How to answer such a question?!

The Sharpie is the acceptable grown-up felt tip. Somehow it has managed to carve a niche for itself; more robust than the common or garden felt tip, more serious than the sparkly gel pen and more dextrous than the permanent marker. Now, don’t get me wrong, I own at least one set of each and they all make a valuable contribution to my life but the Sharpie, is something all together different.

In fact, on buying my first multi coloured set last year (22 whole pens!) it took several long months before I felt ready to start using them. Well, I did commandeer the brown one to capture the endless tasks pre and post our big house move. It gave the ever growing list a kind of gravitas that any other writing implement just couldn’t muster…and chiselling in stone just wasn’t practical!

So, yes, I love my Sharpies. ALOT.

But notebooks, well, what can a girl say about her notebooks?! I have more than I dare count, some have been with me for years – still unused, waiting for the right time; the right occasion, the right mood, the right subject matter.

I have notebooks for meeting notes, for ideas, for feelings (I think some people call these diaries but I’ve never been good at writing every night and then I get upset that there are blank pages!) and even for medical notes (every time I see my endocrinologist the key pieces of advice are recorded in the same book).

I have hardback ones with elaborate designs; tiny ones with pages from handmade paper; leather bound ones with gilt page edges and quirky ones with mantras on them (Let There Be Lists, 1980s iPad, Dream Big).

I’ve got ones with magnetic covers; ones with pockets in the back and ones that I’ve “pimped” with ribbon so they have distinguishable sections.

I’ve got ones from Smythson and ones from Sainsbury and ones from Thailand, Tokyo and Turkey: the list and categorisation possibilities are seemingly endless. One day I might even take you on a guided tour.

My husband thinks I’m mad, and maybe I am, but for as long as I can remember – and longer still, as my mum always tells me that ever since I was able (circa 3yrs old) – I have, pretty much always, had a pen and paper in my hand, or close at hand (my handbag generally holds about four).

Hmmm, so maybe they are of equal importance?

No, that doesn’t feel right. 

Sharpies are a relatively new invention and, as I say, I do have several sets of other felt tips. Also, I remember loving crayons as a child (I cherished my Crayola box of 64 crayons, it was two tier with built in sharpener) and there was this one pencil when I was about 7 years old, I remember it distinctly…[floats off wistfully]… but I digress.

So, I guess what I’m saying that when push comes to shove, the notebook wins. Though what’s a notebook without a writing implement?! Here we go again…