I don’t like writing by hand. It’s slow, it’s clunky, it’s not indexable or searchable, it consumes physical materials, and requires physical space. Digital note-taking, though, isn’t automatically better. I used to save drafts, links, images, and whatever else on OneNote and it was fast, but it became pure chaos of random things kinda-categorized-but-not-really, and finding stuff was a nightmare. Nowadays I do still save some important information on the computer, in a modded Emacs running org-mode (which is incredible, but also a nightmare). However, I transferred my random note-taking to physical notebooks, and it’s been awesome.

In any case, I did have a pocket notebook in the past, though, although it was as a mess as my OneNote later became. But I had forgotten how much freedom you have to plot, scratch, and rewrite stuff — basically, develop an idea while also keeping its developmental history recorded. And this is important because you will definitely, later down the line, think “Hm, maybe I should try this instead of that”, completely forgetting that you already tried it and didn’t work. Someone might say “Hey, software editors can save different versions and have auto-backup”, and they would be correct, but alt-tabbing documents or using diff or whatever to see what changed is not the same as re-reading what you wrote in the past and see how the whole thing developed.

What I want to say is, having a chronological registry of the development tickles the brain in another way, at least for me.

I decided to go back to paper because I have many projects (or, at least, project ideas) I want to do and writing digital notes about them didn’t really feel like I was making progress. The process was basically thinking really hard about something, writing a few lines, then thinking hard again, a few more lines, then thinking about how some things connect and creating internal links for them and so on. It was slow, required a lot of energy, and most stuff never went past the basic stage because I had to keep the development history in mind and instantly recall it by reading their most up-to-date writing.

The iterative aspect of developing an idea wasn’t that fun or practical.

On paper, though, I just instantly write what I’m thinking, as if I’m explaining the idea to myself, and then, when it seems that I arrived at a good spot or conclusion or whatever, I write it down again in a more concise manner and highlight that part in some way. Now, if I spend a few days or weeks away from the project and have to go back, I don’t need to remember everything from memory because the logic that led to that conclusion is written nearby.

Another advantage is being able to freely draw diagrams or other stuff instead of fiddling with digital drawing tools and fighting against the application. I use only one pen, of one color, with my terrible calligraphy, but it’s way better than any digital equivalent. I don’t really know how to express the sensation, but it somehow feels more… holistic? It feels easier to find what I want instead of having to filter and search digital archives, even if I have to go back and forth between a few pages until I find it.

Now, this physicality of the interaction is one of the things I didn’t know that I missed. I don’t like writing stuff by hand but, at the same time, the feeling of the pen scraping the paper, the feeling of flipping through reams of paper, it all feels very… soothing, I guess, or relaxing in some way. Digital interaction can be very practical, but the lack of proper feedback from handling stuff seems to cause some sort of disconnect, at least for me.

Again, I don’t like writing stuff by hand, but the overall experience has been pretty positive nonetheless.

I must confess, though, that I spent quite a bit more money than expected on this. It sounds very superficial and weirdly specific, but using the right kind of pen and the right kind of paper can wildly change how pleasant or enjoyable the experience can be. I don’t mean to say that the most expensive stuff is the best but, sometimes, it’s worth checking out if the extra money translates into a better experience or not. I play guitar, for example, and my 300eur Squire Jazzmaster feels more comfortable and “at home” to me than a more expensive Gretsch I had and sold a few years ago. I still had to buy and play the Gretsch for a while to find out that it wasn’t for me (although it was a magnificent instrument and I begrudgingly sold it, because I would’ve loved to keep it as a decorative piece to admire every once in a while).

Sometimes, a different brand, a different tactile feedback, a different “feel”, is all that you need to feel inspired to use what you have, or how to better take advantage of the items at your disposal. This is true for musical instruments, cars, bicycles, clothes, glasses, and yes, pen and paper.

So, this is what I’ve been using.

These are Leuchtturm A5 notebooks. They are not the cheapest, but are far from the most expensive. As one might notice from the name, they are German products and, so far, I’ve been loving the paper they use. It seems weird to say that, right? But it’s true. These notebooks feel high-quality, and they definitely seem pretty durable. I bought them to be used, and they are slowly getting beaten up, but still holding up nicely, unlike your typical school notebook, for example. And the paper, being high-quality, will last for a long time, which is what everyone should want from notebooks that will be used to document projects.

Leuchtturm notebooks have 2 bookmarks, numbered pages, and an empty index at the start. The green one from the photo is a hardcover and has 251 pages, enough to track two projects (for me, at least), with the second project starting at page 127. The project I’m working on my “devlog” category, for example, is first “developed” in this notebook, then I summarize the current idea on Emacs, and then I prototype it on Twine. It’s all working great so far.

(The other project in this notebook is older, but I won’t talk about it because I don’t know if it will ever be made.)

The black notebook is a softcover with 123 pages. I don’t really do “journaling”, but I found it useful to write important stuff or decisions regarding my life there so I can consult them at a later date (or remind me why I didn’t do something I thought I should’ve done). If I need to make a big decision about something, I “think out loud” here first. It’s like… how most people use microblogging nowadays, but without the risk of a billionaire ruining the experience or feeding what you write to a machine that will regurgitate aspects of your life to strangers.

All in all, both notebooks have been pretty useful, and the pens there are also part of the experience. Again, it might sound picky or unnecessarily expensive, but I never enjoyed writing with ballpoint pens and such: you have to force them against the paper, the tips are too thick for my writing, the ink can smudge very easily, and so on. I also don’t like fountain pens — the default choice for many people using these kinds of notebooks — for similar reasons, even though the experience of using them is miles ahead of the ballpoint ones. What I have here is a Staedtler Fineliner on the green notebook, and a Copic Multiliner on the black one, both with a 0.3 tip and black ink.

The Staedtler is so cheap that I bought 5 at once, and they are awesome and will probably last many years. The ink dry as soon as it hit the paper, and the felt tip doesn’t require any pressure for it to flow. If you keep it pressed against the paper, it won’t continually release ink, which is another advantage. This pen also just glides over most papers made for writing, which is awesome, but it has a bit of resistance against the Leuchtturm, almost like it’s scratching the paper, which is annoying. Because of that, I bought the second pen.

The Copic Multiliner is expensive, way more than it can be justified, but it’s been the best pen I ever bought in my life. Unlike the Staedtler, I sometimes have to put some pressure on it and, if I write too fast, it seems the tip dries for a bit. Still, this pen glides even more over almost any kind of paper. Some people like a bit of friction — not me, though.

It’s worth mentioning that both pens were created for sketching artists, which helps explain some of their properties, including the fact that they are water-resistant, meaning they won’t easily smudge or run off if the paper gets wet. Their kind of ink is great for archival purposes too, so whatever you write using them should last over a lifetime (which can be good or bad, I guess).

Now, this whole thing got me kinda excited to use notebooks for various stuff, but one of their disadvantages is that they occupy physical space. To be honest, this actually made me focus on the few things I have at hand, instead of starting even more projects as they pop up in my head (and are dully annotated on my black notebook), but I would still like to have some sort of easier way to organize everything. Well, here enter the “traveler’s notebooks”.

Which, I should say, are just fancy binders.

I know that because I bought one.

This thing here is one of the “original recent trend-setters”, made by a Japanese company using leather made in Thailand. It’s kind of a leather cover where you bind booklets using elastic bands inside, and there are tons of people selling handmade ones on Etsy. It’s, like, a stupidly simple concept… but at the same time, it’s awesome. I mean, how cool does that thing look?

People usually call this a “system”, but I think it’s overkill: it really is just a fancy binder. However, like I said before, it does inspire its use way more than plastic covers with metal clasps on perforated paper. You can buy “refills” — which are nothing more than specific booklets — to put inside and, when they are filled up, you remove, archive them, and put new empty ones. What is annoying about the one I have is that it doesn’t use a standard paper size, so it’s not as easy to find booklets for it. Being the one that (apparently) inspired the trend, though, there are tons of people selling off-market “refills” of great quality. I should note the original ones aren’t that expensive and, if you consider the page value for the price, it’s cheaper than the Leuchtturm notebooks.

Now, the official “refills” use Midori paper, which is made in Japan and has a “special formula”. I don’t know what they do to it, but it does feel great: my Staedtler pen, which “scratches” against Leuchtturm paper, just glides over the Midori, and the Copic pen literally feels buttery smooth — almost like spreading butter over a piece of hot bread.

I know it sounds weird, but it’s true.

In any case, the advantage of this kind of notebook is to be able to have 3 or 4 smaller notebooks into one, and each “section” is easily interchangeable after it’s filled, making it all perfect for organizational purposes. I’m still using my Leuchtturms and will only stop after both are filled, but the leathery binder is already set for other stuff.

To be honest, despite the non-standard format, I really enjoy using it, it easily fits into my pockets and it’s easier to hold and write when you don’t have a stable surface compared to A5 notebooks. However, I still enjoy using standard formats because, well, they are standard. I don’t like proprietary technology.

Searching for alternatives I found out about the Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter, which not only accepts A5 notebooks, but also uses their own metal clamp system that can hold almost any kind of A5 and A5-adjacent notebook without damaging or requiring any sort of perforation. In a Taschenbegleiter, I could fit my current Leuchtturms and my Traveler’s Notebook, which would be awesome. The issue is that they cost 150eur or more (probably because they are handmade in Germany and the clamp system is proprietary and apparently also made in Germany). I’m still debating with myself if I should save some money to buy one or not, but that’s a decision for next year anyway. Etsy also offers some alternatives to it, with most being way cheaper, but the clamp system is definitely easier to use and, so far, seems to last 10+ years according to some stories.

So, in short, physical notebooks are awesome. If you want to start a project but it’s always stalling, procrastinating, or doesn’t feel very rewarding to work on it, try buying a physical notebook, a good pen, and see if it does something for you. And remember: it doesn’t have to be expensive, a lot of people just make do with a cheap pocket notebook and a ballpoint pen — I’m just a sicko with very specific tactile feedback desires that led me to this rabbit hole.

And I hate working on touchscreens.