Because I have never been able to settle on one brand or style or size, I have an embarrassing number of notebooks.

There are expensive volumes with little ribbons sewn in to use as page markers. There are cheap booklets the perfect size to fit in shirt pockets. There are refillable Midori notebooks with leather covers stitched by hand.

There are college-ruled spiral bound notebooks. There are three-ring binders. There are Leverage disc-bound books that allow pages to be inserted, removed, and rearranged.

At one point, I bought a carton of five-by-seven booklets that were going to be the one and only style I would use for the rest of my life. Right. An untold number of them are scattered about the house, some written in, some not.

There is no order or system to it all. I lay notebooks down and pick them up willy-nilly. In fits of cleaning up, I’ll pack some away, then can’t find an address or column idea or list of bread ingredients. And because the notebooks are not packed in a particular box, I can’t go to a particular box and search through them all.

A couple of years ago, I said enough is enough. There would be one notebook  and one notebook only. It would be kept in a designated place. No other could be used until that one was full. Period.

I had often thought of this, but suddenly, excitement over the idea kicked in. I would do it. And if there was to be only one notebook, why not make it a very special one? Using the nearest blank book, I began to brainstorm. Most entries consist of lists or ideas that are important for the moment, but not needed long term. What if there were an erasable notebook and its pages could be used again and again. Stuff that was outdated could be erased. Stuff that was important could stay in the notebook until no longer needed.

Yes! But how to make such a notebook? Simple. I would laminate blank paper in clear plastic, put the pages in a small binder, and write on them with a fine-point dry erase marker. I set to work, and the finished product was excellent. Easy to use, easy to write in, easy to erase. All was fine. Almost. Turns out that the notebook had to be handled carefully or the slick plastic pages would slide against each other, partially erasing the writing.

Darn. And so, back to chaos. Yet my heart yearned for my failed idea.

And then, last Christmas, I was given a Rocketbook Everlast notebook. The pages are not paper, but a sort of polyester that resembles paper. If written on using a Pilot brand Frixion pen, the writing (given a few seconds to dry) doesn’t smear, but can be easily erased with water and a cloth.
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And what is more, pictures of pages can be snapped with a phone and the Rocketbook app will save them in a searchable format.

It’s my dream come true. For now.

 

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