The Woes of a Notebook Aficionado

·

Yes, I’m alive! Surprise! Yes, I’m aware I’ve missed the past two weeks… but I have good excuses! Really, I do! The first Saturday there was quite a lot of drama in the school social circle… well, let me put it this way. Have you ever seen a chatroom explode? I did last Saturday, and damage control extended all the way until 3:00am.  And while I have no qualms with blogging late at night, it’s rather hard when you’re dealing with a ridiculous amount of friendship drama and it’s late at night (and I HATE friendship drama. I don’t deal with it well AT ALL). And this past weekend, I was at my grandmother’s house, which doesn’t have internet. So you see, I have perfectly legitimate reasons for not updating my blog earlier (yes, there were other times during the week… okay, I’m lazy. Sssshhhhh).

And now that I have regaled you with my fascinating excuses, I’d like to take some time to draw your attention to two awesome, amazing, and wonderful people who have joined me in the world of blogging! The first one is Gwen, who’s started a delightful blog where she discusses a variety of different topics in her wonderful narrative voice. I highly suggest you check it out here if you have the time. The other one is Cami-chan, who’s writing a blog that focuses on writing and horse-back riding, which highlights her two passions and showcases her captivating writing style. Go over to Eq on the Lit (her blog) if you’re interested. Now, I love both of these blogs, so I’d suggest that if you don’t have the time to check them out right now, make the time later. Of course, I can’t make you… but you’d be missing out. Trust me. They’ll also be in the sidebar from now on for future reference, under the heading Awesome People. The list of Awesome People will hopefully continue to grow as I drag more of my friends into the insanity known as blogging, so check it for additions every once in a while! Oh, and a random tidbit I just noticed: Penguin Writer wants to be an actress, and Cami-chan wants to be a playwright… I really must get them together sometime, I’m sure they’d come up with something amazing. But anyways…

I’d like to rant about notebooks. Yes, notebooks. Not those electronic things with keyboards, but notebooks with actual covers and lined pages. I’ve been inexplicably obsessed with notebooks ever since I could write, and I’ve been collecting them for as long as I can remember. I just counted, and I currently own forty-two notebooks (“currently” because my collection is always growing… and growing… and growing…). Now you might be wondering: why on earth would anyone need forty-two notebooks? Well, here’s the short answer: I don’t need forty-two notebooks. No one needs forty-two notebooks. If I were a sensible human being, I would never buy another notebook ever again.

But I can’t help it.

There’s something about a new notebook that is pure magic. The pristine cover, the empty pages, the lines just waiting, begging to be filled with words… I see a notebook, and I see the possibilities of what it could hold. Also, they’re just so satisfying. Right now I have my newest notebook sitting next to me, and just looking at it makes me happy. It has a tooled leather cover, with a design of gold leaves and vines on it. The spine makes you think of those old, important-looking books you expect to see a castle library. But, most importantly, it has a clasp. What’s so awesome about a clasp? I don’t know, you tell me. But first think about it: which would you rather have, a notebook with a clasp, or a notebook without one?

Of course, my love affair with notebooks means that I spend quite a lot of time writing in them. Which means that I spend a lot of time writing by hand and ignoring the fact that my hand is cramping up. And, most of all, it means I spend a ridiculous (and ridiculously tedious) amount of time typing up things I’ve written. The day they perfect the speech-to-text technology, I’ll find the creator and bow down to them, I swear. I hate typing things up with a passion, but I love my notebooks too much to just switch entirely to word processing documents… so you see my dilemma, yes? I suppose I could just bribe someone to type up things for me, but no one else I know likes typing either, so that’s not really an option. -_-” Ah, the woes of the notebook lover….

But anyways, that’s all for today. And I’d like to thank everyone who commented on my last post! It made me very, very happy. ^_^ Haruhi, Cami-chan, windowsloth, and Sam — thank you, and you get a virtual cookie! I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I can give all of you real cookies in the future as well.

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that’s only the first step. -Rita Dove

Yes, the quotes are back! I should end every post with a (hopefully related) quote from now on, as long as I don’t get too lazy…

See you next week! (hopefully)

-M

  1. penguinwriter

    Hi Mara,
    Gwen here. Just have to say, it would be interesting to meet this Cami-chan. I don’t know what we could come up with play wise but it could be interesting. I will be blogging more thanks to you and I will have one post up soon. 🙂

    1. Hurray!!! Yes, I really should get you two together. I’ll orchestrate a party or something sometime soon. And I can’t wait to read your next post!!!

  2. Oh dear, friend drama. 🙁 It’s simply dreadful, isn’t it? I’m sorry that you had to do damage control, that’s always the hardest job.
    On the other hand, I am very, very jealous of your collection of notebooks. The leather one (with a CLASP!!!!!) sounds just ravishing. And if new notebooks convince you to write, I think I ought to go out and buy some. Yes… someday, I’ll randomly show up at you house with a giant stack of notebooks and then you will have to write. Mwahahahaha!!!! Evil plots abound. Oh yes, your awesome blog has convinced me to wonder where mine went and rescue it from the depths of obscurity. And maybe update sometimes.

    1. LOL! Yes, then I would have to write! And yes, it is rather dreadful… though it was at least partially my fault, so I probably shouldn’t be complaining ^_^” And I love your blog to death!!!!

      1. I cannot imagine you causing drama. Of any sort. You’re too awesome~!
        Aww, thanks! It means a lot, coming from you~ <3

  3. Also, I really need help with WordPress because I do not understand it and you are a genius. I can’t figure out how to make my pages show themselves!!!!

  4. I apologize for leaving such a previously useless comment. What I really can’t figure out is how you created the ‘Awesome People’ with links that actually work. Help please?

    1. Ah, sure! It took me a while to figure out too, but I finally ended up using raw html code. I’ll send you the right codes and some instructions over email, if you like. ^_^

      1. Yes please. :3 <3

  5. Ah yes, the chatroom explosion, quite…explosive~ Although it seems to have mellowed out a ton, especially with the “involved parties”. I actually spoke to MinMin about it the other day for approximately 30 seconds before getting distracted and rambling about the next Fountain Pen Society meeting ^^”
    And I would be delighted to meet Penguin Writer~ Working with an aspiring actress would be a great experience and I’m sure we could come up with something of interest.

    1. Yes, it has mellowed out, thank goodness! And I’ll drag you two together sometime soon, I promise. Ah, really? What did she say?

      1. Check your email~ Granted I would text it to you, but I assume your phone is still in Flanders and unavailable at the moment : P (nah, the Flems are epic ^^ Flanders has a close alliance with Camelot, you know~)

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The Owl Hours

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading