To use a bound book or an insert? Or both?
My box of blank A6 notebooks for use in my TN.
I’ve been in a bit of a creative rut lately. It’s been an exhausting summer in both the personal and professional aspects, so I have been leaning on journaling quite a bit. There is something soothing about pen, ink, and paper. This year I have been working through several thicker notebooks and haven’t been drawn to inserts (which was my primary notebook style last year).
I’m currently within the last dozen or so pages of the A6 Stalogy that I started back in May. I consider this quite a feat, considering that it would be the third Stalogy that I cracked open and the first one that I will actually fill up all of the way. It also means that I will be needing to swap out notebooks soon. Being a stationery enthusiast, this offers me up a lot of choices. I keep a box of A6 notebooks in a box for use in my TN. I have quite a few different brands as well as notebooks that I have made from different papers I have collected.
Very full TN. From top to bottom: A6 Sterling Ink Common Planner, A6 Paper Penguin Tomoe River paper insert, A6 Stalogy.
Basically, it’s a lot of choices. The only constraint is that it needs to fit inside my TN which has a roughly 2 inch spine without the notebooks hanging outside the edges. My planner stays in it, which takes up about a 1/2 inch of space. I also have recently added a Lauren Phelps Vinyl TN Cover, which I am essentially using as a pocket folder for my stickers, washi cards, loose papers, and anything else I might be carrying around. With a notebook the size of the Stalogy, there isn’t a whole lot of room for much else. I could fit 4 to 5 inserts in the space that the Stalogy takes up.
A view of the clear TN “cover” from Lauren Phelps Designs. It has two exterior full length pockets, two interior full length pockets, and 4 card size pockets. I’m really glad I finally got one. It looks like she recently redesigned it to have 6 pockets instead of 8.
This is where the decision making comes in. Do I choose one thick notebook or do I choose several smaller inserts that have a variety of papers to play with? Sometimes I just grab whatever I’m feeling like in that moment, but I decided to consider what I am wanting out of a notebook at the moment.
The pros of thick notebooks:
They can get delightfully fluffy as they fill up with words and ephemera.
I get to spend more time with the book, and really getting a feel for the paper and ruling style.
I don’t hesitate to use stickers I’ve been holding onto on the cover, since I will usually spend 3-4 months with the notebook.
It’s incredibly satisfying to work through a large notebook and then see it all filled up at the end.
The pros of inserts:
I don’t feel as precious about them and am more likely to write anything and everything in them. I can also cut out pages or take them apart if I decide I need to reuse the untouched pages.
I can fit more of them in my TN, which gives me options for paper choices. I usually can complete one before I get bored of the paper experience.
I can have a different notebook for different purposes.
The cons of thick notebooks:
They take me months to fill up and sometimes I get bored with the notebook/paper and find myself not reaching for it to write.
Due to their higher cost per notebook sometimes I wonder if my use befits the cost. (It’s a thought process that I am really working on - no ideas or scribbles are bad ones, and using the nice notebook is always worth it).
Takes up a lot of TN real estate.
The cons of inserts:
I can get caught up in keeping information in only one notebook versus another one and find myself judging if something is “worth” putting in that insert.
Get decision paralysis over which one to use for what, or which one I want to write in that day.
Three to four inserts versus a bound book.
Another element is if I’m willing to set aside the notebook if I’ve only filled in a few pages (or even half in the case of a thick notebook) to pick up later when I’m feeling that book again.
With all of those aspects in mind I have decided that I am really wanting smooth writing experiences right now, less grippy paper is going to be a winner. That rules out some of the less absorbent papers in my collection, as they can make even the smoothest nibs be a little catchy. I also want something that is really going to show off ink properties since I’ve been playing with some of the wilder inks in my collection lately.
Ultimately, I’ve decided to go with both a thick notebook and an insert. The Paper Penguin book that I mentioned earlier is sticking around and the second is going to be another thick book, an A6 Sterling Ink 520 page notebook. This one has been sitting in my notebook box for about a year just waiting to be plucked up and used. I’ve added some very fun stickers to both and they are just waiting in the wings for when the Stalogy runs out. Hopefully, the tomoe river paper will keep me entertained for the next several months.
Notebook waiting in the wings with some stickers I’d been hanging onto. The Al”beer”ta sticker was from a brewery in Banff, Alberta and it makes me smile every time I look at it. And the stationerdy sticker from Amarillo Stationery is just too cute.
Currently Inked
Diamine Lavender Frost - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo B ‘imperial’ - One of the Inkvent 2023 inks. Lavender Frost is a gray leaning purple with silver shimmer. I decided to ink it up because I was curious how it would compare to FWP Purple Jade Rabbit. They ultimately look nothing alike, completely different shades of purple. The only thing they have in common is the silver shimmer. This ink is a little more somber than I was looking for this week, but I think it will definitely be worth revisiting in the fall when a moody purple fits right in.
Robert Oster x Endless Pens Ghost - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K BB CSI - This ink got a partial refill this week because I was enjoying it so much. The longer I’ve been using it shows that it has a dark, but warm gray undertone, which is a color I really enjoy. Gray inks have been getting a lot more attention from me in the last year and a half or so, and this is definitely a good entry in my gray collection.
Diamine Velvet Emerald - Kaweco liliput copper M stub - This ink also got a refill this week because I was enjoying the way it looked on the page. It carried me through quite a few journal entries with its dark jewel tones.
Wearingeul 1984 - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - Almost finished with this fill. I plan on swapping out for another ink, but 1984 will be an ink I will revisit. It’s such a moody deep red and the red shimmer just makes it all the more interesting.
