The regular journalling with a notebook was really interesting, as it's a habit I've been trying to implement. I've been trying to do interstitial journaling [0] by writing down the time, noting energy levels, and listing out tasks to complete for the next 90 minutes [1].

It's far less reflective than Highsmith's notebook usage, and with a different intent, though it was inspiring to see the pages of notebooks one can fill out across their life, if one chooses to (from the article: "The 56 journals (18 diaries, 38 notebooks) add up to eight thousand pages in total.").

I wonder why she journaled less regularly later in life. Privacy looks like a reason; from the article: "[...] that would also be the last diary entry for seven years. When her lover Ellen starts sneaking peeks at the diaries, Highsmith switches only to notebook entries, which are less personal (and less interesting)." Similarly, I've censored myself a bit with handwritten entries, as it's possible that I might lose the book, or a person might find and read the journal without permission.

[0] https://nesslabs.com/interstitial-journaling

[1] Inspired by Channing Allen's 'Plan, do, learn' loops posted on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29841136