Notebook Perfection

NoteBook Stories, which is probably my favorite stationery-themed blog (and yes, I subscribe to quite a few), started a discussion about the perfect notebook. I’m chatty, so I decided to make it a separate post.

When it comes to diaries, which are my primary use for notebooks, I require it to be hardcover and spiral-bound. I will use hardcover/book-bound or softcover/spiral, but they are not my preferred style. The more pages and the more narrowly ruled the better. I write a lot, so it’s not worth it to me to use a diary with only a couple dozen lines per page – and my handwriting is too messy to write multiple lines of text per line on the page.

I am still looking for the perfect art notebook. Blank (that is, unruled) journals are uncommon at stationery stores, though I haven’t checked any art supply stores. Mostly I use sketchpads, but those are too large to use on travel. I was pleased to find that the blank notebooks from CafePress worked quite well as my travel journal for my trip to Japan earlier this year, and I will probably purchase more of those for future trips. The paper isn’t suitable for pencil, but a simple ballpoint writes like a dream.

Speaking of travel journals, I used this style of journal for my trip to Amsterdam, purchased from the BookCrossing supply store (but, alas, no longer available). The paper was lovely but the size was weird – it only barely fit in my purse and fresh pages didn’t always want to turn properly.

I have yet to try Moleskine except as a planner, but I’ve had trouble with the ink smearing when I write with a gel pen. It’s not a huge deal, but I think it would bother me in a regular journal.

What do you use? Do you have any preferences?

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