Sadly, in this photo you see my precious Foglietto (RIP) index cards which I love plotting novels on. This is the time of year my obsession with stationery kicks up in a big way.
What is everyone loving now as the northern hemisphere is going back to school?
No detail is too small. What pens, paper, ink, pencils, erasers, notebooks, stickers, washi and so on do you love now?
I’m a little afraid I’m unleashing something major here, but let’s do this anyway. 😈
I love A5 Stalogy 365s for journalling / note taking on specific topics, and for course notes. I've handwritten zero drafts of novels in unlined extra large Moleskine notebooks. I use A5 Leuchtturm 1917s for free-writing to prompts. And currently I'm using a B5 Stalogy 365 as my novel journal, along with index cards and Scrivener, to write my current novel draft.
You are speaking my language! I love an A5 Stalogy for planning and laying things out. I also keep notes on novels in one. I tend to bundle it together with a couple other notebooks in a cover like a Roterfaden or something from Chic Sparrow to make an ubernotebook. It's all about the smooth paper, right?
Not to my knowledge. I was going to write a post for you on NOT reading but haven’t started yet. (I offered to do a video Introduction to Substack for Writers - for a writers conference - which I just finished yesterday, but the technology of zoom plus PowerPoint plus record nearly did me in!!)
How exciting! That sounds like a great post. And yes- that was our topic, but I’ll just reply to that email and you can see if it was worth waiting for. 🤣
4"x6". Yellow, lined. Perfect for noting down meeting details in an office but somehow they work for me
Oh, and cheap hardbound black lined report books for journals. I've moved on to thicker and slightly prettier journals, but it's like the cheaper the paper product the better the writing.
Oh good! They had a closing sale and I bought a ton, but now they feel precious and I haven’t been using them. Good to know there’s a backup for the moment.
I used to love Post-Its and index cards, but I realized that I was wasting a lot of paper and things got messy after a while. Now I used Trello (digital cards) to capture all my to do items and use Google docs and sheets to write down all my notes and for writing my novels. It's definitely not as cool looking, but it's much more accessible because now I can pull these all up on my phone while I'm in the checkout line at the super market or any other time I'm free.
EVERYTHING! Just walking through a school/office supplies aisle at a store gives me a good feeling. Though I tend to accumulate a majority of post-its, notebooks, and pens.
Agreed- the smell of paper just makes the world feel brighter, right? Which types of post-its, notebooks and pens are you most enticed by? This group is here for all the details!
I love getting the different sized post-its. I have tabs, small, and medium ones of all different colors. And I love playing around with felt tip pens. Though for writing S-gel sharpies all the way!!
post-it tabs are so heavenly. I also love having highlighters the same color as the tabs, especially in paler, more neutral colors. There are all these people on IG who have pics of annotated books and I swoon every time. Felt tip pens are so delicious. They remind me of being a kid because we always had them around and I felt so grown-up using them. That has never gone away. 🤣What- gel sharpies??? I‘m looking this up immediately. 🤯
As a Mum who homeschools I'm afraid I may use that as an excuse to buy ALL the stationary at this time of year! I recently went through our stash and found that I have enough notebooks to school an entire classroom...so obviously I tucked them all away in their box and bought some newer, even prettier ones 🙈😅
Cheapo index cards (though the cardstock seems to get thinner and thinner). All the notebooks obv, the ratty ones for morning dumps and I’ve just discovered Mossery notebook inserts a5 which lie flat - always please! - and have smoother paper than Hobonichi and larger squares (not that I ever keep to the little boxes though am ever hopeful that one day I might lol)
Ahhh the lay-flat binding. How wonderful it is! I also struggle with dreams of very neat writing that stays within the grid, but I never manage that either. 🤣 Having a notebook you can brain dump into freely is everything. 💓
I'm gonna sit back and let the adults talk, cause compared to the kaleidoscope that is your desk, I'm still writing in the black-and-white farmland of The Wizard of Oz.
I adore fountain pens! I have 6 or 7, but only cheapies 😂 I’ve never spent more than £20 on one. One day, I may treat myself to a better brand but for now, I don’t mind a bit of ink on my knuckles!!
I used to use Lamy Safaris for years, but I upgraded and broke the seal. Now I can’t go back. I don’t mind ink on me either- that happens when I refill, but the more expensive pens (not all of them) are smoother on the page. It’s like gliding with no scratch and that is what hooked me.
Pens are the best writing landmark treat- I often get one to mark finishing a book or a major stage of it. My favorites (in price order, least to most expensive) are: TWSBI with rose gold nibs (i prefer the diamond to the eco), Lamy 2000, and Pilot Custom 823 (got this one second hand for a discount and it has a gold nib- gorgeous). Let me know if you want to talk ink… 😍
They're sooooo good. Which is your favorite? I am a diamond 580 lady for the most part, and I tend toward M and B, mostly because it shows more of the sheen in the ink.
Pens, oh how I love thee.... gel ink floating across paper, bright colours (green is favoured to bring thoughts of meadows and trees) between my thumb and fingers. My callous, now, in elder years, an arthritic bump reminds me of my 8-yearold self, as eager then as I still am to put words on the page. In shops, any shop, I found my way to pens, shelf of stationary supplies or cup of discount pens at the till, my parents bought my love with pens, "Better for her than sweets..." My heart drools in the giant box store with long aisles of pens, where other penlovers linger....
Oooh- what did you you like about Designworks so far? I use the newer version of Leuchtturm’s Bullet Journal edition — I prefer the navy blue — for all my teaching / course creation / substack planning needs. Love the paper in those- much thicker and does really well with fountain pens.
Ooh, I haven't tried the newer version. Must give that a go. I really like the thick paper in the Designworks ones, it's really substantial. And I'm enjoying the lines for some reason too.
I love dot grid as well. I am a huge fan of Tomoe River hardcover A5 notebooks. They do a plain and a dot grid in those and I use them for journaling and early novel drafts. The paper is really thin, but with zero bleedthrough. You could dump a bottle of ink on there and it would hold. Plus so SMOOTH. They stopped making them for a year or two and I bought an absurd number, but thankfully they've started production again. I can breathe!
Stationery is a year round obsession for me, I'm always on the lookout for the perfect notebook for a new project!
What are some notebooks that have felt perfect for projects in the past? I’m really curious.
I love A5 Stalogy 365s for journalling / note taking on specific topics, and for course notes. I've handwritten zero drafts of novels in unlined extra large Moleskine notebooks. I use A5 Leuchtturm 1917s for free-writing to prompts. And currently I'm using a B5 Stalogy 365 as my novel journal, along with index cards and Scrivener, to write my current novel draft.
You are speaking my language! I love an A5 Stalogy for planning and laying things out. I also keep notes on novels in one. I tend to bundle it together with a couple other notebooks in a cover like a Roterfaden or something from Chic Sparrow to make an ubernotebook. It's all about the smooth paper, right?
I used to absolutely love a blank notebook. Now an empty document on the screen does the trick but it is definitely not so loveable.
Absolutely can get excited about that, too. It does take up less space. I owe you an email, Ann! ❤️
Not to my knowledge. I was going to write a post for you on NOT reading but haven’t started yet. (I offered to do a video Introduction to Substack for Writers - for a writers conference - which I just finished yesterday, but the technology of zoom plus PowerPoint plus record nearly did me in!!)
How exciting! That sounds like a great post. And yes- that was our topic, but I’ll just reply to that email and you can see if it was worth waiting for. 🤣
Stickies notes. Especially stickie note notepads.
Honestly though, my best writing comes out on random scraps of paper.
Random scraps of paper is where the serious shit goes down. What size sticky note notepads are we talking here…? I am intrigued.
4"x6". Yellow, lined. Perfect for noting down meeting details in an office but somehow they work for me
Oh, and cheap hardbound black lined report books for journals. I've moved on to thicker and slightly prettier journals, but it's like the cheaper the paper product the better the writing.
Oooh- 4x6 is a great size… I can definitely see applications for those. I also like the lack of pressure the cheap paper provides. ✨
Foglietto are making memo cards which are very similar to the index cards
https://www.thejournalshop.com/products/foglietto-memo-cards-go-with-the-flow-deck-of-120-cards?variant=40222992236728¤cy=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=18314565772&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoJa2BhBPEiwA0l0ImNtG_hE-W1RZN3Dcxi1p0PJ13w72Oh_AKw80Xewp6wRt0hxWnBP8XRoCxMwQAvD_BwE
Trying to convince myself that I do not need these in my life!
Bwahahahaha 😈
Ha ha! Me too!
Looks like they are starting to sell out… I think since the company has closed these may be the last available 😢
You’ll find Foglietto in The Journal Shop! I love the autumn deck 🍂
Oh good! They had a closing sale and I bought a ton, but now they feel precious and I haven’t been using them. Good to know there’s a backup for the moment.
I used to love Post-Its and index cards, but I realized that I was wasting a lot of paper and things got messy after a while. Now I used Trello (digital cards) to capture all my to do items and use Google docs and sheets to write down all my notes and for writing my novels. It's definitely not as cool looking, but it's much more accessible because now I can pull these all up on my phone while I'm in the checkout line at the super market or any other time I'm free.
This is an excellent (and much more portable)
option, Ron! Notion has a view similar to trello’s too. 😍
EVERYTHING! Just walking through a school/office supplies aisle at a store gives me a good feeling. Though I tend to accumulate a majority of post-its, notebooks, and pens.
Agreed- the smell of paper just makes the world feel brighter, right? Which types of post-its, notebooks and pens are you most enticed by? This group is here for all the details!
I love getting the different sized post-its. I have tabs, small, and medium ones of all different colors. And I love playing around with felt tip pens. Though for writing S-gel sharpies all the way!!
post-it tabs are so heavenly. I also love having highlighters the same color as the tabs, especially in paler, more neutral colors. There are all these people on IG who have pics of annotated books and I swoon every time. Felt tip pens are so delicious. They remind me of being a kid because we always had them around and I felt so grown-up using them. That has never gone away. 🤣What- gel sharpies??? I‘m looking this up immediately. 🤯
As a Mum who homeschools I'm afraid I may use that as an excuse to buy ALL the stationary at this time of year! I recently went through our stash and found that I have enough notebooks to school an entire classroom...so obviously I tucked them all away in their box and bought some newer, even prettier ones 🙈😅
Hahahahahaha! We get it! (And I suspect everyone here would do the same) 💗💗💗
Love a thin-nibbed Lamy fountain pen with peacock blue ink on thick, creamy, butter-smooth Clairefontaine paper.
I do love a bit of Clairefontaine. So so smooth.
Cheapo index cards (though the cardstock seems to get thinner and thinner). All the notebooks obv, the ratty ones for morning dumps and I’ve just discovered Mossery notebook inserts a5 which lie flat - always please! - and have smoother paper than Hobonichi and larger squares (not that I ever keep to the little boxes though am ever hopeful that one day I might lol)
Ahhh the lay-flat binding. How wonderful it is! I also struggle with dreams of very neat writing that stays within the grid, but I never manage that either. 🤣 Having a notebook you can brain dump into freely is everything. 💓
Leuchtturm Notebooks (the big ones, dotted pages), Lamy fountain pen (I ruined my nice Twisbi 😕) and Noodler‘s Ink Walnut FTW
You need to just get a new TWSBI, man. 😘
I'm gonna sit back and let the adults talk, cause compared to the kaleidoscope that is your desk, I'm still writing in the black-and-white farmland of The Wizard of Oz.
All color schemes are welcome here!
🤣🤣🤣
I adore fountain pens! I have 6 or 7, but only cheapies 😂 I’ve never spent more than £20 on one. One day, I may treat myself to a better brand but for now, I don’t mind a bit of ink on my knuckles!!
I used to use Lamy Safaris for years, but I upgraded and broke the seal. Now I can’t go back. I don’t mind ink on me either- that happens when I refill, but the more expensive pens (not all of them) are smoother on the page. It’s like gliding with no scratch and that is what hooked me.
I’ll maybe seek one of those out as a reward if I sell a 7th short story to People’s Friend magazine! I’ve got 3 LAMY pens and love them 🥰
Pens are the best writing landmark treat- I often get one to mark finishing a book or a major stage of it. My favorites (in price order, least to most expensive) are: TWSBI with rose gold nibs (i prefer the diamond to the eco), Lamy 2000, and Pilot Custom 823 (got this one second hand for a discount and it has a gold nib- gorgeous). Let me know if you want to talk ink… 😍
Ooh, I love a Twsbi.
They're sooooo good. Which is your favorite? I am a diamond 580 lady for the most part, and I tend toward M and B, mostly because it shows more of the sheen in the ink.
I love the ecos, I have 2 with EF nibs and 1 with a fine (each loaded with different colour inks), but have been eyeing up a diamond...
Have you tried the Platinum Preppy range? They're cheap and write beautifully!
Oh my word!!!! Just looked them up and ordered two 🤩 Thanks for that x
It begins!! 🤣
Happy to help 😊
Pens, oh how I love thee.... gel ink floating across paper, bright colours (green is favoured to bring thoughts of meadows and trees) between my thumb and fingers. My callous, now, in elder years, an arthritic bump reminds me of my 8-yearold self, as eager then as I still am to put words on the page. In shops, any shop, I found my way to pens, shelf of stationary supplies or cup of discount pens at the till, my parents bought my love with pens, "Better for her than sweets..." My heart drools in the giant box store with long aisles of pens, where other penlovers linger....
Oooh- this is glorious. I have a big old bump on my right ring finger from pens resting on it my whole life, too. I kind of love it.
Wait, what?! I managed to track some down in London when I was there in February, but is the brand no longer??
(Foglietto, I mean… I realise I don’t say this specifically!)
Sadly yes- they closed in the spring. 😢
😢😢😢
I am still in mourning, honestly.
Pilot G-2 pens in navy blue! I hoard boxes of them. And Leuchtturm notebooks, which are perfect for my fountain pens.
I’m loving those cute corner index cards in your photo! Anything rounded corner > anything sharp corner.
No, no, no. Pilot GP-F-B 0.7. Only ones to use.
🤣🤣🤣The first scuffle in the thread. YES
Isn’t it funny how one’s own pen preferences can be so strong?
It’s a major thing, isn’t it? They are our tools!
I love the rounded corners, too! I hope some other company makes something similar before long.
Any excuse for a new notebook. I used to love Leuchhturms but I've surprised myself recently by going for a fun lined one from Designworks Ink.
Oh, and I always get the urge to buy a new Kaweco fountain pen at this time of year. I've resisted so far...
Oooh- what did you you like about Designworks so far? I use the newer version of Leuchtturm’s Bullet Journal edition — I prefer the navy blue — for all my teaching / course creation / substack planning needs. Love the paper in those- much thicker and does really well with fountain pens.
Ooh, I haven't tried the newer version. Must give that a go. I really like the thick paper in the Designworks ones, it's really substantial. And I'm enjoying the lines for some reason too.
I've always preferred dot grid up until now 🤣
I love dot grid as well. I am a huge fan of Tomoe River hardcover A5 notebooks. They do a plain and a dot grid in those and I use them for journaling and early novel drafts. The paper is really thin, but with zero bleedthrough. You could dump a bottle of ink on there and it would hold. Plus so SMOOTH. They stopped making them for a year or two and I bought an absurd number, but thankfully they've started production again. I can breathe!
Blank notebooks and big note cards. I am obsessed with metal barrel sharpie pens.
Where do you get metal barrel sharpies? Those sound LEGIT.
I love a blank, unlined notebook and some bougie pens: either the archive ink ones or a refillable fountain pen. Love love love!
I cannot get enough of fountain pens 😍
There’s something so luxurious about them, to me at least! And as a historian, I love anything that harks back to a bygone era.
Agreed! Typewriters are magic to have around, too.
Oh my! I love a new pencil case. If only they still did smelly rubbers.
Someone has to do the stinky ones. Anyone have a source?? Pencil cases are excellent!