Is It Worth Buying Paperblanks For An Offloading Journal

[Citygirl]

Hi all, I am really drawn to Paperblanks notebooks and fancy using one as a journal separate to the visual diary I keep in an exercise book. The thing is I wouldn't want to keep any rants and long winded ramblings in such an expensive lovely notebook as more than likely I will want to discard of it later (as I did previous journals) so I wouldn't want to put anything too personal in it, I like the exercise books for using as a visual diary/scrapbook, the Paperblanks would be too small for this. Ideally I would want it to write my feelings in but if I ramble in it a lot like I used to do in previous journals one of them wouldn't last very long as they don't have as many pages. Is it worth splashing out or should I just stick to a cheap notebook for ramblings? I suppose I need someone to talk me out of buying these journals

[elderberry]

I think there's a thread around here somewhere about things to write into a journal besides the occurrences of the day. It's been a while since I've read it, there's been lots of different ideas like sketching, recipes, lists of all kinds (like "what makes me feel better when I'm down" or something like that, these can also be really useful because it's too easy to forget about things that are good for you) or something like the blog "1000 awesome things" for you personally.

So if you feel like getting a Paperblank, go for it!

[The Good Captain]

Try to get hold of the Clairefontaine spiral-bound books, I seem to recall that you are in the UK so try Bureau Direct or The Writing Desk. Cheap & cheerful and good paper. Simple to rip bits out or just destroy after. Have fun!

[Citygirl]

Thanks for your replies. I will look into the spiral notebooks as I can tear pages out at random. I do have a shorthand notebook and have tried to write in that as as a journal but I find reading it back a bit faffy, would rather have a standard book, nothing too heavy. Paperblanks are lovely but don't know if I can justify the cost of them for what I am going to use them for.

[Plume145]

Here's another question. Why do you think your offloading/venting scribbles would somehow not be 'worthy' of a nicer notebook? I mean, paperblanks are just niceR, they're hardly, I dunno, parchment instead of paper and exotic leather for a cover, with gilded edges and a complicated puzzle lock, or something equally rare and expensive. They're JUST notebooks. Pretty ones, sure, but they're not even as expensive as those Oberon journals, and plenty of people use those including for venting.

 

If you have a budget issue, okay, fair enough. They might simply be unaffordable (although, there are so many options out there that I'm sure someone can point you in the direction of something that looks similar but costs a lot less. Not to mention in all this time you've been around the forum, you've never said much of anything about using fountain pens, so paper might not be that much of an issue for you and so you'd have even more options).

 

But like I said, you have a bit of a history with these things. You're still faffing. Here's a thing. Venting is necessary, doing it in writing is a way that works for you, so by definition that is worthy enough of a nice-looking notebook. I couldn't dream of doing my venting in a plain steno notepad on a regular basis, I've only ever done that on a handful of occasions where I needed to write urgently and didn't have my current journal with me. If I had to do it for budget reasons, I would still do my best to cover it in nice or inspiring photos clipped from magazines, and maybe scrounge up some leather or fabric remnants from an off-cut pile and put together a simple cover.

 

I say buy the d@mn thing. Write in it, whatever springs to mind. Rinse repeat.

[Keyless Works]

Not that this is helpful but I have seen $300USD Smythson journals approx 6"x8" that are not refillable.

[Keyless Works]

Here you go:

http://www.smythson.com/us/red-travel-journal.html

Wow those Paperblanks are practically free by comparison.

[bogiesan]

[quote name="Plume145" post="2804478" timestamp="1382144186

"They're JUST notebooks.

...

you have a bit of a history with these things. You're still faffing.

...

I say buy the d@mn thing. Write in it, whatever springs to mind. Rinse repeat.

 

Nicely put, that about wraps it up with a bow. Find some notebooks, any notebooks, buy 6-12 of them, write your stuff in them, or not, and you can be utterly remorseless later when you toss them or burn them in a curiously unique ceremony, say, under a full moon.

 

citigrl, instead of faffing about ephemera, get yourself some fine writing instruments. Now that would be fun for the rest of us, helping you sort out which pen/nib/ink color combinations are suitable for each of your, umm, peculiar needs. But you won't be tossing your fountain pens; you can refill them.

[bogiesan]

Hi all, I suppose I need someone to talk me out of buying these journals

Look into my eyes.

You're getting sleepy.

Do NOT buy Paperblanks notebooks.

Never.

Not from the clearance table.

Not from a yard sale.

Not even if someone gives you one for free.

Just say, "No!"

 

Awaken now. Go placidly, even numbly, amid the smelly masses at Barnes and Nobel with confidence and be resolute; you are saving lunch money and avoiding a totally innocuous commitment.

 

My work here is done.

[Paperblanks]

Look into my eyes.

You're getting sleepy.

Do NOT buy Paperblanks notebooks.

Never.

Not from the clearance table.

Not from a yard sale.

Not even if someone gives you one for free.

Just say, "No!"

 

Awaken now. Go placidly, even numbly, amid the smelly masses at Barnes and Nobel with confidence and be resolute; you are saving lunch money and avoiding a totally innocuous commitment.

 

My work here is done.

 

 

We'll bite our tongue on this one; but you can most certainly guess where we would stand on this subject. ;-)

 

- Paperblanks

[Ghost Plane]

More for me! Mwuu ha ha ha ha ha!

[comfortableshoes]

If price is an issue, go to a place like Staples and buy their Brazil made composition notebooks. On sale they are 50 cents; not on sale around $2 or $2.50 for 100 sheets of paper. Sure you can only write on one side, but they are very affordable and you won't care if you throw them out later. And since you seem to throw all your notebooks away on occasion, you won't cry about the money lost when you do it.

I look at money spent on nicer notebook as money well spent. While I don't throw mine out when I'm done, I still don't look at them often, though my school notebooks I'm archiving. but. Yeah, you could spent $10 across a few days on lattes that eventually will be turned into "waste" or spend $10 that someday you might throw out. Get the darn notebook and enjoy it while you have it (longer than a latte) and what happens to it happens to it.

[sarahfar]

Paperblanks are fine, very nice and as long as you get them past I think 2008, they are very upfront about the date thing, they are pretty fp friendly. They make some really cool rich looking journals.