Life A5 notebook

As Stu says over on Nero's Notes:

Life notebooks are coveted by anybody who values quality paper. The Noble line of Life notebooks in particular are beautiful, featuring Life's superb fountain pen ink friendly Japanese paper, which is cream in colour and finely laid. As you would expect, the paper in the Life Noble notebook is acid-free and archival quality. This A5 sized notebook comes in plain, ruled and graph paper (5mm grid paper and 8mm ruling) and features the LIFE logo, embossed in gold. 

I've been using a ruled Life notebook for making notes on the gazillion things I need to think about/do/investigate ready to self-publish my fantasy trilogy later this year. I'd been umming a ah-ing over which notebook to use (something I suspect only stationery nerds like me do, because we have so many notebooks to choose from...), so let me share my reasoning for why I plumped for the Life notebook over the other million I have in my stash.

Well, first up, the paper is fountain pen friendly. I realise that many people won't care about that, but if you do care about that, you generally really do care about that. A paper that feathers or ghosts or lets the ink bleed through to the other side drives you insane. But, even if you don't give two hoots about this kind of thing, if a paper is good for fountain pens, it's generally amazing for any pen. Or pencil.

The paper is thick enough that there's minimal show-through and there is no feathering at all. Dry time is a little on the long side, so lefties may want to think about that, and you may want a sheet of blotting paper handy too.

My only niggle with the paper is that it's a yellowish cream and I prefer off-white or a light ivory, but that's just a personal preference.

There are 100 pages (sides) in the book. This is a happy medium between the slimmer notebooks available (68 or 72 etc.) and the chunkier 168+ page books. I'll have a lot of notes to make, and a slimmer book will probably be too small, but I hate waste and it would annoy me if I only used half of the pages in a larger notebook.

But one of the things I love the most about these notebooks is this:

The little dots at the top and bottom lines. These are perfect for if you want to add a table, because you don't have to faff about measuring it out. Fear not, the marks are small enough that if you're not needing to draw out a table, they won't distract. They're spaced at 10 mm (which a bit of my brain sometimes squeaks at because line spacing is 8 mm, so drawing vertical lines leads to rectangles, not squares).

Since I'll be making notes on a variety of sub-topics in the book, I'll be putting a table of contents at the front (and may even put an index at the back!), and there may be a number of topics where being able to quickly draw a table is a bonus, for example when I'm comparing different editors or cover-designers.

I also like the top margin with a slightly darker top line. The top margin is 15 mm and I use the space to put a few-word summary of the page contents (like 'print on demand' or 'keywords') so that when I flick through the book I can see what's on each page.

There are no fancy frills like ready-printed page numbers (I've just hand-written them in) or a ribbon-marker or a pocket in the back, but this is a good, solid notebook at a very decent price. Why don't you give it a whirl?

A modified version of this post first appeared on Nero's Notes.

*The post contains affiliate links, which help me to be able to run this blog, at no cost to you.

News!

Those of you who've followed me for a while (bless you!) will know that as well having an addiction to stationery, I also write books (you can see the covers in the sidebar here!). Well... I'm now managing to combine both loves as Stuart Lennon has asked me to write for the blog on Nero's Notes.

I first 'met' Stu a couple of years ago. There are quotation marks, because in fact, Stu and I haven't ever met in real life (though I hope we will one day). We were both part of a #writingchat chat on Twitter (where various writers come together via Twitter on a Wednesday night from 8-9 pm UK time, to talk about a range of topics relating to writing) and the topic for the night was writing buddies. Neither Stu nor I had a writing buddy, nor were we in any writing groups. To cut a long story short, Stu and I swapped a small chunk of writing, gave feedback to each other and have ended up good buddies ever since!

Stu is now one of my beta readers - a very select group who read my books when I'm happy enough with them I can bear the thought of someone else seeing them, but with still some work to do on them. He also shares my love of good stationery. In fact, so much so that he bought a pocket notebook company! It was originally called Pocket Notebooks, but under Stu's guidance, has become Nero's Notes. You'll have seen a number of reviews of things from there, over the last wee while (and in case you missed them, I'll pop a list at the end).

Stu is also one of the friends that I write to. Yes, I still write proper letters to people, on proper paper and put them in proper envelopes, add a stamp and post them. In fact, my very first blog post for Stu is on writing letters and it comes out on Wednesday. Please pop over to the blog and check it out? It should be up after 2 pm.

If you're reading this blog, the chances are that you share my love of good stationery, so go and have a rummage through the Nero's Notes site. There are notebooks, pens, pencils, accessories and some excellent subscription boxes to feed your habit. There's some amazing stuff on there, including some things you won't be able to get anywhere else in the UK. Hopefully see you all over there!

Reviews of Nero's Notes (originally Pocket Notebooks) things:
(Each link opens in a new window)
PapioPress A6 Notebooks
Darkstar Collection
Write pocket notebooks
Rhodia Rhodiarama
New Darkstar Collection
Stationery Box (subscription)
Word. notebooks
Inky Fingers Currently Inked (sadly no longer available)
6 for £6
Leuchtturm lined slim softcover
Poach My Lobster notebook

"From Me to You"

As the title of the blog implies, I am a stationery fiend. I supply my habit in a number of ways, including getting an occasional subscription to Spotlight Stationery.

Part of the cost of each subscription is donated to charity and this year, the charity that has been chosen is "From Me To You". From Me To You encourages people to write letters to friends or family members who are suffering from cancer. It also has a "Donate a Letter" scheme where people can write to cancer patients who have requested a letter. I have joined the "Donate a Letter" scheme and last week, wrote several letters to be given to cancer patients, to show them that there are people (even strangers) who are thinking of them. You don't have to send long letters - even a card or a postcard will be welcomed.

I want this TN!

It's another Traveller's Notebook cover by Mike at Meadowgate Leather. The one I want is an Oakleaf Traveller's Journal (click here to see it on Etsy), which has no interior pockets or anything, but is made of two layers of leather: the exterior is the same thick leather that's used on the other Traveller's Notebooks in their range; the lining is a soft pig-skin and the two are hand-stitched with saddle-stitch around the outside.

Exterior of the Oakleaf TN
Image from Meadowgate Leather, with permission

Interior of the Oakleaf TN
Image from Meadowgate Leather, with permission

As with all the other TNs by Meadowgate Leather, there are lots of options to choose from. I'm fairly sure I will be ordering an A5 in undyed leather, with a pen-loop (facing inwards), elastic colour in navy, ultra-max overhang, no name-tag, with the maker's stamp on the reverse, and the stitching in either beige or a light brown.

Hang on, some of you might be thinking, "Haven't you got a few TNs already?? Why do you need another?"

Well, any of you thinking that, can go away!

I just want one. That's more than enough of a reason isn't it??

Why in undyed? There are fabulous colours available on the listing. In all honesty, I could happily have several, across the colour range, but I'm especially wanting undyed. One of my good friends, Stuart (see his website here) got a TN from Meadowgate Leather in undyed and the colour change in it has been fantastic. He's promised me pictures to share with you to show the change of colour over time. At the moment is is a similar colour to golden syrup! The other example of how undyed leather changes with time is on Janet Carr's excellent blog where she showed how the leather changed over time in a Filofax-style binder (see here for one of the posts on how the leather changed). I'm wanting to have this TN as a writing notebook (hence the A5 size) and I want to see how the colour will change over the years.

I suspect I will be ordering it soon! Keep you all posted!

Overwhelmed by my to-do list

I don't mean the 'stuff that I should do today like laundry, shopping, paying bills' list. I mean the enormous, terrifying list of about three years' worth of stuff I need to do with my writing. It's now so huge that I don't even really know how to start. It's so overwhelming that I've been stunned into inaction (which isn't helping!).

I could break it down into smaller chunks, but then it would be even longer and no less terrifying. I know. I tried that.

It's not helped by the fact that some of the list is 'writing' and another fairly large chunk is 'stuff that also needs to be done but which isn't anything like as much fun'.

I'll get through it. Probably. Possibly. I'm hoping that once I leave work purgatory then I will stop ending up so demoralised and exhausted by it that I'm too tired to do the things I want to do (write). I'm hoping that I will be able to spend some of my week doing the more fun stuff (writing) and also devote time to doing the stuff that's less fun (everything else). I do know that I may never get to the end of it all. I won't have written all the books that are in my head right now before new ones pop up in there, clamouring to be written! It will take me at least three years to do what is currently on my list. In that time, another three books could have come along and started getting all demanding on me!

Any advice guys? How can I start to feel on top of a list that will take me several years to clear? And which in many ways never 'ends' because there will always be more things added to it before I've cleared even a fraction of it?

Help??

What a difference a year makes

Not strictly on stationery or filofaxes... humour me. Or don’t read. I will never know.

This time last year, I was about to abandon writing “book 4” (it still has no title. But then, it still isn’t written or have an ending I’m completely happy with. These are all linked...). I was beginning to feel that describing myself as a writer (even a part-time one) was in breach of the Trade Description Act as writing seemed to be the last thing I was able to do. My inspiration was withering on the vine and my other novels were all still just in my laptop.

This is where the novels were, a year ago:
Book 1: “Trust Nobody”
This is what I still think of as ‘my practice book’ – the one I made all the mistakes in when I was writing and one that will probably never be released into the big wide world. It’s a thriller.

Book 2: “Fault Lines”
Something completely different – an exploration of how a series of friendships are fractured when one of the group is diagnosed with cancer. I stopped sending it out to agents in 2011 because The Black Dog would have eaten me alive if I hadn’t. Vain as this will sound, I love this book. And it never fails to make me cry when I read it.

Book 3: “The Wrong Kind of Clouds”
Another thriller. Another one I’m happy with and would like to release into the wild. See the comment about The Black Dog above.

Book 3a:
Fully plotted out but never written. The thrill was in the chase, not the writing and this was a notebook with fully-formed plot, twists, character notes... and no more.

Book 4:
No title, no ending, not finished. About to be abandoned with despair.

Book 5:
Not even conceived never mind born.

I was languishing in that hell that is Writers’ Block (when your imaginary friends stop talking to you) and hoping that somewhere down the line, inspiration would strike again.

Where am I a year on?

• “Trust Nobody” is still a practice-run and may never see the big bad world but that’s fine. Who pays to listen to a concert pianist playing ‘A tune a day’? Exactly.
• “Fault Lines” is off to a competition. Regardless of the outcome of that, it’s getting published this year because I will self-publish it.
• “The Wrong Kind of Clouds” will also get published this year, for the same reasons.
• “Book 4” is itching to be finished and I have some idea of how to do that. The 50,000 words that are written are okay. It was the 50,000 to come that were the problem! But I think that’s sorted now.
• “Book 3a” is going to become a screenplay sometime this year.
• Book 5 is at the end of the first draft stage and I am about 20% through a first edit. It will get published this year. It also has a name: Six Deaths (yep, it’s another thriller).
• “Book 6” (which might become “screenplay 2”) is bubbling away and I am scribbling things down like mad to capture them before they go.
• "Book 7" is also slowly emerging from the ether and announcing its arrival and I am desperately trying to capture its essence too before it fades (I can only cope with so much writing at one time - some of all this will have to wait its turn!)

I live in hope that this will continue and that my imaginary friends will always want to talk!

Which notebook to take away with me?

I shall be away for a couple of days, involving two train journeys of about 5 hours. Now, I love travelling by train, but five hours is about my limit for sitting in one seat to be honest (though trains beat aeroplanes by a country mile for travelling as far as I am concerned!). I’m actually quite looking forward to the journeys as it will give me a chance to sit and write. I am about a third of my way through writing the first draft of “book 5” (it will get a proper title some time!) and am in in that exciting “can’t get it out of my head fast enough” phase.
I always do book planning on paper and almost always in fountain pen. My writing is neater and there is that tactile aspect of nice pen on good paper which just adds to the enjoyment. The notebook I keep coming back to for book planning is the Clairefontaine Age Bag in A4 (reviewed here). That will of course be travelling with me, but it isn’t what I want to write scenes in (and I probably won’t want to type into my little tablet-computer for 5 hours either!). What I want, ideally, is a cheap/disposable but good notebook, A5 size or thereabouts, that lies flat and copes with fountain pen. Not much to ask for, is it?

Not being organised enough and also having a stash of notebooks that I really should get on and use, I didn’t buy anything new for the trip, but have rummaged through the “notebook emporium” as my DH describes it, to find something to use.

Of course, the notebook emporium has a zillion A5 notebooks in it, but I managed to discount several of them as they were either too expensive to use for what effectively will be scribbles (Midori Dainel, I mean you), or won’t lie flat enough (Clairefontaine A5+), or fit both of those exclusions! (Quo Vadis Habana; Ciak A5 notebook). The Oxford Activebook would fit all requirements but the page layout isn’t quite right for this kind of writing and I don’t need the holes for filing the pages afterwards (and it’s also a bit expensive for scribbling).

Which left me with: a spiral-bound “Europa A5 notemaker” (made by Tollit and Harvey Ltd, King’s Lynn, according to the label; no idea when or where I acquired this...), a spiral-bound notebook with cats on the front (I have a cat; I love stationery. People frequently combine these aspects of my life into one gift, regardless of the quality of the notebook) and a Clairefontaine A5 school book style notebook.

As ever, I needed to do a fountain pen test to see whether the paper would cope or whether I would be forced to scrawl with a biro or pencil. The Europa feathered and bled, but had quite “grabby” paper which made writing with a biro better (somewhat surprisingly!). The cat-notebook had smoother paper and less feathering. The Clairefontaine was Clairefontaine. If you don’t know what that implies, you’re reading the wrong blog. :-)

The results of the fountain pen test

The A5 Europa notemaker:
As mentioned, the paper was quite “grabby” but fountain pen generally feathered and bled like mad. I also tried a whole heap of other pens and to be honest, the best pen for this paper was a bic crystal biro. For shame. Not sure I could write with a bic crystal biro for 5 hours though.
The feathering was bad enough, but the bleed-through was almost acceptable for some of the pens, surprisingly. The calligraphy pen is just unfair for this test, but acts as a bit of a gold standard. The OHTO Tasche is a killer too and unsurprisingly, the paper didn’t hold up against these. Otherwise, the bleed-through was fairly acceptable. The cyclamen pink bled too much but is probably not one I would write screeds in anyway (not without giving myself a headache!).

Front cover: Europa notemaker

Fountain pen test - front

Fountain pen test - reverse

The cat-book:
I can’t remember who gave me this. I can see why it is still pristine in the emporium! Although smoother to write on, the bleed-through with pretty much anything other than biro is unbearable. Will I ever use this book up? Probably not!

Cat notebook - front cover

Fountain pen test - front

Fountain pen - reverse

Clairefontaine A5 school-book:
Cheap as chips really and lies flat despite being stapled, rather than sewn or spiral-bound. I’ve done the fountain pen test in the back as I don’t want to have to tear the page out and I’m getting fed up of opening notebooks and finding a fountain pen test on the first page! Fountain pen writes like a dream on this paper. Biro – the paper is a bit too slippy and (as you can see from the deteriorating handwriting), not to my taste. Bleed-through? A smidgen, but utterly acceptable.

Clairefontaine schoolbook - cover

Fountain pen test - front

Fountain pen test - reverse

The Clairefontaine will be the one I take. Now, who would have predicted that?? :-)

Book-planning notebook - which one to choose?

I’m starting to plan a new book. Yes, I know none of the others are published (yet) but there’s one beginning to demand to be let out of my head.

Now, although I will use Scrivener to do the computery bit, I know I will do a huge amount of planning and writing in a notebook too. I always do. There’s something about writing on paper that triggers my thoughts and imagination in a way that typing straight into white space can never accomplish.

But which notebook to choose? I have, after all, rather a large selection to select from!

Discounting anything significantly smaller than A5 (I need space to plan and to write in and smaller books just won’t work), in the notebook emporium currently there are:

[links are to reviews of the notebook by me]

• 2x Cartesio large (13 x 21cm) notebooks
• 1x Moleskine plain notebook (13 x 21cm)
• 1x Clairefontaine school exercise book
• 1x Ciak A5 leather-bound notebook
• A spiral-bound A5 lined notebook with cats on the cover (no idea where that came from. I suspect someone gave me it as a gift as I write and have a cat)
• 1x Midori World Meister Dainel A5 book (which somehow didn’t make it into the photo!)
• 3x Oxford Activebooks
• Several A5 filofaxes
• 1x Quo Vadis Habana notebook (~15 x 23 cm)
• 1x Clairefontaine A5+ notebook (a few pages missing but still mostly intact)
• 1x Clairefontaine Age Bag A4 notebook
• 3x spiral-bound A4 notebooks

Top row, L-R: cat book, Age Bag with A5+ on top, Ciak, Habana
Bottom row, L-R: A4 spiral bound, Moleskine, exercise book, Oxford Activebook, Cartesio

How to whittle that down to one book to use?

Okay, well, it has to be fountain-pen friendly paper, so that’s the two Cartesios out.

It has to be lined, so that’s the Moleskine out.

I’m not a fan of spiral-bound books as I find the binding gets in the way, so that’s the cat books and the three A4 books out (despite all being surprisingly fountain-pen friendly!).

I’ve tried the Clairefontaine A5+ book before and although it’s lovely to write on, the very wide margin is too annoying and it won’t lie flat.

The Quo Vadis Habana book won’t lie flat enough (I use another one as a running log and it drives me batty for this!)

The Midori World Meister doesn’t have enough pages (it has just 92 sides) although otherwise is glorious (review coming soon)

The school exercise book also has too few pages (96 sides)

I’ve tried an A5 filofax before and although it worked reasonably well, I eventually reverted to a bound book, so that’s the filofaxes and the Oxford Activebooks out (though the Oxford paper would have been a dream to write on and the paper could be filed in either filofax or Mulberry A5 binders).

So what am I left with after that initial whittling?

• 2x Cartesio large (13 x 21cm) notebooks
• 1x Moleskine plain notebook (13 x 21cm)
• 1x Clairefontaine school exercise book
• 1x Ciak A5 leather-bound notebook
• A spiral-bound A5 lined notebook with cats on the cover (no idea where that came from. I suspect someone gave me it as a gift as I write and have a cat)
• 1x Midori World Meister Dainel A5 book (which somehow didn’t make it into the photo!)
• 3x Oxford Activebooks
• Several A5 filofaxes
• 1x Quo Vadis Habana notebook (~15 x 23 cm)
• 1x Clairefontaine A5+ notebook (a few pages missing but still mostly intact)
• 1x Clairefontaine Age Bag A4 notebook
• 3x spiral-bound A4 notebooks

The Ciak A5 notebook or the Clairefontaine A4 Age Bag notebook.

I’ve gone for the Clairefontaine. It lies flatter than the Ciak (though admittedly, not as flat as a bat, but not far off), the paper is divine – far smoother than the Ciak – and the acres of space invite free-flowing thought (I hope!). I used the same kind of notebook for the last book (just with a green cover) and it has been glorious to work in. Fountain-pen just glides across the paper and with 192 pages, there is more than enough space to write.

Sources:

Bureau Direct:

Clairefontaine A5+ notebook

Clairefontaine Age Bag A4 notebook

The Journal Shop:

Quo Vadis Habana notebook

Cartesio large (13 x 21cm) notebooks

Ciak A5 leather-bound notebook

Midori World MeisterDainel A5 book

Amazon:

Oxford Activebooks

A5 filofaxes

Tesco:

3x spiral-bound A4 notebooks

Gifts:

Moleskine plain notebook (13 x 21cm)

The spiral-bound A5 lined notebook with cats on the cover

Still loving my book-planning filofax!

A few weeks ago, I bought another domino A5 in ultraviolet in the WHSmiths sale (£18) to use as a writing filofax. Not like my other writing filofax, which covers almost everything – this is specifically for planning the new novel. (The original contents of the filofax are for sale on here (and on the Philofaxy site) by the way, if anyone is still after a 2012 WO2P diary or dividers etc!).

So, with a now completely empty binder, I set up my ‘book-planning’ filofax. A (small) part of me had wondered if I was using ‘book-planner’ as an excuse to buy another filofax (surely not!) but I can happily report, a few weeks down the line that this is absolutely not the case and I am really loving using the filofax for planning. Having it A5 is big enough to write in and also is perfect for printing out my own templates for the planner.

I set up new dividers in it (sorry – filofax ones are just too dull) using some lovely purple card stock and a silver gel-pen (see here). The sections are shown below. 

the sections (using top-tabs)

In each of the sections:

Plot: this has a mind-map like chart of the different plot-lines on an A4 sheet, trimmed slightly and folded and punched to fit, plus several sheets of notes about the plot and the forensics etc. (it’s another murder…)

Timeline: I always have to have a timeline to make sure that someone doesn’t end up pregnant for 12 months or that they know things before they should (or indeed have happened!). I downloaded the DIY planner widget today so that I could print out page per day lined diary sheets. What a fantastic resource for writers (amongst others)! You can set the date range to almost anything you want, which is always handy for when you’re writing something set in 1998 or whatever. The current novel is set in 2011 so it wasn’t quite as tricky to sort out, but it was great to know I have that resource should I need it. I made up a couple of months of page-per-day sheets (simple lined so I can scribble lots of things on them) and I have also printed out the same time-range on week-on-a-page, so I can have an overview too.

page to day on left; weekly summary on right

Scenes: this is a section for detailed scene planning – from the order in which the scenes should come, to details of the scene. I used some modified templates from DIY planner for these, booklet printed to make 4xA5 sheets. This is the real heart of the planner in many ways.

Notes: things to check or look up; odd phrases or things to remember in a scene; various other notes…

Paper: several pages of blank paper. Although I have got filofax paper (as an A5 pad which came with the filofax) I’m still tending to use home-made lined paper because then it is fountain-pen friendly. There is of course, a pad-slot in the back of the domino which would have worked okay as a place for paper/capture, but then I wouldn’t be able to use fountain pen and I don’t like my writing in much else.

Character notes: a series of notes plus character dossiers for each main character. Minor characters just get a page of notes. The character dossiers were designed by me and run for 12 pages and list all the things I need to reference about each character (from eye/hair colour to background/back story/names of pets etc. etc. etc.). The notes pages are jottings or an expansion of the dossier.

Right at the back I have a plastic top-opening pocket to protect the back pages and put scraps of paper/things in as needed.

The benefits of using an A5 domino filofax for all of this are :

a) I can print all my own sheets for using in it (on fountain-pen friendly paper)

b) I can re-file and move things as and when needed. When I used a bound A4 Moleskine for planning, the inability to be able to move things around did annoy me! 

c) the domino has a hard enough cover to be able to lean on it whilst out and about and was cheap enough for me not to get precious about it banging around in a bag (though in fairness, it tends to live on my desk)

d) the 30mm rings let me put huge amounts in it without it all getting squished.

Anyway, I’m still delighted that it’s working out so well and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

Now back to writing the book!