, the creative journaling spreads I’ve created to date have been wonderfully insightful and healing. The only thing I might change about it is how often I pick it up. Kidding/not kidding. This journal and all the pages within it will unfold in good time as I continue to heal and explore my genetics and all the humans I’ll never meet that dance on the pulse of my heart.

Nothing to change here for now.

You can read about and see more spreads in my Heritage Journal here.

Grimoire

As with my Heritage Journal, this witchy creative journal is used as a way to document my land based spiritual practice. Included are the moon cycles, seasonal living and folk celebrations, herbal working, magic(k) making, goddess/threshold work, and divination.

For a while, I added to this book consistently. Now, I mostly pick it up for reference.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still much I want to add into its pages, I am just waiting to be moved/called again to dive in properly.

Art Sketchbook

The newest addition to my stack, this 5×8.25 blank sketchbook was purchased alongside a nice new set of colored pencils as part of my 50 before 50 life list. In my possession for only a couple of weeks now, I’m just getting to know it and am enjoying it so far. I trust it will work well for me as a beginner sketchbook while I explore techniques and art creation using colored pencils.

It’s been a very long time (many decades) since I devoted time and space to art in this way, and I’ve never used colored pencils as a medium before, so this feels really exciting.

This all leaves me happy to report that, though there’s always room for improvement, I’ve largely figured out what works for me.

Now, where does my 50 before 50 list fit in?

The 50 before 50 list I created recently is the one outlier I haven’t figured out quite how to document creatively.

However, resisting the temptation to purchase yet another journal, I’ve decided to lean into my everyday and art notebooks to document the next year and a half(ish). Whether I write a little snippet about an experience, paste a photo, or draw a moment or item from the list, it will be important for me to remember that my list truly is not about the documentation, it is about the experiences.

In this case, documenting it all is just a bonus 😉

Now, it’s your turn! Please share anything you’d like to about how you document life and your pursuits. Are you a journal person? Do you keep more than one journal or notebook? Have you ever had a notebook meeting to assess what’s working for you and what might not be? Do tell! I’d love to hear all about it!

Onward,

Melissa