You know, my Leuchtturm 1917 journal makes me miss my digital Emacs journal.

I had a good talk with a good friend yesterday, and I wanted to make a note of it. I looked over to my left, where my hand-written journal was stashed in my leather bag. I’d have to get up, stop my work, sit down, take it out, take out a pen, put in today’s date, and start writing. Laziness, yes, but also a different mindset than that I was in. I was also thinking about referencing this conversation for the future, which is something I’d probably like to do.

The index at the start of the Leuchtturm is slowly getting out of hand. I have too many entries under the letter N, and they’re starting to bleed into the M and O categories. I can go to another page, starting a fresh one just because of N, where the other letters (which I will need to specify again in a blank page for the index) will likely remain empty for a very long time, if not forever since I’ll finish with the notebook before I have to reference more words under those forgotten letters.

I also don’t like writing the date twice: once for the entry I’m about to write and once at the top, where the notebook has a dedicated space for the date. This is where I write the date range for the entries on the page. For example, say I wrote something two days ago, on 2024-04-07, and today I sit down to write, and the date is 2024-04-09. I’d write today’s date, 2024-04-09, as a title and write the entry, and then at the top of the page, in blue ink, I’d write 2024-04-07/09. The date and the index are specific Leuchtturm issues I didn’t have with the Moleskine.

Then there are the other issues that never really went away: my arm will start hurting if I write for more than 15 minutes or so, and I also have to write slowly, which sometimes works for form my thoughts, but at other times, I just want to write fast for quick notes.

Lack of friction is important when you want to note things down. On Emacs, this is the most seamless process I’ve ever known: one second I’m working on a project; the next, with a quick keystroke, I’m capturing a thought. When done, that thought is automatically saved into a journal file with today’s date, week, and year. Easily searchable, safe (safer than the written journal), and readable.

There’s a lot of value in writing by hand too, benefits I rediscovered. Slowing down to capture the important thoughts is important. Working with ink if more intimate and captures feelings better. There’s also something about printing little images and taping them into the pages with a small descriptive note that says something.

It doesn’t surprise me that I’m here again. I knew I’d find myself sitting down and writing about how I miss my digital journal, and then, probably soon, I’ll switch back. But I always find it weird that I can’t make up my mind.