As a stationery lover, I own tonnes of notebooks, and keep buying more. Many of them sit unused for a while before I get to them, as you can only use so many at once. However, I do usually have quite a few notebooks in use at any one time, and I consider these to be my ‘active’ notebooks. 

With the start of the New Year I’ve been taking stock of all my notebooks that I currently have in use and figuring out if there’s any new ones I’d like to start. So here are all the notebooks I’ll be continuing or starting in 2024:

My Morning Pages Journal

One of the most used notebooks I currently have is my main journal, which I write in most days. I’ve been attempting a loose interpretation of Julia Cameron’s morning pages since October, and try to write three pages of stream of consciousness writing every day (not necessarily in the morning though!). I feel like it’s been really useful so far, and so I intend to carry on with it in 2024. I’m halfway through the notebook I’m currently using (the pretty red patterned one in the photo above, bought at Tesco), and so I should be ready to start another in a month or two. 

My Line-A-Day Journal

Throughout 2023 I successfully filled in every day of my 5-year Line-A-Day journal, and I intend to keep up with it again this year. In fact, I’m even more excited to fill it in this year, as I can now look back and remember what I was doing on the same day last year, as I fill in the new entry.

My Wanderings Travelers Notebook

Last year I got a leather Wanderings travelers notebook and have been enjoying using it so far. I currently have three refills in it: one is for my currently inked record, another has blog and story ideas in it, and the last one is my writing journal (which I update about my writing projects, and think through my ideas and any problems I’ve been having).

Some refills are nearly used up, and will need replacing soon, and I may want to have a rethink of my setup, but I intend to keep using this notebook.

My Desk Notebook

This is a recently started but frequently used notebook. I bought a chunky, spiral-bound notebook from Paperchase, which is easy to have open on my desk. I jot notes in it about whatever I’m currently working on and use it for general note-taking, and so far it has proven to be super useful!

My Pen-Testing Notebook

I keep a cheap exercise book on my desk that I use to scribble in when I get a new pen or ink to try it out. I also sometimes use it to scribble in with any pens I haven’t used in a while, just to make sure they don’t dry out. 

My Novel Drafting Notebook

One of the two novel projects I’m currently working on is a handwritten cozy fantasy story. I’ve been using a thick, hardback purple notebook I bought from Amazon to draft in, and am about 140 pages into it so far (so almost halfway). So I really want to keep up with this project in 2024! 

My Short Story Notebook

I have another thick Amazon notebook (this one in yellow) that I’ve been using to draft short stories in, that I come up with using one word prompts. This is just a fun writing exercise, but sometimes the stories I’ve come up with have actually been pretty good, and I’ve ended up developing them into full stories. I haven’t used this notebook in a little while though, so I’d love to get back to it in 2024. 

My Blog Post Notebook

I draft blog posts and reviews by hand (usually using the pen I’m reviewing – that’s what I use as the writing sample in my photos!), and then type them up and edit them ready for posting. I’ve been using a cute little orange Agenzio notebook from Paperchase for the blog posts for this blog, and it still has plenty of room in it! 

However, once I’ve finished this notebook, I might move from a pocket-sized notebook to an A5 or bigger, just so I have more space and don’t fill it up so quickly. 

My Reading Journal

This notebook is new for 2024, but it’s surprising that I haven’t done this before! As an avid reader I record what I’ve read on Storygraph and Goodreads, but I’d really like a physical way of recording and reviewing books. So this year I’ve decided to start a reading journal in another pocket-sized Agenzio notebook, this one in the Oatmeal colour. 

My Writer’s Notebook

Also new for 2024 is another idea I’ve been meaning to try out for a while: a writer’s notebook/commonplace book. In this notebook I want to research and take notes on a variety of topics such as mythology, legends, folklore and history. Since these are all things that inspire a lot of my writing, I think it would be useful to flick through when I’m looking for inspiration, and would just be a fun project to do. 

I intend to use a black, Moleskine Expanded notebook for this, although that isn’t ideal for use with fountain pens. However, I wanted a good quality soft cover notebook that’s comfortable to write in, but also chunky, so it’ll last me years, and this notebook fit the bill. I’m hoping one day it’ll be a huge encyclopedia of writing inspiration! 

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That’s 10 notebooks I intend to use in 2024, and more may be added along the way (plus I’ll be using my 2024 Hobonichi Weeks throughout as my primary planner). That may seem like a lot, but I’m not necessarily going to be working in all or even most of them every day. Some, like my line-a-day journal, morning pages notebook and novel notebook will see frequent, hopefully daily use, whilst things like my writer’s notebook and reading journal will be updated more infrequently. 

So how many notebooks will you be using in 2024? What do you use notebooks for? And what is your favourite kind of notebook to use?