Fully understand the dilemma, as I have very specific opinions on notebooks- and stationery in general. I recently has to replace a completed notebook as I’d finished it’s volume of The Bus. And despite the millions of pounds my subscriptions generate, I just couldn’t justify another £15-20 for a Leuchtermm ... so I picked up a very similar one from Tiger for £3.50 - and it’s perfect.
Yes - I've had to rethink the expense of a Leuchtturm v use! The stitching isn't as good, either - but in the end it will last as long as it's needed and end up in a drawer or box just like all the rest.
You're so right - they don't need to stand up to much of a battering once they're on the archive shelf, right? I get through a LT1917 precisely every four months - I think I'll do the maths and work out how many Tigers I'd need to get through a year. Reckon the big cats will 🐯 have the edge....!
As I'm sure you already know, Mark, I loved this post!
I used to use Moleskine pocket-sized notebooks in the dim and distant past, and remember being really disappointed when I upgraded to their medium-sized version because it was so narrow. I'm very used to European paper sizes - A5, A4, etc - so US half-letter feels rather skimpy. A bit too tall and thin.
I guess I could use a composition notebook (we call those 'exercise books' over here) for drafting my posts - at the moment I use an A4+ Leuchtturm for that (a little larger than A4, so any loose A4 pages can be slipped in without sticking out. I started my current one in April last year, and it's very nearly full. £20-ish for a year doesn't feel too expensive. Mind you, if I were writing reams and reams of notes for work (which I don't!) I'd certainly feel differently about that kind of spend on notebookery!
My A5 Leuchtturm bullet journal edition 1 is my absolute favourite. I'm still very upset that when Bullet Journal (not Leuchtturm) brought out edition 2 they scrapped edition 1 entirely. They're gold dust on eBay and Etsy... 😕 When they're no longer available I'll switch to the standard A5 Leuchtturm and try not to miss the index, the extra bookmark and the missing pages too much....! 🤣
I really like the idea of the A4+ size! A5 is a handy medium size but not ideal for all cases. Leuchtuurm also makes a B5 sized notebook which is comparable to the composition book or exercise book, which I've begun using for commonplace books. Not cheap but I really like it! And since I'm planning to keep commonplace books around for the long tern the higher paper quality is ideal!
I love notebooks. I fantasize about being the kind of person that always carries one, that does everything long hand. Oh, how I have tried. For all my efforts and attempts, for all my deep romaticism for paper and pen, it just doesn't seem to work for me. I've tried journaling, keeping a common place book, a variety of pocket notebooks, and the friction point always comes to the bottle kneck of transcibing them into my Evernote. I've finally had to accept that typing directly into Evernote is my best option.
With that being said, I still have great fondness for composition notebooks. In fact, my iPad cover is made to look precisley like one, lol.
For my day job I use Staples' inexpensive Steno Pads. Work supplies them and those fit in my camera bag well. I love the Leuchtuurm1917 notebooks and have one for my personal writing, but completely get that feeling like "this is too nice for me to mess up." I recently got turned on to Tombow pencils so those plus my Leuchtuurm1917 is my go to for relaxation. Clearly I need more vices.
Wow, three weeks to fill a notebook. I don't blame you for considering options. It takes me 9 - 12 months to fill a notebook at work, so I don't mind using the Dingbats* for that purpose. Plus its paper is friendlier to fountain pens.
Composition notebooks are my choice. One was waiting for me in the first writing workshop I ever attended, and it’s there I learned to write as a healing practice. Twenty years on and I think the notebook itself is a writing ritual that gets me in the right/write mindset. Plus they are cheap! I use Field Notes for on-the-go writing. My spouse is on a journey with fountain pens and fancy paper notebooks, and I’m enjoying it vicariously.
We had to write in fountain pen all through school, so I turned my back on them for years. I use one again now, though, but only for drafting my posts. Part of the writing ritual for me!
In my bullet journal I use a Staedtler pigment liner because of its very light touch on the page (it doesn't indent and cause texture, which would drive me nuts!), and for everyday scribbling (like shopping lists and the like) it's got to be a bog-standard black Bic biro. Woe betide ANYONE who brings a Bic-wannabe into the house - blobby, smudgy biros REALLY get my goat. 🙄
I agree!! Keep those Bic biros away from me!!! I use fountain pens and Royal Talens sketchbooks with paper that takes both ink and light watercolor gouache washes well. My Royal Talens books are hardback and cost me around 5 dollars. So they don't feel "too pretty to use". And I use them by the dozen 😁
My absolute favorite is the Rhodia A5 dotted notebook, but I recently found a 7-pack of dotted A5s that came in at a much cheaper price with really good quality. These are hardcover instead of the flexible leatherette, but I think I’m enjoying the hardcover more. I only wish they were available in more colors.
My writing output isn't directly equivalent to yours, but if I were to use an all index card set up (standard Oxford 4x6" index cards) I'd be looking at an average of 6,036 cards per year at $0.02574/card for an average of $153.75 a year. It's not the $26.00 per year for composition books, but it's also not nearly as expensive as the more expensive $20-30 notebook habit. 🗃️😁📓
Hi Chris, I remember seeing your writing elsewhere. That's... a lot of index cards. Also, the cost per card is higher than I expected but then again if I ever pay $0.01 per card I should expect lower quality...
The price I quoted was for the ubiquitous and inexpensive Oxford index cards and not for the much higher quality Exacompta/Bristol cards which can run up to 10¢ a card or more—they're closer to the fountain pen quality papers you'd find in the higher end notebooks and are manufactured by the a subsidiary of the corporate parent that makes Rhodia/Clairefontaine.
I remember advice from an art class once, in which the teacher told us the bane of creative expression was making your art too “precious”. That is, by going out and splurging on good quality only, you would produce stiff work because it had to be perfect - otherwise, it was a waste of good paper, right? I think about that advice a lot, be it for writing or art making. Cost aside (and yeah, I wouldn’t use good stock in work notes all the time), use what makes you happy, and don’t be afraid of putting sub-par work on good paper. If Jillian’s newsletter shows us anything, those notebooks become greater than the sum of their parts.
Sometimes I class it up a bit with a Decomposition Book, which is a brand that makes recycled ones with prettier covers (and makes them in spiral binding, which I know you don't like, but which work for me writing on the couch in the morning). I'm sure you know about them but just in case: https://decomposition.com/
(They are too expensive for your volume of work note taking. I'm realizing I might have trouble with Comp Books because they remind me of assigned writing in school?)
I’ve always secretly loved composition books because they felt very special and grown-up (or upper year student) to me, a little schlub using duotangs and Hilroy notebooks at school. Maybe that’ll be my next work notebook...currently using some Staples house brand spiral notebook which is actually very nice. I comb the notebook section on eWay every time I need to order a new one for work and use that as my experiment in random notebooks.
Great post Mark! Procrastination is real when a Cadillac type notebook is purchased! lol And I believe all shapes and sizes of notebooks have their purpose. Happy your new find is working out great!
I am familiar with Bullet journal books (as in Leuchtturm1917 special editions), but this is the first I’m hearing of Dingbats*! I also first heard about the law of attraction journals today from a YouTube video I was watching not about journals. I am fighting with myself not to buy them as I have a nasty habit of buying beautiful notebooks but refusing to write in them in case I mess up and have to cross something out!
The most I’ve done, and this was years ago, was set one up to be a bullet journal where I used pencil first to be extra neat then traced over it with a fancy ink pen. It was a great relaxing exercise. But when I did the full thing I never used it. What if I started random writing in ink and made a mistake I had to cross out! Like misspell a word! 😫
However, in October I do have something special planned related to my 100 word stories so my fears will have to be tabled at least for one month. I’m also in the market for a smaller sized pocket notebook but as it’s literally just for 31 days I may not splurge and buy a fancy one.
Either way, you’ve managed to remind me about my obsession with journals I spend boat loads of money on but don’t use at 3am! Thanks, Mark!
Makes perfect sense. I try to avoid writing things on loose paper to prevent potential loss but sometimes you just have to grab what's on hand and record your thoughts!
Fully understand the dilemma, as I have very specific opinions on notebooks- and stationery in general. I recently has to replace a completed notebook as I’d finished it’s volume of The Bus. And despite the millions of pounds my subscriptions generate, I just couldn’t justify another £15-20 for a Leuchtermm ... so I picked up a very similar one from Tiger for £3.50 - and it’s perfect.
*newsletter publisher problems* ;)
Yes. Those are the problems with multinational publications!
Have you got a link for the Tiger notebook you could share, Bryan? 😊
Here it is (it was actually £5, evidently!): https://flyingtiger.com/en-gb/products/bullet-planner-a5-3029014
It's great - cheap and cheerful. Definitely gets the job done.
Oooooh, great! Thanks very much, Bryan. Fewer pages than a Leuchtturm, but very much cheaper - cost per page is much more acceptable! 😊
Yes - I've had to rethink the expense of a Leuchtturm v use! The stitching isn't as good, either - but in the end it will last as long as it's needed and end up in a drawer or box just like all the rest.
You're so right - they don't need to stand up to much of a battering once they're on the archive shelf, right? I get through a LT1917 precisely every four months - I think I'll do the maths and work out how many Tigers I'd need to get through a year. Reckon the big cats will 🐯 have the edge....!
As I'm sure you already know, Mark, I loved this post!
I used to use Moleskine pocket-sized notebooks in the dim and distant past, and remember being really disappointed when I upgraded to their medium-sized version because it was so narrow. I'm very used to European paper sizes - A5, A4, etc - so US half-letter feels rather skimpy. A bit too tall and thin.
I guess I could use a composition notebook (we call those 'exercise books' over here) for drafting my posts - at the moment I use an A4+ Leuchtturm for that (a little larger than A4, so any loose A4 pages can be slipped in without sticking out. I started my current one in April last year, and it's very nearly full. £20-ish for a year doesn't feel too expensive. Mind you, if I were writing reams and reams of notes for work (which I don't!) I'd certainly feel differently about that kind of spend on notebookery!
My A5 Leuchtturm bullet journal edition 1 is my absolute favourite. I'm still very upset that when Bullet Journal (not Leuchtturm) brought out edition 2 they scrapped edition 1 entirely. They're gold dust on eBay and Etsy... 😕 When they're no longer available I'll switch to the standard A5 Leuchtturm and try not to miss the index, the extra bookmark and the missing pages too much....! 🤣
I really like the idea of the A4+ size! A5 is a handy medium size but not ideal for all cases. Leuchtuurm also makes a B5 sized notebook which is comparable to the composition book or exercise book, which I've begun using for commonplace books. Not cheap but I really like it! And since I'm planning to keep commonplace books around for the long tern the higher paper quality is ideal!
I love notebooks. I fantasize about being the kind of person that always carries one, that does everything long hand. Oh, how I have tried. For all my efforts and attempts, for all my deep romaticism for paper and pen, it just doesn't seem to work for me. I've tried journaling, keeping a common place book, a variety of pocket notebooks, and the friction point always comes to the bottle kneck of transcibing them into my Evernote. I've finally had to accept that typing directly into Evernote is my best option.
With that being said, I still have great fondness for composition notebooks. In fact, my iPad cover is made to look precisley like one, lol.
For my day job I use Staples' inexpensive Steno Pads. Work supplies them and those fit in my camera bag well. I love the Leuchtuurm1917 notebooks and have one for my personal writing, but completely get that feeling like "this is too nice for me to mess up." I recently got turned on to Tombow pencils so those plus my Leuchtuurm1917 is my go to for relaxation. Clearly I need more vices.
I've also used and been satisfied with Steno pads at times! And yes, vices.
Wow, three weeks to fill a notebook. I don't blame you for considering options. It takes me 9 - 12 months to fill a notebook at work, so I don't mind using the Dingbats* for that purpose. Plus its paper is friendlier to fountain pens.
Just shows that everyone's use case is different.
I expect that I create far more notes than I really need!
I think it's a symptom of PM-itis. Although I'm happy to not have that affliction, I'm glad to work with people who do.
Composition notebooks are my choice. One was waiting for me in the first writing workshop I ever attended, and it’s there I learned to write as a healing practice. Twenty years on and I think the notebook itself is a writing ritual that gets me in the right/write mindset. Plus they are cheap! I use Field Notes for on-the-go writing. My spouse is on a journey with fountain pens and fancy paper notebooks, and I’m enjoying it vicariously.
I bought a fountain pen close to a year ago and it's fun to use it but I limit its use to certain things.
We had to write in fountain pen all through school, so I turned my back on them for years. I use one again now, though, but only for drafting my posts. Part of the writing ritual for me!
In my bullet journal I use a Staedtler pigment liner because of its very light touch on the page (it doesn't indent and cause texture, which would drive me nuts!), and for everyday scribbling (like shopping lists and the like) it's got to be a bog-standard black Bic biro. Woe betide ANYONE who brings a Bic-wannabe into the house - blobby, smudgy biros REALLY get my goat. 🙄
Thanks to Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy I know what a biro is!
I guess you call them 'ballpoint pens' over there?
Indeed!
I agree!! Keep those Bic biros away from me!!! I use fountain pens and Royal Talens sketchbooks with paper that takes both ink and light watercolor gouache washes well. My Royal Talens books are hardback and cost me around 5 dollars. So they don't feel "too pretty to use". And I use them by the dozen 😁
Which things? Fountain pens make writing seem like an event to me. What types of writing make the cut for you?
Mainly my personal journal plus putting entries in my commonplace book.
I love my fountain pens and I both write and draw with them. I use TWSBI pens primarily but also the Sailor Fude pen.
My absolute favorite is the Rhodia A5 dotted notebook, but I recently found a 7-pack of dotted A5s that came in at a much cheaper price with really good quality. These are hardcover instead of the flexible leatherette, but I think I’m enjoying the hardcover more. I only wish they were available in more colors.
My writing output isn't directly equivalent to yours, but if I were to use an all index card set up (standard Oxford 4x6" index cards) I'd be looking at an average of 6,036 cards per year at $0.02574/card for an average of $153.75 a year. It's not the $26.00 per year for composition books, but it's also not nearly as expensive as the more expensive $20-30 notebook habit. 🗃️😁📓
Hi Chris, I remember seeing your writing elsewhere. That's... a lot of index cards. Also, the cost per card is higher than I expected but then again if I ever pay $0.01 per card I should expect lower quality...
Given our overlap of topics, you most likely saw something via https://boffosocko.com/research/zettelkasten-commonplace-books-and-note-taking-collection/. I may have been responsible for you trying out the digital annotation tool Hypothes.is once upon a time?
The price I quoted was for the ubiquitous and inexpensive Oxford index cards and not for the much higher quality Exacompta/Bristol cards which can run up to 10¢ a card or more—they're closer to the fountain pen quality papers you'd find in the higher end notebooks and are manufactured by the a subsidiary of the corporate parent that makes Rhodia/Clairefontaine.
I did try Hypothes.is but forgot about it, might try again.
I remember advice from an art class once, in which the teacher told us the bane of creative expression was making your art too “precious”. That is, by going out and splurging on good quality only, you would produce stiff work because it had to be perfect - otherwise, it was a waste of good paper, right? I think about that advice a lot, be it for writing or art making. Cost aside (and yeah, I wouldn’t use good stock in work notes all the time), use what makes you happy, and don’t be afraid of putting sub-par work on good paper. If Jillian’s newsletter shows us anything, those notebooks become greater than the sum of their parts.
Sometimes I class it up a bit with a Decomposition Book, which is a brand that makes recycled ones with prettier covers (and makes them in spiral binding, which I know you don't like, but which work for me writing on the couch in the morning). I'm sure you know about them but just in case: https://decomposition.com/
(They are too expensive for your volume of work note taking. I'm realizing I might have trouble with Comp Books because they remind me of assigned writing in school?)
I get it, although I don't remember using them in school.
I’ve always secretly loved composition books because they felt very special and grown-up (or upper year student) to me, a little schlub using duotangs and Hilroy notebooks at school. Maybe that’ll be my next work notebook...currently using some Staples house brand spiral notebook which is actually very nice. I comb the notebook section on eWay every time I need to order a new one for work and use that as my experiment in random notebooks.
Ugh... duotangs. And those floppy Hilroy scribblers... they serve a purpose at a certain age but not something I remember with fondness.
A crisp new Hilroy was nice, but they got wrecked so easily!
Great post Mark! Procrastination is real when a Cadillac type notebook is purchased! lol And I believe all shapes and sizes of notebooks have their purpose. Happy your new find is working out great!
Thanks!
I am familiar with Bullet journal books (as in Leuchtturm1917 special editions), but this is the first I’m hearing of Dingbats*! I also first heard about the law of attraction journals today from a YouTube video I was watching not about journals. I am fighting with myself not to buy them as I have a nasty habit of buying beautiful notebooks but refusing to write in them in case I mess up and have to cross something out!
The most I’ve done, and this was years ago, was set one up to be a bullet journal where I used pencil first to be extra neat then traced over it with a fancy ink pen. It was a great relaxing exercise. But when I did the full thing I never used it. What if I started random writing in ink and made a mistake I had to cross out! Like misspell a word! 😫
However, in October I do have something special planned related to my 100 word stories so my fears will have to be tabled at least for one month. I’m also in the market for a smaller sized pocket notebook but as it’s literally just for 31 days I may not splurge and buy a fancy one.
Either way, you’ve managed to remind me about my obsession with journals I spend boat loads of money on but don’t use at 3am! Thanks, Mark!
Yeah, the fear of making a mess is real. Good luck with your work!
Hi Huw, if you read through the comments on this post you might find some ideas!
Makes perfect sense. I try to avoid writing things on loose paper to prevent potential loss but sometimes you just have to grab what's on hand and record your thoughts!