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Field Notes

The Striped Sweater Effect: On Writing More in My Notebooks

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A Treatise on Stickering

I have kept a journal on and off since I was 16 years old. I've written in many kinds of notebooks, from a 500-page Miquelrius tome that I spent 3 years finishing to the small 48-page pocket notebooks I use now. Like many writers, I have the problem of buying notebooks and then filling them only partway. After I learned bookbinding, that was compounded by the bookbinder's problem of making notebooks and filling them only partway. Even when I custom-designed notebooks with specific writing projects in mind, I began struggling to fill them up. By 2021/22, I noticed that I was journaling a lot less consistently than I would like, so I decided to take up the habit of writing in a pocket notebook.

It took a while to get the habit to stick: I think I started out with my first pocket notebook in February 2022 and it wasn't until October 2023 that I really began to use my pocket notebooks regularly. Since that time--about 20 months at this writing--I've filled 22 notebooks. That translates to over 400 pages in a larger notebook size like an A5. (During that time, I have filled over 100 pages in an actual A5 notebook as well.)

What's the secret to keeping the pocket notebook habit going? I call it the striped sweater effect.

If I knit a striped sweater with the exact same number of stitches as a sweater with only one color, I will knit the striped sweater faster, even though changing the yarn colors out takes more time. Why? Because knitting until I get to the next color change is a great motivator. If the next color is only 3 or 4 rows away, I want to keep going until I get there, and will then keep going to the next color change, and so on. But if I need to knit many inches of the same color, the monotony makes me want to spend less time with the project in each session. Hence, the project with stripes is both more pleasurable and moves more quickly.

I discovered the striped sweater effect when I started knitting, but it applies to notebooks, too. I'm writing more now than I would with a large notebook because every 4-6 weeks, I get to choose a new notebook. They're big enough that finishing one is an accomplishment, but small enough that doing so isn't too challenging. And like with knitting, variation in color and design is itself important. I think it's one reason why Field Notes as a brand in particular has been instrumental. Between collaborations and quarterly releases, they put out at least 10 new notebooks each year. The designs books have just enough variation between them (cover, ink color, page markings) that writing in a new one is a novel experience, but are all the same size and shape so they can be collected easily. I usually don't use two of the same type of notebook, but prefer to trade books with other users for new books instead.

Using my notebooks more makes me think of a great Spanish phrase I just learned: "Don't leave anything in the inkwell," that is, don't leave anything unsaid. I don't want to fill my notebooks up just to have a bunch of full notebooks, but I do want to make sure I'm recording the things that are important to me. A journaling habit that helps me write more makes sure life doesn't pass by unnoticed.

A Treatise on Stickering

Recently, I have taken the striped sweater effect in my notebooks to another level with stickers. I know this isn't exactly a stationery secret, but putting stickers in my notebooks as I write has made a big difference in how much I write. Of course, the stickers do take up some room on the page, which makes the notebook go faster, but the difference is mostly psychological. If I allow myself one sticker per every two-page spread in the notebook, I am more motivated to start writing and to keep writing so I have the small pleasure of choosing a sticker when I get to the next page.

I have collected a fair number of stickers over the past few years, but didn't know what to do with them. I was held back by the pressure to put the exact right sticker in the exact right place. Now I have learned the secret: who cares, just put the stickers wherever you want them. Cats on one page and octopus on the next? Cool. It's about choosing what strikes your fancy in the moment, rather than the stickers being thematically related to anything you're writing about.

Another important component of learning how to sticker well was using a sticker keeper. I had tried to keep all of my stickers in a pouch, but sorting through them every time I wanted to use one was a hassle. So I then gathered them thematically and stuck them inside little glassine envelopes. That was better, but still didn't make me want to use the stickers.

Then on a whim one afternoon, I decided to experiment with making a sticker keeper using regular kitchen wax paper. Turned out to be the best 20 min I have spent in a while. A sticker keeper is an easy way to keep your stickers organized and look through them. It's far more portable than a bag full of stickers you have to spread out on a table to look at. I was afraid that the wax paper would be too thin, or it would stick to the stickers too much, but it hasn't torn at all and only one or two stickers has given me trouble with removal. Some come off easier than others, but all have come off, retained their stickiness, and have not damaged the wax paper page.

It's easy to spend a small fortune on stickers. Larger vinyl stickers that are produced by independent artists tend to be $3-5 a piece. I have quickly run out of high-value real estate to put them on, like laptop and water bottles. But because they are expensive, there's pressure to put them in a conspicuous place and not inside a notebook. I tried going the route of buying a bunch of cheap, miscellaneous vinyl stickers from Etsy sellers, but they ended up being mostly ripped-off or AI-generated art, half of which I didn't like. Recently, I transitioned to buying sheets of small stickers from independent artists. They are much cheaper than the vinyl stickers and more appropriate for using inside of notebooks. By removing the stickers from the sheets themselves and placing them inside the sticker book, they are easier to store and transport than on sticker sheets.

Etsy has been a favorite place to find stickers for journaling. I also like sticker books, such as those produced by Dover Publications. Japanese stickers for journaling are also top-notch, just like all other Japanese stationery. I especially like washi stickers that come on rolls and dry transfer stickers (which I guess are more properly decals, and can't be kept in a sticker keeper.) My favorite place to buy these are at JetPens. Finally, to bring things back around to Field Notes, an artist whose stickers I love is Aaron Draplin (who calls them decals.) I've got a couple of pages dedicated to him in my sticker keeper and I am still waiting for just the right places to put them.