I started a “dirt notebook” • Hacker News Board

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#41

Post by noelwelsh » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:13 AM UTC

draven wrote: post #38

noelwelsh wrote: post #37

A nice thing about being left handed is there a few things I can't get precious about. Fountain pens are never going to feature in my life as I'll just smudge everything. Similarly, I'll never end up collecting gaming mice as most of them are not usable for lefties.

You could try getting an EF nib and pair it with a fast drying ink ( https://mountainofink.com/blog/fast-dry-inks for examples)? Also, some manufacturers (for example Lamy) make special nibs for left-handed people.

These are not things I need to know :-)

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#42

Post by haritha1313 » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:24 AM UTC

I keep buying the pretty notebooks and collecting them. I hate writing on them because they are too beautiful. I've finally started using random company merch notebooks (that are not pretty) while I also carry around a pretty one for the pretty thoughts (which I rarely use because nothing ends up deserving it)

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#43

Post by coolThingsFirst » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:35 AM UTC

Hilarious coincidence. Just as I clicked on link I had coughed so took a moment to say amazed if i had spit out all the freckles on the page.

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#44

Post by steezeburger » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC

I have a similar idea in the note taking app I've written for myself over a couple years. I have a new daily page everyday with a simple but powerful tagging system. Adding automation soon that will be kick ass, but for now the mcp server plus Claude Code is pretty dang powerful. It's basically a clone of logseq with my own features. It's got templates and saved views and powerful filtering. It's been super useful for me personally. I need to update the README though. https://github.com/steezeburger/brainspread/

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#45

Post by hiworld6543 » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:48 AM UTC

noelwelsh wrote: post #37

A nice thing about being left handed is there a few things I can't get precious about. Fountain pens are never going to feature in my life as I'll just smudge everything. Similarly, I'll never end up collecting gaming mice as most of them are not usable for lefties.

Learn to write backwards. That talent is far more accessible to lefties, for whom artistic expression and fine motor skills are both on the same side of the brain.

Or write in one of the Semitic or Western Asian languages, which are right-to-left. You’ll never smudge and you’ll be able to enjoy fountain pens.

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#46

Post by vugar82 » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:00 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#47

Post by sublinear » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:06 AM UTC

teo_zero wrote: post #35

But why? What's wrong with a tidy notebook?

I was going to comment similar.

I already know I'm going to annoy some people by saying this, but I've gone through both messy and neat phases of life. Every messy phase was almost entirely forgettable and inexperienced noise. Eventually, I'd find stability in my life and become neat again.

I'm not saying messiness is inherently shameful, but it is absolutely worth looking at the bigger picture to find answers. I probably prolonged the messy phases by avoiding self-analysis. I now realize that it was insecurity and avoidance behavior.

Of course, neatness can also be a coping strategy. I'm intrigued by the author's premise.

> I'm somewhat enamored with the concept of shitty / messy notebooks, like this or this.

It sounds like they want to explore messiness as an aesthetic, not genuinely experience it. I've already said enough to imply what I think about that. I think deliberately chasing aesthetics might be more detached from reality than what I had going on.

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#48

Post by nonethewiser » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:11 AM UTC

steezeburger wrote: post #44

I have a similar idea in the note taking app I've written for myself over a couple years. I have a new daily page everyday with a simple but powerful tagging system. Adding automation soon that will be kick ass, but for now the mcp server plus Claude Code is pretty dang powerful. It's basically a clone of logseq with my own features. It's got templates and saved views and powerful filtering. It's been super useful fo…

How in the world is this similar?

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#49

Post by lasersox » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:11 AM UTC

I gave up trying to organize notes at all. I’ll try to keep the same notebook with me, but if I don’t happen to have it handy, I’d rather just write in whatever I’ve got lying around. Now there are many half-filled notebooks all over, and I stopped worrying about filling up one before opening the next. I don’t refer to them either, taking the notes helps me pay more attention, even if I will never read them.

Re: I started a “dirt notebook”

#50

Post by picafrost » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:24 AM UTC

One reason I switched to the cheapest notebooks and cheapest (reasonable) pens is a feeling that I was attempting to live a simulacrum of productivity bathed in nostalgia for an era I never lived in, and which probably never existed.

There's a vision I am still somewhat attracted to of illuminating notes into a handcrafted moleskin (or whatever) journal and in doing so, creating an artifact that has value across all dimensions. This intention, whether it sits on the surface of my subconscious or just below it, detracts from the thing of value: what's being written.

What really changed my perspective was attempting to write seriously. The first draft of a long form work is the bare minimum to begin writing. Writing does not really begin until it exists. When I tried to adopt this into the notes I made in my professional life what I found is that, in general, I didn't really need much of the notes anyway.