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I love notebooks too, and have lots of little ones in many places. The notes I come across often seem like someone else’s. I need one main notebook to keep track of the little ones, lol. I have your book ‘100 Days of the Artist is Present’ - can’t wait for your memoir!

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I think if lots of notebooks works, it's not a problem! Thank you Dawn, as always.

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Question: on your 2024 notebook is that cat being drawn by a tiny carrot?

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Yes.

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Yea! Notebooks rule! I always have one on the go too! PS. I like the brush and ink text in Taking Note.

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Thank you Peter!

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I'm a few pages into a thick new notebook for my novel and love doing my notebook work. But I also use cheap, slim 60-page notebooks with kraft covers for other projects that don't need so many pages. I like how they accumulate too.

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Yes! I was just writing this in response to Megan's comment, but notebooks that accumulate are as much a time-capsule to look back on as journals are.

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A notebook - I have so many! So many on the go at any given time that it's embarrassing. Yesterday I started reading some textile theory that I wanted to take notes about, and wondered if I needed to start another notebook for that! Fortunately, I realized that it fits with my other fibre work and I already have a notebook for that on the go.

I have recently started making notebooks because I'm learning bookbinding. As soon as I have finished one, I want to start writing in it right away - it's interesting how much making my own books is compelling me to write and collage all of a sudden. We will see where that goes.

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Haha, yes... I used to have a lot more notebooks on the go myself. I used to carry a small notebook in my bag (pre-phones, it occurs to me) where I'd jot down ideas as well as to-do lists, art I wanted to check out, people I wanted to check out, books I wanted to read, et cetera. I still have them, and it's a weird time-capsule to see what I found noteworthy at the time.

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Apr 2Liked by B.A. Lampman

I love you!!

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The feeling is ever-so mutual ❤️‍🔥

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Apr 2Liked by B.A. Lampman

I was so excited to see my name in your handwriting!

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Couldn't write about notebooks without mentioning Noted! 🤓

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Thanks for this gentle reminder. I have a beautiful Hobonichi waiting for me to journal in it—all I need to do is show up.

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I had to look up Hobonichi, and my first thought on seeing them was, maybe your Hobonichi is too forbidding. Just a thought. And possibly a completely unwarranted comment since I haven't seen your book 😅. But sometimes fancy notebooks or journals make us feel like what we put in them has to be *amazing*. So we don't put anything at all.

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Ah, it's part of the issue. But I'd say it's more about inspiration overload. I have ALL THE IDEAS, but then that seems a lot to show up for. I'm thinking that showing up for 15 minutes of deliberateky crappy journalling is the way for me to get past the block.

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Too true! Up with crappy journaling! 😅 And yes, 15 minutes is way better than nothing.

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Beautiful work 👏🏼💗🙌🏽 my last few years of cheapo notebooks are devoted to very rough writing ✍️ tracking the insane ramblings of my mother’s dementia and her care needs. You and I experienced a similar childhood in the same era, but if your Dad stuck around and solved all issues with yelling and punching. I love your visual storytelling style(s) and wish I’d seen your show. A balm to my ongoing adventure with my mom 😱😂🤔

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Ah, I'm sorry to hear about your Mom. What I went through with my mother already seems like a lifetime ago, but now and again I'll get hit with a memory from that time and it'll feel like I'm right there again. I hope you're managing okay.

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Thank you 🙏🏽 so much. My Mom’s safely ensconced in a very nice nursing home in Santa Barbara. I call her infrequently… and I’m ok with that. 🤷‍♀️🥰

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Good. It's good you're okay with that 🙂

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