Choosing a notebook and pen for journaling

There is a well-observed pattern in this hobby and it is worth naming before any specification. Somebody decides to start journaling, buys a handsome hardbound notebook, and then cannot bring themselves to write anything ordinary in it. The first page stays blank for a fortnight. Then the notebook goes in a drawer, and the conclusion drawn is about journaling rather than about the notebook.

The practical response is to buy something you are comfortable ruining. A cheap notebook you fill is worth more than an expensive one you protect, and you can buy the expensive one for volume two once you know what you actually want from it.

The cheapest thing that works

Any notebook and any pen

The upgrade that matters

Paper weight, if you use inkEverything else is preference.

What to buy first

Something you would not mind wasting

When to buy the nice one

Volume two

• Paper weight, in gsm — Grams per square metre. Ordinary notebook paper is 70–90gsm and will show through and often bleed with fountain pen or heavy ink. 100gsm is noticeably better; 120gsm and above is comfortable with almost anything. This is the only specification worth paying for.
• Ruling — Lined for straightforward writing; dotted for people who want structure without lines showing; blank for sketching or for anybody who finds lines constraining. There is no better option, and switching between volumes is a cheap experiment.
• Binding — Sewn bindings lie flat and survive; glued ones crack and shed pages. Spiral lies flattest of all and catches on everything in a bag. This decides whether the notebook is pleasant to write in, particularly if you are left-handed.
• Size — A5 is the common compromise. Pocket sizes get carried and therefore used; larger ones stay at home and get more written per sitting. Which matters depends entirely on when you actually write.
• Page count — A thinner notebook gets finished, and finishing one is unexpectedly motivating. A 400-page journal is a commitment before you know whether you want to make it.

1. 1

   Step 1: Start with what is in the house

   Any notebook, any pen, for two weeks. The point is to find out whether you journal at all before optimising how.

   You will know it worked when: You know whether there is a habit to equip.

2. 2

   Step 2: Notice what actually annoyed you

   Show-through? The book not staying open? Too big to carry? Each of those points at one specification and no others.

   You will know it worked when: A purchase driven by a problem rather than by a review.

3. 3

   Step 3: Buy for that one thing

   Heavier paper, sewn binding, smaller format. One change at a time, so you learn what it did.

   You will know it worked when: A notebook that fixes your problem rather than somebody else’s.

4. 4

   Step 4: Only then consider the pen

   Pens are the fun purchase and the least consequential. Almost any pen works on good paper; almost none work well on bad paper.

   You will know it worked when: Money spent where it changes the experience.