Journals, Write On Both Sides Or Only One?

[burnman]

Thanks for all the posts everyone. Due to the showthrough I'm seeing, I'll be writing on one side only (it's also easier writing left-handed).

[CDKeth]

 

I like to use both sides but I don't do it all at once. I write on all of the front sides, turn the journal upside down, then write on all of the back sides. I find it more comfortable that way because my hand never has to be sitting in the gutter of the book that way.

Great idea! Although I'm so used to seeing the left pages inked it might feel strange. Do you ever find yourself distracted by things written earlier on the left pages, after flipping the book over? I guess they'd be upside down. Would you say that this practise has increased your ability to read your writing upside down?

 

I don't find it distracting at all. Any facing page that's already been written is some days old at least. That removal from whatever I'm writing now makes me rarely even look at the facing page. Being upside down may have a similar effect since I can't read it just with wandering eyes. I have to think about it a bit to read upside down.

[ethernautrix]

Both sides.

 

If there is bleedthrough or egregious feathering, I stop and get another notebook.

[matt385]

Both sides. I have a journal from Renaissane Art with the replaceable paper. The paper that came with the journal was to rough so I use Clairfontaine inserts and do not have any problems.

[wollollo]

Both sides; paper with showthrough (enough to be a problem) is unacceptable in any case (to me, at least). If you're worried about overfilling the page, whether for aesthetics or for later annotations, just use fat margins.

Edited August 2, 2012 by wollollo

[Chi Town]

Like Dioxazine, I want the most for my money so I write on both sides.....ha, ha, ha, No really I do and I don't have any bleed through either so it's a good deal for me.

[tinta]

I use both sides of my APICA CD 11 notebooks.

With most inks & nibs (even wide italics), there is little show-through on this Japanese paper.

 

I do like "CDKeths's" idea of writing on one side, then turning the book around to do the reverse side of the pages. I'll have to give this method a try.

 

What CDKeth aptly calls the "gutter" is the central part of the notebook that I find difficult to use.

The edge of my writing hand sits uncomfortably in this valley (& doesn't slide smoothly across the page as I write).

Also the page doesn't lie flat close this "gutter".

You have to hold the pages down to write & when you let them go, they pop back up again. Actually quite annoying.

 

Interesting topic,........ this.

[dickydotcom]

Save the planet; write on one side only.

This works if you keep your journals. Use more paper and it becomes a carbon store providing the paper is made from sustainable plantations.

Personally I write on both sides because I can get more writing into the space available.

 

Dick D

[HildyZ]

Only one page. Otherwise it looks too "full" for my taste.

 

 

I always write on both sides, absolutely. Otherwise it looks too "empty".

 

It's funny how people are, isn't it?

[alexander_k]

I used to write on both sides just to save paper and storage volume but bleedthrough was a minor problem (I've always used general-purpose paper). Since I've switched to loose leafs (ever for booklets - I put them together in Roterfaden, X17 or similar hand-made contraptions), I've started using one side only. It makes reading (especially comparisons of several pages) much easier.

[NedC]

For regular daily journals I use both sides. For special project journals e.g. drafts of scripts, research notes, etc. I use one side and double space, the left hand page is reserved for annotations, corrections and rewrites.

 

I don't care for loose-leaf because I'm rather insecure and most of the pages would wind up in the waste bin even before I had a chance to re-read them.

[PAKMAN]

I try to use an ink / journal combination where I don't have bleed through. I like to write on both sides of the page.

[eduardp]

I always use both sides. Maybe because I think of notebooks, cahiers to have the same consistency of the book and as the books are on both sides... Maybe is also a reminiscence of my first years at school (in communist times) when everything had to be saved. I remembered when my grandfather bought me a cahier with 100 files and for almost half a year I look amazed at it and did not dear to maculate it with my handwriting.

[Gcouch]

I use both sides of my moleskine. I consider it a waste if I don't because I spent so much on a little book of paper…

[Tokugawa]

I figure if the manufacturer put lines on both sides of the page, I will use both sides. No sense in wasting perfectly good writing paper.

 

If I see bleed through or some other significant flaw, that journal and manufacturer are stricken from my future buying plans with extreme prejudice and, are permanently regulated to grocery listing with crayon. :ltcapd:

[jchthys]

There's also the possibility of writing only on the right side, then turning the book upside-down and continuing on the right side! Great for righties, and can be reversed for lefties.

[tinta]

I have just finished an APICA CD 11 notebook (my journal) using one poster's suggestion to write on right-hand side pages only, then turn the book upside-down.

Writing only on the right-hand pages was more comfortable, but when the book was turned over, the upside down writing on the left-side page became quite distracting.

So much so, that I had to cover up the pages on the left with my blotter.

It was also hard to look back in the journal to find an entry on a particular date.

(I use my journals not only for personal reflection, but also as a record of events & to-do reminders.)

 

 

Up until fairly recently, some of my relatives in Europe were sending me letters on Air Mail paper, using both sides of the sheets.

If they needed more room, they continued to write in the margins.

I have old family correspondence (from way before WW II) in which this practice was quite common.

 

Talk about using "all" of the paper.

 

ed: for detail

Edited September 4, 2012 by tinta

[mooshi]

I write on one side regardless of bleedthrough. It's just a preference.

[oshizemi]

Both sides. Saves me money.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I write on one side regardless of bleedthrough. It's just a preference.

 

Yah, same here.