Journaling & Field Notes

Marikina Journaling: Where to Start, Where to Write, Who to Write With

A local guide to journaling in Marikina: quiet places to write, cafés that welcome notebooks, meetups to look for, and how to begin with one page.

Journaling in Marikina is easier than you might think, because the city has the three things the hobby needs: quiet corners, slow cafés, and people who like to meet up. This guide covers all three.

Where to write

• At a café. Look for a table you can keep for an hour without guilt. The study-friendly cafés list on the Marikina coffee directory is a good shortlist, and the book cafés guide points to places with shelves and a reading mood.
• Outdoors. Marikina River Park and Riverbanks are best early in the morning or just before sunset. Bring a clip so the wind does not turn your pages.
• At a studio. Our home studio keeps a quiet corner for writing, with pens, paper and a window that faces the Rizal mountains. Visits are by message.
• At home, at the same time each day. Still the most reliable place.

Who to write with

People in Metro Manila ask about journaling clubs on Threads often, and Marikina comes up as one of the areas where meets already happen. We collected what we found in Are there journaling clubs in Marikina?. The short version: the scene is small, friendly and mostly organised through Instagram, Threads and Discord, so the fastest way in is to say hello to someone who already posts their spreads.

What you need

One notebook and one pen you like. That is the whole list. If you want more, see our beginner supplies guide. If you want a notebook that was made here, the Marikina Field Notes is ₱100 and built for writing about the city.

How to begin

Write the date. Write where you are. Write one thing you can see, one thing you can hear, and one thing you are thinking about. That is a complete entry. Tomorrow, do it again. For a longer walk-through, read how to start journaling.