Without something to write with a notebook is pretty useless. They’re not good at putting out fires or even bullet proof. I suppose you could use it to make a weird, minimalist, flat mouthed puppet but that gets old after the first month or three 1
Fortunately, there are many options. Unfortunately, there are MANY options! Let’s begin with a general rundown to get us started.
Pens!
Most pens can be broken down into categories based on their writing mechanism.
Fountain pen
This is your old school, fancy pants pen. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes I like my pants very fancy indeed. At the heart of any fountain pen is a nib and a reservoir of ink. As you draw the tip (nib) of the fountain pen across paper the ink flows onto the page. Most inks are water based. This means that the quality of paper in your notebook becomes VERY important. Don’t despair, there are some great options which we’ll get into at some point.
Fountain pens look cool and have tons of options. If spending hundreds of dollars trying to find just the right shade of black ink sounds fun, then, enjoy your rabbit hole. As a left handed person fountain pens are a disaster for me. First there’s ink smearing by my south paw as it clumsily bulldozes the page. Second most fountain pens don’t seem to like being pushed across the page rather than pulled by you elitist righties. Sour grapes? Yup.
Ballpoint pens
Ballpoint pens use a much thicker ink that is applied when a tiny metal ball at the end of the pen rolls along the page. While they are much more lefty friendly they’re basically everywhere. Don’t believe me? Go check your couch cushions, I’ll wait. Found one? Told ya’
There’s certainly a lot to say about ballpoint pens but I won’t. They work very well, they can be found very cheap (or free) and there are also very nice ones out there if the Bic Cristal isn’t for you.
Roller ball pens/ Gel pens
These are basically ballpoint pens that use different ink and tend to be more temperamental, also some of them leak. And now that I’ve made every pen aficionado curse at me I’ll say this. They offer a unique feel and writing experience that you really should try as you can find them pretty cheap at pretty much any place that sells ballpoint pens.
Fiber tip pens
The darling of the scrapbooker, artist, and notebooker alike. These are basically markers. Fine tip markers. Precision engineered, incredible markers. Look, these are awesome and they can usually be had for less than a fancy coffee drink so you definitely owe it to yourself to try one. That said, I usually don’t use them. Why? I don’t know, maybe I forget them? Although, my wife is an artist and so they tend to disappear on me.
Pencils
Ah, pencils. The real reason I forgo my fiber tip pens. Pencils use a very soft form of carbon called graphite. As it is dragged across the page the graphite leaves a line of itself on the page. Pencils can be erased yet if left alone will outlast every form of ink. It’s just carbon. Sure, it can smear but if you use the right pencil and the right paper it’ll be fine. Also, they smell like pencils!
There’s also mechanical pencils which you don’t get to sharpen and don’t smell like pencils but, I guess, they work too.
While that’s not all the options you have (brush pens, crayons, finger paints), those are the major ones. In future articles we’ll be exploring the ins an outs of each more thoroughly.
Right now, however, the main point is that whatever you choose it should at least work and be comfortable in your hand and ideally it should get you excited to write.