Writing Wednesday: Pens and Notebooks

Over the last year or so I’ve been trying to add a bit of analogue to my largely digital workflow. I’ve been thinking of it a bit like adding a tube-stage to a DAC, but unlike the largely impressionistic world of audiophile, there seems to be a growing body of research backing the idea that reading paper books, writing with pens, and keeping paper notebooks actually helps with retention, comprehension, and cognition. 

Last year, I got into the habit of writing in a 6 x 9 Leuchtturm 1917 notebook like your average hipster. After experimenting with a bunch of “beginner” fountain pens, I found the LAMY Safari the best match for me in terms of price, appearance, and ergonomics. Since my hands are slightly arthritic and I’m prone to a bit of tendonitis in my right arm, having a pen that I can write with for 30-45 minute stretches is important. The friction and paper feel offered by the LAMY nib and the faceted barrel has made me want to hand-write more.

After writing about 100 pages in my 6×9 notebook, though, I discovered that the 6×9 side was less than ideal. The pages felt cramped and because I was writing with a fountain pen, I found there was a bit of blotting and smearing when I turned pages. My A6-size travel notebook only compounded this problem. It was very difficult to use with a fountain pen. The pages in both notebooks were just too small.

At the same time, I started to write a bit in a A4 Fabriano EcoQua Dot Grid Note Pad given to me by Kostis Kourelis. I love this paper, but it isn’t really a notebook, but a note pad (as the name suggests) meaning that the pages come out. I’ve also experimented with an 8.5 x 11 ledger notebook (that I found in my dad’s office). It’s one of those old faux-leather covered notebooks with green lined paper that seemed so ubiquitous a generation or two ago. Neither of these are ideal, but the size works. So now I’m looking for a larger (either B5 or even A4 or 8.5 x 11) notebook.

Since the problem was largely using a fountain pen in these smaller notebooks, I also started to look for a ball point pen that was better suited for not only small, smudge-prone, notebooks but also for air-travel since fountain pens are not great for writing in uncontrolled environments (and don’t love the changes in pressure on airplanes). My beloved Zebra z-grip pens have started to hurt my hands and arm. A few people recommended a pen with a bit more weight. Over the last week, I’ve purchased a Caran d’Ache 849 Metal ball point pen and a Leuchtturm 1917 brand Drehgriffel Writing Pen. Both were affordable and seemed reasonable entry level ball point pens. I’ll report how these work!

The last problem that I have with writing in notebooks is how do I integrate this with my largely digital workflow oriented around Obsidian, Zotero, and my morning writing discipline. Digitizing notebook pages is easy enough with a phone and OCR technology has made it possible to search handwritten notebook pages (and perhaps even add tags to them). I’ve not necessarily come up with a way to make this process seamless without using something like Evernote (and another subscription and another ecosystem). If you have thoughts about how to go from paper notebooks to indexed digital files (based on the scanned notebook pages), I’m interested!