The Practicals Of Writing: Paper And Pens

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.

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.

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