I’ve always loved notebooks. I knew I might need help when following Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her advice is to pile all similar objects in a room and then sort through the pile, keeping those items that spark joy. I didn’t follow the advice as intended. I simply gathered all of the notebooks I had scattered throughout my home and piled them into a basket. Confession: The basket wasn’t big enough ─ and it was quite a large basket. I determined that I likely had a lifetime supply of notebooks.

Worse, a month after this exercise, I attended a conference and proceeded to pick up another notebook. In my defense, the notebook was more of a journal with a hard cover and reference to the conference city. It was lovely, and I knew I would use it. In fact, I went back to see if I could claim a second one and they were all gone. Whew!

Field Notes offers practical applications for using their products. (Photo from Field Notes website.)

My point is that I clearly need no more notebooks. And then I began a rabbit hole journey when I viewed an email for The Graduate Hotels, which was opening a new hotel in Cambridge, U.K. I noticed that the hotel offers a Field Notes edition to their guests, which I found charming. In fact, it may be the reason I book my next stay at one of their hotels.

These Field Notes are ruled and “perfect for lecture notes and assignments, or tailgate, playlist, or road trip planning,” according to the site. In its description, The Graduate Hotels writes, “Field Notes is inspired by the vanishing subgenre of memo books, ornate pocket ledgers, and the simple beauty of a well-crafted grocery list.”

The notebooks caught my eye, and I discovered I could order them online. And that is when the real trouble began.

As I searched online, I discovered the wide variety of notebooks, including National Parks and Three Missions, as well as Clandestine, a limited and cryptographic edition. As a mystery writer, I just had to have the Clandestine Field Notes pack, right? And I love visiting Yellowstone. You do see where this is going, don’t you?

It gets worse. They have a yearly subscription. Next year’s Field Notes have not been revealed, but it did not stop me from signing up for the subscription.

My basket overflows.

P.S. I suspect this post reads like an advertisement for Field Notes. I promise you I was not paid to write this post. If anything I lost money on this post, but I’ll have great notebooks all year!