Cartesio - I take it all back...

DH is a keen photographer and while that is wonderful, it does also involve quite a lot of waiting around while the clouds become ‘just right’ and the light is in the right place and so on. During these times, I usually spend a few minutes gazing at the scenery and then I usually wander off into my own little world in my head, the product of which can be a blog idea, a character developing a personality, a plot development or other such thing. In my last post, I was bemoaning the fact that I wanted a notebook for jotting down these creative ideas, but that I wanted to be able to sort the pages and re-file them into different categories.

Well, since then, I’ve been away on vacation and I packed to take with me: my A5 writing filofax (Finchley), a personal size filofax (Domino) and my Cartesio notebook. And what did I write in the most and which did I carry around with me the most? The Cartesio.

So, were the others there just for a trip?

Hmm… kind of!

The A5 was a) a bit big to carry around (although, I did have a rucksack with me so that wasn’t the main problem) and b) not quite stiff enough to write on. I love that it lies flat on my desk, but it is a bit floppy for writing on whilst perched on a rock, somewhere halfway up a hill in Mull.

The Domino was taken on holiday because I am trying to record a food diary, although I did carry it around with me to use as a notebook after the A5 failed me. As ever, the rings got in the way for writing and it annoyed me, so although it was stiff enough to work well for scribbling in, I gave up on it pretty sharpish.

Which left me with my old friend the Cartesio, which is small enough and light enough to travel easily, has a stiff enough cover to write in it with it perched on my knees and lies flat enough (and has no rings) to make scribbling my ideas down easily.

Picture from The Journal Shop

But… my complaint was that you can’t re-file the pages when you get back from out and about.

It has turned out to be less of a problem than I thought it would be. I’ve started to do two things: 1) coding what the scribble is about (writing in corner of the page and circling it… yes I know. How original!) and 2) cutting the corner off when I have dealt with the scribble.

I found that when I came to deal with the scribble, I was generally using it as a spring-board for more detail. Rather than needing to file the notes as something that was ready and complete, I was tending to flesh out the notes and I could do that straight into the writing filofax.

So, my trusty old Cartesio is my steady travelling companion and we’re getting on just fine.