Without wishing to turn this into a writing & pen blog, I did want to talk a little more about the kit I use these days, if only because I figure some readers out there might find it interesting or useful.
For a long time, I bought several different kinds of notebooks—and pens—looking for the right fit for my needs. Eventually, I landed on a setup that I'm very happy with.
A Good Notebook
When it comes to notebooks, I have a set of firm criteria and a wishlist of nice-to-haves.
As some readers might know, I'm left handed and that heavily influences my criteria. I want a notebook with a spine that is thin enough to impact my writing, but at the same time is thick enough to have a meaningful spine presence on a shelf such that I could label the spine and read it. I have a lot of books and notebooks and being able to find things on the shelf quickly matters.
I tried hardbound book blanks (which look amazing on the shelf), but they're a pain to write in because of the thick spine. After that I tried super thin notebooks, but they don't have enough shelf-presence for a spine label and, importantly, they are so thin that they don't contain enough meaningful space for the notes I want to take. Topics spread across volumes and that makes organizing hard.
I tried so called Executive or Professional Notebooks, these are lovely to look at and hold, and they're great on the shelf, but they're just too big to be easily portable. I like to have a notebook with me at all times and these are simply too big for that.
That's when I found my solution, a solution that'd been staring me in the face for a long time.
It's silly to think that my perfect notebook is the simple composition book, but I think it might be. They're super cheap (often only 50ยข) and the colored covers (which formed the foundation of my early schooling organizational system) are very useful. They're thick enough to have a good spine, but lay flat on the table. There's enough pages for a meaningful amount of writing, but not so much that filling it feels like a monumental task. I can carry two or three at once in my bag and they're very light and the covers are slightly waterproof—a welcome feature for the occasional coffee spill. The only real downside is that the low price point means that the paper quality is very bad. Personally, I've found that you can offset some of this by choosing the right brand, but it's a fundamental flaw. Still, I'm using them and love them.
What's in a Pen?
I'm not going to discuss pencils here, even though I use a lot of them, simply because Ticonderoga pencils are great and you can just use those.
When it comes to pens though, I have more nuanced thoughts.
Years ago, I preferred gel pens, but they suck for left-handers. The ink dries so slowly that it coats the hand in black smudges. From there I moved on to a hodgepodge of ballpoints and never really found one I liked.
For a while I used a branded metal ballpoint pen from that my Dad took home from work (one of those corporate perks). These felt great in the hand, but they were not great writing implements—and they exclusively came with blue ink, which was a huge detriment. Blue ink sucks.
Years back, I went to Japan on a vacation with some friends. There I bought a cheap notebook and pen from a convenience store on a whim and then proceeded to fall in love with the pen I randomly picked up there. I've used them ever since and while they are cheap, they write extremely well and, crucially, the fine point and particular ink dries very quickly. No smudges on the page, or on my hand! It's a great pen for left-handers. Now, I prefer a very fine point, so that might be a turn off for some people, but I do recommend these pens.
In other places I use my fountain pens, though I've basically stopped using my dip pens just because they're a hassle. I still love my fountain pens but those Zebra Sarasa pens have stolen my heart.
If you're reading this and you have other suggestions to solve these same problems, I'd love to hear them.
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