This is great! I have notebooks all over the place and finding something in them when I want it can be a real quest. But I’m lost without notebooks. I love yours and use something like it, with the rounded edges, smooth cover, and elastic to hold it closed. I like big ones and small ones but I draw the line at fancy ones. I think it was Natalie Goldberg who warned against trying to write in a book that is so wonderful it’s intimidating. It needs to be a comfortable tool, not something we think we have to live up to. Ha!

As for pens, I like soft fat pens for long term writing — a pen like the Pilot G2 Ultra Fine. I like fountain pens, too, with cartridges, but the one I liked best is no longer for sale. It was inexpensive and came right off the rack but had the perfect feel. The glide was just right. I didn’t have to fight it and there is something about writing with a fountain pen that makes the words act differently.

I love the little slim Le Pen felt tip that comes in dozens of ink colors for writing personal notes and just for fun on diary pages. They’re slim enough to fit in my wallet and in notebook spines. I find them at Books-a-Million bookstores but they must be for sale at others. Amazon has them, too

Here is an article a friend found about the 100 best pens. A bunch of us on Facebook spent days in heated discussions about our choices and we weren’t willing to give an inch. We writers do love our pens!

http://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-pens-gel-ballpoint-rollerball-felt-fountain.html