After trying a whole bunch of pocket notebooks, the Apica A7 has become my go-to.

It's 2.8 x 4 inches (10.2 x 7.1 cm), which is quite a bit smaller than your typical Field Notes-sized notebook. However, I've come to really like it better at this size. I'm rarely writing prose in these notebooks; I'm always writing short lists. So I usually don't take up a full line anyway. This tiny size leaves less wasted space on the page. It's also small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, whereas Field Notes often doesn't.

I've also been using the regular old Fisher space pen with it. I usually prefer something I can use one-handed, like a clicky or bolt-action, for my daily pocket pen, since it makes jotting things down that much quicker. But the size and simplicity of the space pen's design is just really satisfying sometimes.

I've bought plenty of Apica notebooks from Jetpens; I didn't think any local stores had them, though. But, at the bookstore today, they had a bunch of them available. Turns out that one of the employees is a fan of fountain pens (who'da thunk), and recommended that they start carrying Apicas.

I've also never used an A6 before. It looks like a more usable size than I thought it would be.

I just stumbled upon this idea and I just think it's very cute and neat.

Just by folding (and a little cut or carefully ripping the paper), you can turn one sheet of paper into a little 8-page notebook! It's usually used for zines (I totally went down a rabbit hole the last 2 days), but it can be used for anything.

You can go all out on creativity and create your own little book, write a little story or comic, or just reuse some old unused advertisements or letters as shopping list or little notebook to carry around.

Here are the instructions, I've took from some random website (not mine!)!

== not my post ==

“gee Ms. A Bad Idea, how did you get so smart at languages, I keep trying but it never sticks”

The trick to actually really for real learning a language when you’re not immersed in it as the living language of your everyday life is to WRITE IT DOWN

ON PAPER. WITH YOUR HANDS

USE A BETTER PEN, THOSE CHEAP BALLPOINTS WILL INJURE YOU

JUST COPY A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE IF THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE, IT WILL HELP

I'm currently trying out the PARA note organisation method and it seems really nice. I have it on my digital notes and now working it in on my analog ones. Not that I have alot of analog notes yet.. Haha the image is of some projects I've written down

PARA has 4 main categories:

• Projects - whatever you are working on or plan to
• Areas - extra long projects, we're talking years
• Resources - gather relevant information
• Archive - stuff you don't need right now

They are sorted by how actionable they are! Most actionable at top. Neat huh?

Projects are things you are activly working on, like a sewing project or building a green house for your garden.

Areas can be things like personal health, info about your house, things that needs to be kept track of. That greenhouse project can trinkle down here when finished. This contains more "active" info.

Resources are more information gathering. So you don't have to add it to all projects. This contains more "passive" info.

Archive is where you put things you don't have use for anymore but don't want to throw away. Maybe you want look to back or use it at another time in your life?

I created a alphabet inspired by staveless/short-hand runes, also known as Hälsinge Runes.

They look like this:

Maybe not the usually topic for this community, but there is paper and pen involved, so close enough?

Basically I decided on a whim to send a handwritten letter to a friend of mine. I don't think I ever did that before. I didn't even really know what to say, so it's just a few lines long. But nevertheless, I put in an envelope, got stamps and now it's on its way.

Well, what can I say. Now, I am sitting here like a little kid before Christmas waiting for the letter to arrive!
We basically text everyday and I did not tell her, so it will be a surprise. I am really exited for her reaction.
I already am thinking about sending a postcard to another friend. Just because. It just seems like such an easy way to give out a little happiness to someone? And I really enjoyed sitting down and taking time to craft the letter. Even if I struggled to come up with things to say, it feels so different to sending text messages or e-mails that arrive instantly.

Anyway, this also got me curious. Do some of you guys still send out handwritten letters? Or is it something you consider a thing of the past?

Hellu!

A while back I made myself a tiny travelers journal from scrap leather, elastic sewing thread and glue! It's roughly the size of a card-holder or small wallet. It's not perfect, but it's mine :) When I bring it out, I usually have one of those small IKEA pens with it!

It has the size of A7 but because I decided to have loose pages I mostly use them as A6. Neat huh?

I have two sections, one more private and one less private.

What's yours smallest notebook?

A sketch/schematic I drew up awhile ago, while taking measurements for a project I've now been working on a couple of months. Inspired by this community.

I made a little sketch of an dog daisy. In sweden we call them "prästkrage", directly translated it means prieast collar 😊

This is my favorite pen mod! I like to have a pen and a few index cards in my pockets at all times for fleeting notes. A Fisher Bullet Space Pen is a convenient size to fit in my pocket easily, it looks nice, and it is comfortable to use. Unfortunately the refill it comes with is an awful ballpoint! I have a strong preference for gel pens. Refills are not a standard size, so swapping in a gel refill takes a little know-how.

One of my favorite gel pens is a Pilot Hi-Tec-C. Oddly Pilot doesn't make refills for the full-sized version. But there is a multi-pen version, the Hi-Tec-C Coleto, with refills that are small and skinny enough to fit into a Space Pen pretty well. I cut 4mm off of the back of the refill, and with a little fiddling it fits.

Or for another option there are instructions for using a Zebra JK refill here.

There are downsides. The gel refill doesn't have any of the unique capabilities of the pressurized Space Pen refills, like writing upside-down. The tip of the Hi-Tec-C Coleto refill is a little wobbly. And the multi-pen refills have a lower capacity than most refills, so they don't write as long. This mod is best for an occasional-use pen that you always have on hand. (I keep my main pen with my journal because it's too big for my pocket.)

Ohai! Welcome everyone to the Pen & Paper community! I am the one who created this community.

I'm 30, live in Sweden and I've recently started to use pen and paper more, which is part of me starting this community. I've liked the idea of having neat notebooks for a looong time but never truly had a reason more than "just because" so I never got started despite getting multiple filofaxes, even a handmade one (in pictures here), calendar inserts and other fancy stuff.

Oh well. I used to love computers and technology (still do tbh) but I hate what it's becoming with all the surveillance, selling our data, what AI is doing, social media, screen addiction and just enshittification everywhere. SO I'm moving away, slow and steady.

So, I mostly use my handmade A5 ringbound planner/notebook a la filofax style. I started with what I call a 'rolling todo list', something I learned when working as an electrician at an iron industry. So, you have a regular list of todos, as they get done you draw a line over and add new todo items at the bottom.
When you get to the bottom of the page and need to add a new todo, you simply write all the ones you haven't done yet on the new page.
I like to give those a squiggly line on the previous page, but this is not necessary.

I also want to practice my writing-skill, my spelling has become terrible (I don't even use autocorrect) and I used to love writing as a teen, Swedish was always my strongest topic in school. So, I decided to start writing down my dreams as an ease-in to writing. I just jot down the date and start writing.

I also have a section for mixed notes that is honestly just whatever I feel like. Both important notes, creative stuff, scribbles, ideas, notes from a call etc. Everything. This section is a part of keeping it simple. I don't see a clear category for these things.. yet!

For last, I have some maps, a page for cards and a note from those who made the filofax-styled notebook/planner.

The thing I like the most with writing by hand is the freedom, I can write however I like, whatever direction, add a little sketch. The only limitation is my imagination! And also all the benefits of using something physical, better memory, having a sense of where things are etc.

I plan on adding a section for reading-notes as the book I'm currently reading makes me write a lot of notes in it. So I think after finishing it I'll go over it all again and jot in down in my note-book.

Well, that's all from me for this time. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Couldn't get my A6 in the same cute green, but I'm happy!

I don't do these very often and I think this one turned out nicely. I was doing life drawings with a ball point at my fish tank and felt like journaling at the same time. I wanted to post it somewhere nice and conveniently this community popped up just hours before I made a lemmy account. I hope you all get something out of it and no shame disagreeing with anything I put down. Critique is welcome. Thank you for reading.

Neat idea for a community! I recently started using spiral bound notebooks to practice my handwriting (it's pretty bad) and to help remember things. G7 pens are my current favorite. I remember in school they made us write definitions for punishment for acting up so I learned to hate writing. Now in my 40's I'm learning to enjoy it. It's like therapy. :)

Hi,

I just joined and since I can see no other post (indexing issue? or is the community that recent? ;) I thought maybe I could post something.

I’m nearing my 60s and I’ve been using pen and paper most of my life. From school—even it was already on its way out back in the early 70s kids were still taught handwriting using a fountain pen, at least here in France—up to this very day.

Privacy is is one of the two reasons I still use pen and paper instead of any of the many apps and services I have tested and learned to use. The second reason being the… satisfaction handwriting brings me. I’m considered a decent typist (I got my first Apple computer in the very early 80s, and a few years before that I was quite happily writing shitty stories on my grand-dad’s already old Olympia SG1 typewriter, a wonderful machine on which I learned to type… and to stain my fingers, playing with the ink ribbon :p) but nothing beats the simple joy of writing in silent, hand on paper. Early in the morning (most of the time, I like to write between 4AM and 8AM while my spouse is still sleeping and while the city around us is still quiet)

I draft most of what I write longhand, using loose leafs (I prefer the flexibility of being able to move the sheets as I see fit, that’s also why in the 90s I was so obsessed with Filofax) and either a (mechanical) pencil or a fountain pen—those two device are friendly rivals in smoothness (depending the paper) and, unlike most ballpoint pens, require no effort at all to write, the hand doesn’t need to press hard quite the contrary, which helps write longer & with less fatigue.

I also journal longhand. I have been doing so since I was a (not that happy) little boy.

Talking journaling, I’m the admin at ![email protected] which has been on a bit of a pause but the place is open and do welcome people willing to post content, tips and tricks, questions, suggestions,… The community is open to both analog and digital journaling, btw.

But my main use of pen and paper is my Zettelkasten, aka an endless pile of index card (A6) that I keep organized and indexed. It’s the place where I store all my reading notes (I read a lot, and always take notes while doing so), all the references, quotes, ideas and any type of content (text, images,...) I want to be able to quickly refer to later on when I work on one of my own projects.

Lhumann, the dude that formalized this concept of Zettelkasten (which is in reality much older than that word, people have been using it for centuries) described his Zettel as his second brain. And he was right. That thing is not just a passive pile of cards. It’s smart and it can often be surprisingly… stimulating to browse through it. Just flipping through a bunch of cards will often bring unexpected ideas. It’s a true partner with whom one can have a meaningful discussion, like when one is reading a book, a good book I mean.

Here is the two most important tips I can think of for anyone wanting to give it a try:

1. Keep it simple. The key to a Zettel is the numbering/indexing. So keep the numbering simple (it can always evolve later on if you feel the need to). Also, don’t try to anticipate all categories, projects, whatever you think you may one day need. Start with what you actually need now (say in regard to a specific writing project/research you're working on) and let your Zettel grow by itself as you go along. It’s one of the things that make it so powerful: it will grow with you. And, yes, this also means some part of it will not grow that much if at all, and some may even become stale, and you need to be fine with that.
2. There is no need to spend a fortune on fancy materials, a nice fountain pens, a large pack of expensive index cards and luxurious storage boxes. Start with what you already have.

• Index cards: I use the back of old letters, recycled invoices, whatever decent paper I can get my hands on that I can cut to size (one A4 sheet makes four A6 cards, and it’s easy to cut of them using a massicot).
  Index cards are sturdier, that's true but they’re also (a lot more expensive and) thicker and if you start really using your Zettel you will quickly realize space in your storage box quickly becomes an issue. Also, most of the times those cards will be neatly stored in that storage box or laid flat on your desk, they don’t need to be that sturdy because they’re not, say, library cards.
• Storage boxes: I made my own out of… cardboard that I cut and assemble. If anyone is interested, I may post a short guide on my blog explaining how I do that but it's really simple (one only needs some spare thick cardboard from a delivery package, white glue and a cutter/hobby knife) and it’s really sturdy. Before that, I used to use old...shoe boxes.

Edit: typos and a missing sentence.

Not my image