place to talk about stationery, notebooks, pens, papers, analog living, reading, butlerian jihad, the war on phones, etc
(existing thread woops but it’s mostly about purchases)
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it’s just easier to scribble for me than taptaptap slowly on a little screen
anything i make i’m prototyping constantly prior in bad sketches, it’s great
parents were and are both absurdly competent draftspeople and i am shamed at letting the side down
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i know when i’m really serious about a project when i break out photoshop though
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a post about using pen and paper
i’ve been working on pen-and-paper type hacks since my early 20s - the ‘commonplace book’ was very in vogue in certain circles around that time. however the habit of writing things down didnt really stick for me until 2016 for a variety of reasons. since then i’ve gotten really interested in this as a way to keep track of my general gestalt, i’m not so so into the productivity side nowadays but it’s still useful. now all the zoomers and millennials (besides me) are hopping on the trend of using notebooks for everything, so it’s good i’ve had some experience
things that haven’t worked for me:
-skinny staplebound pocket notebook like Field Notes (will discuss this)
-traditional a5 bullet journals. they’re just too big to be portable and i really loathe using ‘nice stationery’ for work tasks. i want to like… close my laptop and forget about work when it’s over. i don’t ever end up ‘keeping up’ with any sort of traditional bullet journal, the method is too rigid. instead for work i use sublime text on my work laptop, just on autosave, and it magically goes away when im done working.
-‘decorative’ journaling or scrapbooking, i just find it tedious 
-art notebooks, sketchpads, etc… im not that kind of artist i guess, i just don’t draw enough to use blank paper.
things that have worked:
Summary
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i’ve been keeping a regular series of ‘narrative journals’ since the 2016 election campaign, essentially like letters to myself about the state of affairs and my feelings, no schedule just when i feel the need to think out loud. i leave the date, a brief title, and then just flow from there, whatever’s in my internal dialogue. i leave a margin so i can occasionally read my old journals, usually years later, and scribble new notes in the margins—areas of personal growth, or things that are no longer a problem, reflections on what a dumb kid i was, etc. especially before i got in a long-term relationship and when i was living by myself, this was a lifesaver to work on my problems.
- tried several types of notebook for narrative journal but i keep coming back to something like: A5 size paper, lined or grid, elastic band and ideally leatherette hardcover. and a liquid ink pen. weirdly specific, maybe, but it matters that it feels good, you want to enjoy it.
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pocket notebook of some kind, these were really big among like internet masculinity connoisseurs in the teens? “every man should have” type bullshit. anyways i tried them out back then, i was never one for EDC so it was hard to integrate this, I’ve tried the usual Field Notes, the skinny staple bound books just don’t do it for me. IN GENERAL i used this way less than the narrative journal, but i’ve been trying to think of ways to make it useful.
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one thing i hit upon is a great ‘mini’ bullet journal — a dot-grid
A6 size3.5" wide/A6 slim notebook (ideally with softcover, elastic band and ribbon page markers).the original bullet journal method is linked in the first post, but i found it pretty cumbersome honestly. so nowadays i basically ditch the whole ‘calendaring’ idea of a Future Log, a Monthly Log etc (Google calendar exists), and mostly throw out the Task based stuff as well — less focused on ‘productivity.’
instead what I do is strip out everything but the habit trackers and daily log — a small habit tracker of my various hobbies and some self care; and I write a little log of what happened each day, in bullet points, maybe with a task or two as needed, just for my memory of ‘what did i do today.’
this works way better for my needs. I just want to a) keep track of my hobbies and turn them into habits; b) remember what happened yesterday/a few days ago/etc.
- the habit tracker is something i can vouch for from over 2 years’ experience doing little X’s on calendars I drew on sticky notes. seriously! i understand this looks insane but it works. i switched to this new method because i wanted to track multiple things and calendars don’t really let you.
- right now there’s also a page with the titles of any books I read this year. I don’t really do any reading reflections beyond that, unless I’m really taken by it, then I might write some notes in the dailies or longer form stuff in the narrative journal.
this a6 seems to be the format that sticks for me, i’ve completed 2 of them and working on a third. the previous ones were more involved (had a weekly log and tasks etc) this time i’m taking it easy.
as you can imagine you want a very skinny pen to write small as possible.
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subject notebook for class, i’m not in school anymore but i do take music classes, and I have a rhodia softcover a5 dotgrid for any notes from the class. I don’t have a lot of notes but sometimes I will write down quotes from class, or lead sheets of songs we’re learning, etc. the main purpose is so everything from that class stays in one place and won’t get ripped or anything like typical school notebooks tend to do. lives near the piano.
- but for my personal instrument practice journal, i find that a spiral bound notebook is really helpful. A5 size, graph paper ideally, because I have a ‘habit tracker’ in here, but not for habits per se — instead it tracks which types of topics I practiced on which days. what scales, what keys, what concepts… this helps me avoid blanking out when i sit at the piano, and reminds me ‘hey you were working on X’.
other than that there’s no structure to this, just any notes i might have. the practice journal lives on my music stand and when I’m not near it, out of sight out of mind. Very freeing honestly. there is one type of notebook that is honestly too nice for how affordable it is, i’ll link it at the bottom, but cheap ones work absolutely fine
other types of notebook uses I’ve found:
- the car notebook — i got a graph paper A7 i keep clipped with a decent ballpoint in my car center console, you’d be surprised how many times you need to write stuff down after driving somewhere. life noble has amazing paper and more pages than field notes, just generally feels way nicer.
- the butt notebook — i don’t have one anymore, but basically, a pocket notebook with lots of pages, fits nice in a jeans pocket and molds to ur butt.
- i’ve used stuff like rite in the rain, just as a catchall notebook for at work, on the train etc.
something about having a lot of pages makes it feel less like a worthless accessory and more like something that allows for a sort of ever-present expansiveness — what’s that quote from Moby Dick — “that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea” yeah, anyway, more pages more good. I’ve heard some youtubers call this “the waste book” because it holds literally whatever you want to write in it.
- the mini subject notebook — significant overlap with the previous 2, another book i don’t use anymore. another option: this cheapo pack of “Caliber” mini composition books from CVS?? tons of pages, they’re only okay if you like fancy pens, but way better than they should be, and for pencil and ballpoint these are great. they are just glued in and tear out super easily so you can just rip a page out cleanly and give it to somebody if you need to. used these all types of ways - for a while i was doing it like a daily planner (a page per day), then just for random notes on topics i was trying to learn. you could throw this in the car or your back pocket as well. here’s one of mine, you see it’s beat up and tiny (earplug for scale) but well used which is the point, i used this as a guitar practice journal when i was starting out. unbelievable value here but unfortunately I think they stopped selling this specific one.
okay that’s all i promise
but if you want more there’s some products i like in the spoiler
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narrative journal - a5 hardcovers are everywhere, (eg. Rhodia / Leuchtturm etc), my fav was actually one i won in a pub trivia in grad school, not for any good reason just the cover was this nice faux-leather hardcover. elastic band a5 hardcover is the way, apart from that i’ve tried a bunch of things but haven’t found one to rule them all.
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i really prefer something with a flowy liquid ink for the narrative journal style of writing, keeps things moving quickly, around 0.4mm thick is perfect. these pens Uni-Ball Vision Elite BLX 0.5 are amazing but recently I’ve been on the Kaweco AL Sport medium nib. and i use a pigment-based ink with fountain pens, for lightfastness. it is actually stupid how much i like this fountain pen, it feels so nicely weighted in the hand, even if the nib is a little finicky at times.
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pencils i fucking swear by these Tombow Mono 100’s in F very important best pencils I’ve tried hands down. you know what I wrote a whole tumblr post on wooden pencils go read it… i’ve tried a variety of mechanical pencils (pentel sharp, zebra, uni kuru toga, graph gear, orenz etc etc) i find them all really boring potentially excepting this zebra drafix which is super lightweight and i have an H lead in it for drawing outlines and grids and stuff.
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for the mini-bujo, i had this 3.5x6" leuchtturm for a while, and then a rhodia (not as good for some reason, it’s squatter/wider and less pocketable) and now this 3.5x5.5" Fabriano Ispira (really good). dot grid is really useful here
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if you do like the field notes style books i’ve used the expedition waterproof ones with a ballpoint… but also their special editions are cool. i wish i liked them more.
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this Maruman Spiral Note A5 is the only spiral notebook i will recommend anymore. it’s such nice paper
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I can vouch for these. I had a series in recent years but fell out when I bought a larger sized one and it wasn’t as easy to carry. They’re pretty affordable at the less iffy of the local army surplus stores. The pages are sort of waxy and work best with pencil, if that’s a deal breaker.
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I am trying to journal again to have a place to put my feelings that isn’t tumblr. I don’t know if it is helping but I am trying.
I definitely still use a paper shopping list (it is SO useful to keep it by the fridge so anyone can throw stuff on there they want) and anytime I go to the grocery store (which is a lot) the only other people with paper are like… 70+ years old. Everyone fiddling with their little phones, slip sliding all up and down their menus. I don’t get it, that tyranny of the screen. It’s just a tool, why use a bad tool?
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I also keep a paper shopping list but I didn’t even register it as something for this thread
but yeah I just like being able to add to it when I’m in the kitchen and notice I need a thing, and then I yank it off and take it to the store with me
I guess I also keep notepads to see what food zaku likes
I haven’t needed to use this though as shes gotten into a diet routine, but it’s still there in case someone else has to buy cat food
oh I also keep paper calendar by door
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An unlined moleskine notebook and a nice 2B pencil is my go to for most things, holiday journals, to do lists, lead sheets, sketches.
I just cram it all in there in no particular order, I’m not precious about it.
Sometimes I bin the journals when they’re full, sometimes I keep them. My oldest is from 2008 when I travelled by train around Europe.
I used to keep a physical daily planner and the only reason I stopped this is because my life slowly began being consumed by work and regrettably I’m chained to Google calendar for this purpose.
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I use postits all the time for reminders, todos, and note taking.
For projects I use journals despite the fact it hurts to write for long periods by hand. I still prefer handwriting to typing when I want to focus on what I’m getting down and because my recall of handwritten text is far better than typed.
I use a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook for projects and a bog standard WHSmith diary annually for general schedule and notes. Post-its can do most everything else that’s more temporary.
I use an A4 notebook for notes for games that require them.
I’m journaling on paper. My to do lists are always on paper. Shopping too. Brainstorming only works for me on paper. The cursor does nothing for me.
This was exactly my experience and I was so excited about bullet journals when I first heard about them
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i have this thing that i got from a store in portland three years ago. i write a journal entry in it once in a while but it mostly just gets used for doodling, testing stationery, ffxiv crafting and gathering notes (until i found an easier way to go about this), excerpts from various other sketchbooks i only used once or twice, and more recently a place to use my new pocket thermal printer.
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yeah rite in the rain is really nice with an HB to 2B pencil. I used to use them with Tombow 8900 2B – it’s a great setup if you get caught in the rain a lot, or go like fishing/ boating or whatever
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I just like them as something I can throw in my jacket pocket and not worry about weather wise
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I am intrigued by your habit forming calendar tracker method. Might give that a try.
I enjoy how in-flux this whole journaling system thing seems to be for everyone. For a practice aimed in some way at documenting the self, it seems appropriate that it not be too rigid.
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I guess it’s germane to this topic—one of my friends has been doing the 70 note cards, one for each scene, approach to writing a movie that David Lynch suggested.
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anyways, been sort of half-enjoying this dude’s videos about notebooks - he is the type of dude i find personally kind of/very annoying but he has notebook thoughts, especially on all the possible uses thereof
i’m coming to the end of my current narrative journal, which is way too large - it’s a B5 / composition book size. it has taken me 2 years to get through, and really isn’t portable at all… very annoying… so i’ve been looking for the next one
found a size that might be a game changer … leuchtturm1917 now makes (by themselves / in collab with a lifestyle brand ‘monocle’) a B6+ size hardcover notebook, 5x7.5", about the size of a trade paperback. if buying this, i would suggest the one with more pages, since it can get pretty expensive for a small notebook
https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/notebooks/all-formats/paperback-b6/
considering whether to make this my narrative journal. it would make it much more feasible to take the journal with me to places, maybe allow longform writing even when i’m commuting or at work. i like the image of me writing in this on the train, with the hardcover and the larger-than-pocket size helping settle a shaky pen.
on the other hand, maybe the annoyance of this being smaller-than-medium would outweigh any supposed gains in portability — after all, where do i even go these days? i would end up carrying 3 notebooks at once, theoretically: a pocket catch-all for doodles and scribbles, an A6 sized bullet journal / daily log, and a B6+ narrative journal.
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My trouble with journaling is that I don’t really know what to write about sometimes. I have tried to start with some prompts I found online and so far, the one time I have done it, it made it a bit easier than just repeating the same struggles over and over.