Capture Tools Part I
The Capture Tools series is geared primarily toward the writer, but anyone who needs to make quick sketches or jot notes will also find it useful.
I’ve wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember, but I’ve often gone long periods without writing a single thing. When I feel the urge to write but lack the willpower, I try all kinds of things to persuade myself. I used to bribe myself with pretty journals to capture my brilliant thoughts, but then I was reluctant to befoul their pages with self-pitying rambles. I decided I needed to always carry a cheap spiral with me, so I would have no excuses not to write. I bought a purse big enough to fit a spiral notebook and promptly filled it with everything but notebooks. It already weighed fifty pounds, how could I possibly fit in another thing? It was breaking my back, so I bought a tiny purse, just big enough for a wallet, cell phone, and keys. I’d given up on the idea of a notebook always with me.
While on a search for ways to organize the chaos I call my life, I read this description of a writer’s Hipster PDA. The Hipster, or hPDA, is simply a stack of 3×5 index cards, sometimes clipped with a binder clip or held together with a rubber band, that have to-dos and other lists, blank pages for writing, whatever you need to carry with you. And it would fit in my purse. I had my portable journal, in miniature. I soon found, however, that I didn’t like shuffling and dropping the cards. But by then, through the DIYplanner forums, I’d discovered Circa and Rollabind products. Here was my solution, I was sure.
In the course of trying every style of notebook possible, I’d developed very specific preferences. I wanted something flexible, yet comfortable. Something cheap that I wouldn’t be ashamed to whip out when an idea struck me. The Circa and Rollabind products were the Holy Grail. A securely bound system – no shuffling required – that was nevertheless flexible. The disks that bind the notebooks allow pages to be folded back like a spiral notebook and also removed like a 3-ring binder. And after the initial investment, the only cost would be more index cards and paper.
Since the notebooks all work together, allowing pages from one to be transferred to another easily, I bought three sizes for different purposes:
- Clear letter size covers to make my own notebook for classes
- 5.5 by 8.5 inch journal, with some extra smaller size disks
- Circa PDA with plastic tab dividers
- Desktop punch so I can add anything to any of my notebooks
The 5.5 x 8.5 is my preferred size for freewriting. It folds back like a spiral binding, but I can use any paper I want so the ink doesn’t bleed through like it does with a cheap spiral notebook. Yet the cost for a “new” journal is just some typing paper cut in half and punched. Even better, I can add index cards from my Circa PDA so I can keep my ideas together.
The Circa PDA fits in my purse so I always have it. The tabs let me organize items like to-dos and grocery lists, while keeping one section ready for whenever inspiration strikes. I can jot story ideas, snippets of dialog I overhear, imagery I want to use, anything at all without worrying about washing scraps of paper tucked in my back pocket or carrying around my larger journal all the time. This is the happiest I’ve ever been with a writing notebook.
I realize that a good share of my quest for the perfect notebook was procrastination, but all the same, there’s a lot of freedom that comes with knowing that I have a system in place. All I have to do is flip open a notebook and write.
I received no compensation for reviewing these products. I’m simply a happy customer who wants to share the joy.
Also check out Capture Tools Part II.
