Editing The Pen Addict 111/transcript (section)

== Handwritten Index ==


'''Josh Ginter:''' Yeah. Like more or less, I kind of put a date to every book that I start. So, you know, for example, I'm on 2014-6. So I'm in the sixth book of the year. And then from there, what I do, in case I ever do need to go back and digitally figure out where I'm at or where there was a specific thought back in January or something like that, I put it into my day one app, which is an awesome, awesome journaling app for Mac, iPad, iPhone. And I put a little daily summary at the end of the day and I tell myself, okay, today I wrote three on page 19, 20, 21. And if in the future I ever need to go back, I can find exactly where I'm at. Further then, I have a bit of an index in the back of every book where I kind of state the big ideas and the big things that weren't just random thoughts. They were steps in a process to finish something. Or I put those kind of things in the back of the book and I give out a page number and reference it that way. So that's kind of how I keep track of my written notes personally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm sitting here cracking up because you have a serious problem. And this is why I love this show. I'm just nodding my head everything you're saying.

'''Josh Ginter:''' I'm like, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, and dealing with that problem was a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated. So I figured I'd write it all out onto a blog.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, this is what we're all going – this is what we all go through, the people that are into these sorts of things. These are the conversations we have with the voices in our heads or the angel and devil on our shoulders. How are we going to handle our note-taking and how are we going to index it and how are we going to find it and what notebook am I going to use and what pen is going to be good for it?

'''Josh Ginter:''' That's going to be the hardest decision. Every three weeks or so for me, I've got to choose the next field notes book to use. I think that's the most difficult thing ever. But anyway.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so let's talk about that. Not field notes specifically, but just the quantity that you're writing. I saw where you definitely – you pretty much write like three to four pages a day, you think, in field notes? I saw you mention that in the past.

'''Josh Ginter:''' Yeah, three or four is a little high. Recently, it's been one or two, but three on a good day, especially weekends where I have a little more time to breathe and relax. For sure, I'll get three or four per day. And it's just thoughts more or less. But sometimes there's calculations in there or other little things for work. But more or less, it's just thoughts and statements kind of.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And in the past, you've written about using the bullet journaling system. Do you still do that? I'm sorry, say again? The bullet journal? That system?

'''Josh Ginter:''' Do you still use it? Yeah, I started out with it. And I found that I just didn't use the whole breadth of the whole system. So I kind of – I was looking further at other kind of indexing and organization systems. I stumbled upon Patrick Rowan's website. He's got an awesome – that Dash Plus system. There's also an iOS app, luckily enough. And I started with that. And more or less, it's a to-do list making app, if you will, and system. But there's also a way to incorporate journal ideas where it's actual thoughts. And I really recommend anybody checking that out, that Dash Plus system. It works really good. And that's how what I use, actually. Usually, there are always journal and thought ideas that I have in my book. But every now and then, I start everything with a Dash. And sometimes, I've got a to-do list in the book, too. So that's how I do it. And I really like that system.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Cool. Now, when you started this blog and you were using – you were starting with these systems and you were capturing your notes in the traditional, non-digital methods. That's right. I saw that you were using the Moleskine products, the Moleskine Kaey and the Moleskine Rollerballs. And you've kind of made the transition into different products, field notes especially, I guess. So how did that transition take place?

'''Josh Ginter:''' You know, I was – my wife and I, we got married last year and we headed out to New York for our honeymoon. Really awesome trip. But it turned out that there was a Moleskine stationary shop right close to our hotel. And I stumbled upon it just in our happenings. And I thought, whoa, like this was kind of the first major time I'd ever thought about paper and really good paper to begin with. So I bought a bunch of these things and it was all I had in the house. So I think that's why Moleskine was the original product to try out. And the other reason is because Moleskine is the – it's all I have available in the area. I – you know, the closest, the field notes or even like Leuchterm and those kind of companies, those kind of products, the closest retailer that I have is maybe 200 kilometers away. And then after that, it's 600 kilometers or a six-hour drive away. So the Moleskine products were actually available and that was kind of the reason for that. But I happened to stumble upon that store that was 600 kilometers away. I was a visiting family, happened to be in the area, remembered that they sold field notebooks and went down, grabbed a pack. And I was – the amount of delight that those products bring and the amount of character that they emit, it just knocks, I feel, knocks Moleskine out of the park. And I haven't turned back since. I think that was the big transition, that taking a chance and driving down to that shop.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think Myke and I went down that same path, right? I mean you were a heavy Moleskine user, Myke, and still – I think you still incorporate them some. And I was a heavy Moleskine user too really when I started this blog. And then you start to think about, you know, what else is out there and what are these other things? And then you're on a path of no return. Yeah, exactly.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So let's talk about these field notes because I think that's the first time I actually ran into your blog and first time I saw it maybe in my referral notes or something like that. Cool. You did a post on the Drink Local edition. And that was – that's been one of my all-time favorite editions. And so tell me a little bit, you know, you started using field notes. You found them at that store. And now do you have as big a problem as Myke and I have where you have like these vast stashes of field notes just for you to use?

'''Josh Ginter:''' Because my addiction is fairly new, I think. My stacks probably aren't as big as yours. But I'm definitely finding new ways to justify them to my wife every couple weeks. So, yeah, it's growing. You know, ironically, the first pack I picked up was a Drink Local from that shop a ways away. And those Drink Locals, I didn't realize that the craft versions were a little different yet. So that – of course, my research habits, I'd research everything and stumbled upon – grabbed a pack of craft books. And as much as I like to Drink Locals, I think those craft books are incredible, just the way they wear and everything. So – but anyway, yeah, I've got a good stash going so far. I'm trying to collect as many colors books as possible, but, man, they are hard to find.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's kind of like back when, Myke, when you and I started like doing the collection part of this, there was still a lot of availability. This is, what, a year and a half, year, year and a half ago? So you could still get your hands on some of the older stuff, not easily, but a little bit more so than now. Now you never see, like, anything going with, like, the old editions. And I'm not even talking about, like, the Butcher Orange and Butcher Blue. I'm talking about, like, even, like, Fire Spotter and Day Game and things like that. You just can't find them anymore, it seems like. Have you seen that, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think we may have contributed to the problem because I know that there were a lot of people that were kind of getting involved with us when me and you started really kind of searching, like, you know, having the saved eBay searches. And then, like, I used to do quite a lot of Google shopping searches to find these, like, really random online retail stores. I found one based in Australia that had a couple of, like, random editions on it. And I bet that they still exist, just not everybody, just not all of them have been found yet. But I think all of the easy ones have been found. Whether we had a, like, I think it may have been, honestly, I think us and the Field Nuts Facebook page kind of really sparked the collecting of them again, I think. Because if you think, I don't think it would take more than a few hundred, maybe a thousand people looking for these and they're all going to go. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, there was this land rush, right, for about six months.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And just this ravenous desire, which I was part of, too, to get this collection built out, which I'm super happy. I have pretty much everything. Oh, I'm jealous. Yeah. Wow.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, Brad has – you have them all, right? You have at least all the colors now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I have all the colors. The only thing I don't have a sealed three-pack up is the Butcher Orange, which I could if I wanted to spend $200 on it. I just don't want to spend $200 on it. Don't blame you. So I have a single Butcher Orange notebook, and I have a sealed three-pack of the Butcher Blue. Then I have sealed three-packs of everything else. So one of these days, I'll break down and get the three-pack of orange and be done with it because I would like that. I just – I've been spending too much money on pens to pay $200 for notebooks.

'''Josh Ginter:''' Did you guys see how much an entire full shrink wrap collection is fetching on eBay these days? There were a couple that popped up a couple weeks ago, and wow, I've blown away a couple thousand dollars minimum to get an entire set. So they're worth a lot. It's amazing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's really – it's genuinely crazy. I mean it's pretty insane just to think about. Like if you started having this conversation out loud with people who are not into this thing, they would look at you like you were just – where is the loony bin in the straitjacket because you're going.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I want to get into a couple of specific editions with you, and Myke wants to start a fight. Okay. Here we go. So we're going to talk about the Shelterwood edition. So give us – so Myke and I's stance on the Shelterwood edition is very well known. It's divided. Yes. We're podcast divided.

'''Josh Ginter:''' Yes.