I really like notebooks. And pens. And pencils, and fountain pens and all the stationery related stuff. This post will be all about that, so if that stuff makes you excited like me, then you will enjoy this one.

My love of these things started with the pursuit of romance, as most obsessions do. I was maybe 14 or 15. This would have been around 1996 in central Florida. There was a place called Eckerd Drugs, similar to Walgreens or CVS. I had no need for medication yet at that time, so my friends and I would go there to buy soda and comic books.

There was one particular summer break when I was there with a friend. The store had a few different spinner racks for the comics, and across the aisle I noticed that there was a cute girl that kept smiling at me in between comic pages. She was holding an X-men comic, so obviously we were soulmates.

It took a little while to get up the courage, but I eventually wandered over to the spinner she was in front of and tried to start a conversation. “Oh, you like X-men?”

“Yeah, it’s my favorite!” She seemed excited to talk about it.

“Mine too!” I was hoping she would ignore my squeaky, pre-pubescent voice, “Who’s your favorite character?”

“Jean Grey,” she didn’t even hesitate. Strong female persona, powerful psychic and telekinetic, good choice. “What’s yours?”

“Cannonball, currently. I also really like Bishop and Iceman.” I realize now I should have said Cyclops, who was Jean Grey’s romantic partner. I was too busy working on my marriage proposal to think rationally.

“I’m Jeremy, can I get your phone number?” This was the way of things. No cellphones, pagers existed but they were for lawyers and drug dealers, apparently. It was long conversations on a landline. If you were born after 9/11, you will just have to ask someone from the 1900’s about it.

“Sure, do you have something to write it down?” Her reply changed the course of my life forever. I panicked; I had nothing. No pen or pencil, no paper, not even a receipt. She noticed I was drowning and giggled. Then her mother came over. “Come on, I’m all finished and we’re in a hurry.”

“Ok, let’s go.” She started walking away, taking my hopes with her. As if to give me one last chance, she recited her phone number out loud over her shoulder. I could nearly feel the soundwaves from those numbers bounce uselessly off of my forehead, never to be remembered. Then she was gone. My Jean Grey, lost in the wind. I cried never again would I be unprepared, in a Mickey Mouse-like falsetto.

From that day on, I had a pocket notebook and pen with me almost everywhere. I don’t think I ever got another girl’s phone number, but it became such a useful tool that I still carry one.

Something that falls under the stationery umbrella is journaling. Journaling saved my life. I mean that in the most literal sense of the words. I don’t think I would be here now without that precious habit as a part of my life. There have been times I’ve fallen away from it some, other times I’m more diligent. But it’s always there. The tools are not as precious, but the act itself is. Being able to process things on paper just helps my brain function much better, and in a more positive way.

Let’s get down the nitty gritty. ‘Notebooking’ is one of many ways to organize your life, and there are a hundred ways to implement it. The bullet journal method is a popular way, along with traditional paper planners and agendas.

Journaling and organizing are different, but there is some overlap. Some people have an “everything book” that contains weekly plans and personal reflections. Many people have separate notebooks for everything. My system is usually a pocket notebook for planning/scheduling along with catch-all notes and random thoughts. A larger notebook for journaling.

“I have a pocket notebook, but I don’t know what to put in it.” I’ve seen posts like this in many places. The answer is “everything”. The weather, random thoughts to journal about. Phone numbers, grocery lists. Jokes and observations. A blank page is possibility. It’s adventure.

People see the blank page and get intimidated. “Can’t ruin this nice notebook with my dumb thoughts.” You absolutely can, and I encourage you to ruin it. The barrier for entry for this does not need to be high. That’s something that may keep people away from this. The notebook has to be expensive and nice. The pen has to be perfect. That’s all bullshit.

I believe everyone can, and should, live a life worth writing down. Take the idea of needing golden tools to do it and flush it. Unfortunately, there are snobs that will try to dissuade you from this. I used to need a nice notebook to write in, and nice pens to write with. I was a stationery snob, and I realize that now.

One of the times that I fell out of journaling was during a time when I thought my dumb thoughts would ruin this nice paper. What brought me back into it was a 75-cent spiral notebook and the cheapest pen I could find. Casting aside the need for precious materials helped me remember that the act itself is what’s precious.

Let’s talk pencils. After high school, I didn’t use a pencil for nearly a decade. Why would I? That shit reminded me of algebra. I used to be an artist, but that’s one of the things that “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” I’m currently trying to draw more, my 11-year-old is a great artist and he inspires me. For the longest time, pencils were for children in my eyes.

I joined a Facebook group in 2015(?) called Field Nuts (I’ll explain in a minute). I noticed many people gave a lot of love to pencils, and I didn’t understand it. So I made a post in the group asking why pencils were so popular. The first comment was something like “What kind of pencils have you used?” I replied that I had used whatever cheap dollar store pencils were available. That wonderful person asked for my address and sent me an awesome package. He included a handwritten letter. I still have it. He wrote, “The reason you haven’t been enjoying pencils is because you haven’t been using pencils worth enjoying.”

In the package were a couple of Blackwing pencils, a few Mitsu-Bishi’s (not the car brand), and a few others. He encouraged me to try them out to see what I thought. The pencils were amazing. Dark and buttery smooth on the paper. How have I been missing out on this? As of the current moment, I probably have more pencils than I would ever use in my lifetime.

Fountain pens were next on the obsession list. The problem with fountain pens is that there seem to be way more snobs about it. You can buy a fountain pen for $1000. You can also buy one for $8. The pen snobs will tell you that you have to have a “name brand” pen that costs as much as a car. Again, all bullshit.

I have written with a $600 pen. It feels the same as a $10 pen. Don’t let someone get that expensive nonsense into your head. Even some of the “name brand” pens can be cheap. I have a Pilot Explorer that was $30, and a Lamy Safari that was $20, and a Platinum Preppy that was $8. They all write amazing. I am aware that $30 can be a lot of money for a pen. The value in the fountain pens is the refill ability. There are ink cartridges with certain colors, as well as cartridge converters that let you put whatever color you want in it. There is also a huge market of Chinese pens that are cheap and wonderful to write with.

Fountain pens could take up 10 blog posts, same with notebooks. I’m just trying to give you the basics. There are many YouTube channels about this stuff. Including mine, which I will link at the end. It’s a different vibe than this site, so be aware of that.

Back to notebooks. One of my favorite brands of pocket notebooks is Field Notes. They come in three-packs of 3.5×5 inch notebooks. Each has 48 pages and fit great in a pocket. There are a few outliers in sizes, and they come out with all kinds of fun editions. That’s mostly what I use, but sometimes I’ll have a thicker hardcover one or some other similar brand. The Field Nuts Facebook group is dedicated to them.

When it comes to journaling, or long form writing, I prefer a larger notebook. Usually a size A5, which for the unfamiliar is a bit smaller than a standard composition notebook you’d find in many stores. I like a hardcover, but I’ve been known to dabble in a softcover occasionally. The fantasy novel I’m writing is currently housed in a few composition notebooks.

The act of putting pen (or pencil) to paper gives me joy, and purpose. That’s the point. My favorite part of this whole hobby/habit/obsession is discovering new things that are fun to use. Discovering new things about myself is just a bonus.

A pocket notebook is great for organization, whether you’re trying to organize your week, or just your thoughts. If a larger notebook seems intimidating, then try a small one. There is no wrong way to do this. A thousand people with have a thousand different ways of journaling. My advice; start small. Find or purchase a notebook that makes you happy to look at it. Happy to hold it. Open it to the first page and scribble all over it. First pages can be scary. Then on the next page, put today’s date. Write what you had for breakfast. Write about the weather. Write about the other day when you were in the bathroom at the store and the person in the next stall over had a toilet fart that sounded like a humpback whale.

The mental health benefits from journaling have been scientifically proven. Things are retained better in memory when written by hand. A journal doesn’t have to be perfect or filled with profound philosophies and dark secrets. Perfect journals are boring. Make it yours. Secrets are fine I guess if that’s what you want in there (okay I was the one that had the humpback toilet fart, I’m sorry stall neighbor).

My stationery youtube channel is called The Notebook Nerd.