#i have one regular rollerball pen that i use for writing in my journal

[espytalks]

it’s been a long time since i actually finished a sketchbook, but i counted, and the one i have for watercolors has 9 pages left. hnn i wanna finish it, but man, what should i drawwwww? and also i’d have to get a new one right after i finish it, cause that’s the only paper i have that takes watercolor.

[hunnybadgerv]

Weird writing meme 2,3,4,5

Weird Questions for Writers

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil? I believe that I could. In fact every once and a while I just grab a notebook and write by hand. In fact at the moment I have about 10 handwritten pages in a notebook that need to be transcribed.

Unfortunately, I am not a wizard, though that might be nice.

And when I do write, it is always in pen. I really enjoy The Little Prince MontBlanc pen my brother gave me a few years ago. It's just perfection--weight, movement, and the feel of it.

When writing fiction though, I tend toward rollerballs with colored ink. I have a collection of fountain pens, but I had to set them aside for normal writing because I cannot find converters that hold an adequate amount of ink. It frustrates me when writing by hand to run out of ink on the regular when I'm writing fiction. Thus I lean toward rollerball gel pens when writing fiction long hand.

For journaling, notes, outlines, planning, etc., I will use fountain pens, but currently all my ink is in on the other side of the country. So all my fountain pens are currently empty and resting.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed? I don't currently have a ritual perse.

Though there is a cursed portion, every time I restart my computer I have to restart my Google drive because it is the cloud device I'm storing my Scrivener files to because it is the easiest one to reach on both my desktop and my laptop. If I don't reconnect Google Drive every time I restart, Scrivener cannot find the drive with the files and has a moment.

This fall, I will be trying to reclaim the ritual of writing early in the morning. I'll be going back to waking at 5 am to get a shower, dressed, and then write while having breakfast and coffee/tea. It is likely that the cursed portion will be my inability to want to wake up in the morning. I also know that the mornings will be the only time when I can focus on writing--I already know for certain that after a day at school I'm completely useless really in the afternoon.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral? I'm not sure I have a word like that. I know some people feel it is moist. I mean the only words that make me cringe internally are brussel sprouts, but that is because they inspire a visceral disgust, and has less to do with the word and more the thing.

I've been through moments with certain words when I was uncomfortable with them. But for a long time I've taken the George Carlin approach. Words are a collection of phonemes combined in such a way as to garner a prescribed response. The word is just the word, a lot of times the connotation and the negative views of a word are dictated by society, experience, and culture.

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true? All my first drafts are trash and if I post them I'll never get back to revising them properly. And it is 100% true. I'm currently stumbling through my Scrivener files and finding things that were written ages ago (like 5+ years in some cases). I marked a note that they were posted on Tumblr in the draft stage and they never were touched again. Though they needed the revision.

Some of the things that I've been posting of late have been new things written at the beginning of July and a few have been things I found just chilling in a drive unpublished and ignored for quite some time.

I would say it's true because the evidence is blatant.

I'm not sure if I have other superstitions. I mean I have thoughts that I cling to. You can fix anything on revision. Just write it, even if it is bare bones.

[leupagus]

My Stationery Box, or: The Douche Chest, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Being A Terrible Parody Of Myself

So I really love to write letters, and have since i was a kid — when i cleaned out my grandparents’ house I found a few I’d written in grade school, and my parents’ files are chocablock full of the weird collage type things I sent to them in college. 

I’ve also been a huge insufferable fucking snob about stationery since way too young (yes I did have a fountain pen phase, no it did not go well) and have been collecting fancy paper and cute cards and assorted weird writing paraphernalia forever. Up until recently, things were just kind of haphazardly stuffed in various drawers and shelves and I could never actually find any said fancy shit when I wanted it; but a couple of months ago I discovered an adorable little chest of my late mom’s that had previously housed, I think, her knitting and has mostly just been collecting dust since. And voila: The Douche Chest was born:

(Pictured with my elderly laptop and coffee with my coffee warmer, which I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE everyone to buy one day when we’re not under worldwide quarantine, seriously it will change your life.)

Keep Reading for some top tier stationerdery

First off, the stuff that helps me write! I still use my family address book, which was purchased sometime in the early 80s and has the name and address of everyone my parents ever cared enough about to want their name and address, which is actually not that many people. I keep it updated and have added a few people, but mostly rely on my phone’s address book. Mostly I like it because it’s got a lot of my mom’s handwriting.

My planner, which has a whole correspondence section where I keep a record of who I write to regularly, when I write to them, and what kind of stationery they usually get (because there are different types and you don’t want to give a correspondence an inconsistent letter-reading experience! Yes I know, I can’t believe I’m like this either) indicated by the m, s, x, l, b notations. That will be relevant later. Also yes the planner is where I scribble down both story ideas and my gratitude journal. This is what I’m saying in re: yikes.

At my own house, I have a whole huge box of letters I’ve gotten over the years, mostly organized by sender and date. Since I’m at my aunt’s house for quarantine, my correspondence is all being kept in my dad’s old... I dunno what to call it, basically it’s a trapper-keeper type thing that I literally never saw him go to work without. (A running theme of this tour is that a whole lot of this stuff is inherited from/given to me by my parents and grandparents.) Inside is also various labels that have come in handy when addressing packages etc, as well as our local neighborhood directory.

Next up is my pen bag, which is — I mean, it has my pens. I prefer writing with a black .5 tip rollerball type pen, and by “prefer” I mean “I cannot abide writing letters with anything else and will go to Staples and buy a new box rather than use a ballpoint pen except obv not right now, which makes the bag real important for keeping track of all my special pens.” Also pictured: my grandpa’s ancient letter opener that I’m pretty sure he stabbed multiple people with, and my blue Le Pen which I use to annotate my letters when I’m reading them through before sending. I KNOW.

This is my assorted letter-writing stuff storage box (no we’re not even at the cards yet this is TERRIBLE); please note that I sort of jerryrigged this box together myself, which will be another running theme of this tour. Glue, roller whiteout thingies, washi tape (which I don’t really use but people keep sending me?) post-its and my address stamp because no matter what I do, the fuckin’ Audubon Society refuses to send me a single donation request with cute stickers showing my address even though they’ve sent my deceased dad like three THIS YEAR. Anyway. Also please note the incredibly awesome initial stamp thing — I came up with the rough design in college and use it in place of my name a lot, but I went to leoniebunch and they transformed it into this super professional and lovely design that I want to use for the rest of my life. Not pictured: the fucking wax seal I also had made with that design, because yes, I’m like this.

WE’RE STILL NOT DONE WITH THE PARAPHERNALIA: here’s the other misc. stuff that I use on the regular. Cup with sponge because we’re not really licking envelopes these days: tons of weird stickers that I’ve collected, YET MORE PENS, including rainbow ones because one of these days I’m going to write to one of my friends with alternating rainbow colors and they’ll have to murder me. Also pictured: the letter opener which I forgot to put back in the pen bag, as well as my dog’s nail clippers and brush because that’s a handy place to keep them. Also also pictured: my dog, who does not help in any way with letter writing.

OKAY FINALLY ONTO THE STATIONERY, Jesus just writing this all out is making me both proud and ashamed.

I’m sure you noticed in the first pic how everything is meticulously, not to say monomaniacally, labeled. Some stuff might require a little bit of explanation; some stuff is pretty wysiwyg though. For example, BEAR CARDS, which:

(These are sent exclusively to my nephews, who go absolutely apeshit over them every time. Come to think of it, I have a LOT of cards/letter stock/etc that is just for one person or one set of people, which maybe I should talk to my therapist about.)

PUN CARDS are likewise exactly what you think they are; they’re the most recent addition to my hoard, having found them at Powells when I went to Portland in February. They are extremely My Kind Of Thing.

Then you’ve got things like BIRTHDAY CARDS, THANKS, POSTCARDS which like — guess what:

(Please note that of these birthday cards, all but two were actually inherited from my grandmother who passed away in 1986. See if you can guess which two are my purchases.) (Also I’m running out of thank-you cards but to be fair I am rarely grateful so this should last me another few years at least.) (Also shit, I didn’t take a picture of the postcards I don’t think? Whatever, they’re postcards that I’ve either inherited from my parents or collected over the years. There’s also a very odd collection of wolf-themed cards that SOMEONE in my family collected, and that I have been using exclusively for allighater because she’s the only one who could ever appreciate them enough.)

Then there’s the BLANK CARDS and BLANK AND WRITTEN CARDS WITH/WITHOUT ENVELOPES, because sometimes I just need to know what I’m getting into before opening the boxes. I’d say a good 50% of these were inherited from my folks, with the cutsier ones being my own purchases. The cards that these boxes originally contained are looooooooong since used up but they’re nice boxes and that meme about adulthood being an endless debate over whether or not you should keep a box because it’s a really good box is accurate as all hell. 

(There are a lot of cards in here that I bought when I was like, in college — those square ones, for example, were purchased at Faces in Northampton when I was in college and I’m probably never going to actually send them which is kind of ridiculous but see: this entire post.)

And finally, the actual letter-letter stationery! Which I also have an embarrassing amount of! First up is what’s labelled MADOC TREE CARD/LETTER because I honestly had no idea how else to describe it; it was inherited from my grandma who everyone called MaDoc (on account of her being both a ma and a doctor, go figure) and it’s really lovely. I doubt it’s the original intention, but I like to unfold the paper and use both sides of it, because I always have a lot to say. These are used only for family members on MaDoc’s side, and of those, only the ones I really like, which accounts for there still being a lot left.

Then there’s the X-LARGE paper, which isn’t actually that large — it’s just normal computer-sized — but in context is the biggest stuff I’ve got. All of this paper is from my mom, who loved using cute themed paper, and I use this stuff mostly for the friends of hers I keep in touch with (which is actually kind of a lot).

Then there’s the letterhead I use for — okay, so like, we know by now that I’m deeply weird, but this is probably just DEEPLY WEIRD, but whatever, you came this far. So I found a metric shitton of 6 3/4 envelopes in amongst my parents’ office supplies — I have literally zero idea why they had about 5 100-count boxes of these envelopes but I’m one of those people who can never, ever throw shit out, so! I gathered together all the letterhead that they’d also collected over the years from the various universities and hospitals they worked at, cut said letterhead down so that it a) didn’t have University of Tacoma or whatever still on it and b) perfectly fit a 6 3/4 envelope if folded three times. The resulting shape is a little... odd, I’ll admit, but it pleases me greatly and that’s the important thing. In fact this has been my go-to correspondence choice for a couple of months now.

(Also pictured: the cover for this hinky-ass box I made out of a Beekman 1802 box from when we went to their store for their Rose Apothecary popup shop. Zero regrets. Not pictured: the really cute pad of paper I also use for these envelopes that’s a more normal size and shape because where’s the fun in showing you normal stuff?)

And finally, my pride and joy, my Crane Stationery, some of which I have had since I was in high school and my mom bought me a box of it for my birthday (I told you, running theme). It comes in small, medium, and big; yes, I absolutely have rules as to who gets what size of these, too. The medium box kind of fell apart a few years ago so I cobbled a new one together; Crane stationery is notable for not being as exciting as that cover might imply. I’m also kind of pleased that I still have the airmail stationery that I got in college that apparently isn’t sold anymore, which I find baffling because what the fuck is the point of international correspondence if you don’t have to use special stationery? Anyway:

(In re: the lined sheets — I actually have them for every size, because I loathe lined paper but also loathe writing crooked, hence these guides that I put under each sheet as I write. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

So that’s the complete guided tour! If you aspire to have a collection as viscerally unnerving as mine, feel free to send any questions my way. You’re welcome/I’m sorry.

[optomstudies]

I want to make a bullet journal because I need to get my life organized, but I'm a little lost on where to start. The first thing to get would be a bullet journal and a couple of fine-tip coloured markers, right? Do you have any reliable brands you could recommend, or do you have a tag you could direct me to for beginners?

Bullet Journal Notebook Recommendations

Hey there! It depends on what type of paper you’d like, but if you’re going for the traditional 5mm dotted paper, I would recommend the Leuchtturm1917 books as they are a good size, and the paper is better than the Moleskeins. Other than that, any notebook with good quality paper will do, you could go with branded name ones like Rhodia, or you can go generic and just go to the local stationery store and feel the paper to see if it’s thick enough. Generally, if the paper feels close in thickness to regular printer paper which is 80 gsm (grams per square metre or whatever the equivalent conversion would be in America) then it’s good paper that won’t bleed. If you’re not too bothered by the actual “notebook” format, then the paper that Muji sells as repacks for their binders is honestly soooooo smooth, I was surprised at how well all of my pens wrote on it, even cheaper ones. 

Fineliner Recommendations

As for fineliners, I like the Staedler Triplus coloured markers and Muji pens (either 0.38 or 0.5mm are my preferred thicknesses), which are great for writing as they create quite fine lines. They don’t tend to bleed through the paper either. Kikki K pens are good too if you have that in America, though I have to say that the pen is a bit wobbly because the hole at the bottom of the pen that lets the nib through is wider than the actual pen nib, so I had to get some sticky tape and wrap it around the pen nib a few times before reinserting it into the outer holding “shell��. The Muji one is far better in terms of stability since there is no wobble as the pen nib is designed for the shell. I don’t really like the Stabilo 88s as they bleed too much and are too thick - they’re more like felt tip pens in that sense. I used to also use Uniball Rollerball pens as well, which are quite reliable, though they tend to smudge a bit. 

Generally, if you want a premium writing experience then try not to cheap out, I would say premium paper is the most critical factor. But it’s also true that a pen is a pen and paper is paper, so don’t feel pressured by studyblrs to get expensive items. 

Planner Recommendations: If Bullet Journalling is Not For You… 

Also the thing is that occasionally you’ll try bullet journalling and find it too time consuming to draw out spreads, in which case I recommend the Muji planner. I would’ve considered purchasing it had I not already purchased a Kikki K planner. Has the minimalism look that many people like, has monthly pages, and also the weekly spreads have one side with 7 days of the week, and the other page grid paper for your trackers and the like, which is sort of like a Midori, but with more space available. Best to get the one with the vinyl cover to prevent stains and give a degree of water protection. 

I also have considered purchasing a Hobonichi Techo Planner (this is the English A6 version of the Hobonichi Techo Original) as this is day to page, has a grid format and also has 12 o’clock annotated alongside a meals symbol. Smaller format is more portable, and is a good tradeoff for the day to page minimalistic format. 

In terms of Kikki K, they also have a great variety of planners that are aesthetically super cute, but the one that is the most functional is the Inspiration Diary which has a yearly as well as quarterly goals and planning sections and several other cool pages, the weekly format as you can see below has a section for top 3 priorities, a to do list, a weekly goals section, dialy gratitude and dinner planner as well as space for up to 3 habits, all pre-planned. I would honestly have bought this were it in stock earlier. 

Hope that helps! ^__^