It Always Starts With a Blank Page

I headed to the Java Cat early this evening to grab a few moments of alone time with a book and my journal before the members of the writing group arrived. Before I could enter, however, I found myself drawn across the street to the drugstore. I knew they would have a selection of shiny spiral notebooks and I guess I've been aching for one for several days now. I keep talking myself out of purchasing one. I do have plenty of paper options at home, after all. At least a third of the simple white journal I currently carry remains blank and I'm pretty sure I still have a couple of full new ones just like it in a drawer beside my bed. (Staples had them on clearance for a dollar last year. I've filled two so far.) I have a small stack of notebooks, of course, in various stages of use, as well as some partially filled sketchbooks and at least one of those decorative journals that people tend to give as gifts (and I pick up at random whenever my resistance is low).

But none of those will do when what the heart really desires is a pristine, five-subject, college-ruled, spiral-bound notebook with not a single page out of place.

The thing about journals and notebooks is they get messy... and although a full and messy notebook can be almost as fun as a clean and empty one, sometimes you just have to start with a blank page. Pages that can be filled with anything... at least for that moment before you start filling them.

At Java Cat with my Blonde Boss Smoothie, I managed to fill the first three pages before the others arrived.