Journaling in portrait mode
Journaling in portrait mode is a refreshing adventure. We are afield from my typical writing arrangement of an A5 or B5 dotted/gridded notebook. Two A6 pages are the same size as one A5 page.
Having an A6 journal teaches me more about my journaling preferences. The gap between the top and bottom pages is unfriendly. Encouraging ideas to flow from one to another is important within how I journal.
Having a crease (the notebook’s spine) in the middle of each page interrupts my thinking every paragraph or two. I have to slide the notebook up and change how my left hand holds the pages flat each time I reach the book’s spine.
Using the A6 Midori in portrait only offers 18 lines before the page ends. Such quick interruptions are jarring when I write about my day. The spine is unobtrusive when I’m journaling on whatever nonfiction I’m reading. I tend to start and stop more when I’m writing conceptually.
More positive: writing in portrait mode chews through a notebook this small. I’m halfway through my little A6 after only a few weeks. Choosing new notebooks brings me joy. It will be nice to step into a new notebook quickly while still using up all of the pages.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. The Franklin-Christoph M-SIG nib makes this pen an easy choice for the week’s standout combo. I reached for this pen whenever I was seated and had writing to do. Journaling, outlining, drafting notes, lesson plans. The pen emptied mid-week.
Such awesome.
Sailor 1911 Mid-Size. Empty. — Ground to what I’m calling an EF-Zoomesque nib, this pen writes happily. The Sailor was my pocket pen of choice throughout the week. Pocket carry. Scratch notes, lesson plans, journaling.
Mythic Aeschylus. Empty. — Daily driver. Brad at Mythic Pens gets the details right. The pen is well balanced, especially for such a large pen. A reliable workhorse inked with Diamine Earl Grey. Task management, scratch notes.
Nakaya Neostandard. 1/5 — to be cleaned anyway. Stayed home again this week. Nakaya’s feed handles the silver shimmer well, without any hard starts or clogging. I will empty and clean this pen this week to prevent any potential clogging given the high amount of shimmer in MT.
Lamy Safari Petrol. 3/5. — Confirmed this week that the combination of an EF nib and November Rain work well on bad paper. And I like the ink quite a lot when its green base shows clearly. Scratch notes (primarily on post-its), lesson plans, reading notes (accent color).
TWSBI 580 ALR Prussian Blue. 1/3. The best choice this past week for meetings due to it’s dual-purpose nib: EF/M. Meeting notes, lesson plans, journaling.
Visconti Homo Sapiens. ??. Seeing such a bright ink color come from such an understated pen made me smile more than once. The extremely wet pairing resigns this combo to use with only coated papers. Journaling, lesson planning.
Notebooks. Work bujo. 10 new pages bring the work bullet journal to 245. Two pages are the weekly spread. Six are lesson plans and processing notes from planning out my ancient history class’ upcoming guest lecture series on Plato’s Trial and Death of Socrates. The remaining pages were meeting notes.
Midori MD A6. I journaled quite a bit this week. Most of my writing was on constitutional theory and ongoing politics in the US. In particular, I’ve been parsing out negotiations over the US’s new (possible) disaster relief package. 16 new pages. I’m counting A5 spreads in the notebook, not individual A6 pages.
Written dry. Three pens gave all they had this week: the Mythic Aeschylus, Sailor 1911, and Monteverde Giant Sequoia. The Aeschylus ran dry during my last meeting of the week on Friday afternoon. How suitably dramatic given the pen’s namesake.
I was without my Monteverde most of the week. The pen ran dry during a journaling session on Wednesday. The Sailor lasted until Friday morning. I was writing a note in my pocket notebook when it coughed up.
Newly inked. None.
The Collection
Incoming / new orders. My partner gifted me a Jott. notebook for the holidays — just before England left the EU. The notebook arrived from the UK early in the week.
The thick, absorbent paper feathers and bleeds with liquid inks. This isn’t a notebook made for fountain pens. It would make a great-looking sketch book for pencil, though. More likely, the Jott. will become a home for scratch notes.
Outgoing / trades or sales. Nothing this week.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. My partner and I are coming into the third act of Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. The action is accelerating. I won’t share specifics from the book as the first person narrative is easy to spoil. I suspect we’ll finish the book more quickly than our pacing so far.
Dracula, my personal fiction read for the moment, is almost complete. That dastardly vampire is on the run.
Nonfiction. More political theory and constitutional analysis this week. On another note: a good pen friend recommended a new podcast, We The People. The Constitution Center brings together two experts who disagree on a pressing constitutional issue. They discuss the issue in reasoned, evidence-based ways. It’s refreshing to hear debate built upon accurate facts.
Music. The Not Quite Classical playlist on Spotify has been on in the background of my classroom and at home most of this week.
