Greed is Like This
I’m leaving next Saturday for 3 weeks in Italy. I plan to write while I’m there and I’ve decided that writing in Italy means writing in long-hand (much more romantic that way). So of course I needed the “perfect” notebook to write in.
It has to have good quality paper with a nice smooth finish, so it takes ink smoothly and doesn’t bleed or show through; it has to be ruled, but the lines can’t be too far apart or too close together; it has to lie flat when it’s opened; it has to fit easily into my walking-around-the-streets-of-Italy shoulder bag; it has to have a back cover that’s stiff enough to act like a desktop for writing in trains and parks and museums and churches, but it can’t be too heavy; and it has to look distinctively stylish in a retro, classic, or hipster kind of way (I’ll be in Italy after all).
So I went to my favorite shop for all things notebook-y. And I found one! A medium-ruled, spiral-bound notebook, with a rose-colored, “recycled, raw, organic” felt-ed cover! It was almost perfect, but not quite, because it didn’t have a hard back cover.
But then I found another one! It had 32 custom-color fly sheets in the front and back, and deckled edges, and a special exposed-perfect-binding system so it lies completely flat when it’s open, even though it’s about an inch thick! But the back cover isn’t hard. And it’s kind of heavy — probably too bulky for my shoulder bag. And the paper is gorgeous….but not ruled.
So then I found another one! A Moleskine this time — my favorite. With a gorgeous, pinkish-lavender, faux leather cover and acid-free paper….with ruled “lines” that are dots! In a full grid pattern! The dots are a lovely, under-stated, silvery grey color. But there’s no hard cover. And, sadly, like all Moleskines, it doesn’t lie flat.
Then I found another one! This one was made in Nepal! With a fabulous hand-made paper cover with a cord tie that has a cool leather fob and a little brass bell! Inside it’s full of all kinds of different hand-made papers….different sizes and textures and colors! Even black! It’s the coolest journal EVER! But all those textured hand-made papers are hell to write on. Inks get fuzzy. And everything bleeds through. And what about that black paper? It would be a great journal for pasting things into. Or maybe drawing on with colored pencils. Or water colors! But for writing…not so much.
What to do!?!
I’m a greed type.
I bought them all.
None of them are perfect.
But I had to have them.
All.