My Favorite Analog Notebooks and Notepads
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Life, Creativity, Work, Writing, Productivity

Yesterday, I shared my favorite writing utensils. Today, I’d like to share my favorite notebooks and paper products with you.

I’m a seriously analog girl. I really like to write on paper. I use a computer for blogging and writing novels, of course, but for taking notes, planning, and just getting lost in doodling?

Paper, all the way.

My favorite notebooks either have blank pages or faint dot grid. I’m not big on lined paper. I like paper that feels nice — smooth, but with a little tooth to it. Oddly, I appreciate both thick paper that nothing will bleed through, and very thin paper that feels used.

I know that’s weird — feels used. But I like when my notebooks have that texture of paper that’s been flipped through. Like it’s meant to be used. Not too precious.

Here are my favorites.

My Go To Cheap Notebook

I love a composition book. I pick them up at Wal-Mart in August, during the back-to-school sales, and I always have a box of them around. But — they’re lined. And lined paper isn’t my favorite. And they don’t lay flat enough, either.

I’ve found these blank, unlined notebooks with a kraft paper cover that I like a lot. The paper is creamy, the books are small — A5 size, which is my favorite, but only 24 sheets inside, or 48 pages. They also cost less than a dollar a piece.

They’re perfect for taking notes on a single book as I write it. Which is exactly what I use them for. The book’s working title goes in the front. I do my plotting work in it, then I keep the notebook with me as I write, in case I need to make notes about future revisions.

Screenshot: Author

My Favorite Next-Level Notebook

I came across Rhodia notebooks at Powell’s books in Portland a few years ago, when I was visiting my daughter. They are — magical. I love them so much. They’re much higher-end than the little kraft-paper notebooks I use to keep my notes on books as I write them.

They’re also more expensive. But oh — worth it. The paper is smooth and just the right weight. I really like this memo pad style. These notebooks cost $5 to $7 a piece, come in lined, grid, or dot-grid paper.

And the paper, though. My goodness. It’s magical. This is a great intro to really high-quality paper if you’ve only been writing in cheap spiral-bound notebooks all your life. Trust me.

Screenshot: Author

My Current Favorite Bullet-Journal Style Notebook

I’ve gone through Lechturnm 1917 notebooks, which are the standard bullet journals. They’re pretty — super colorful, good quality. They have a built in Index and numbered pages.

Kind of pricey at $20 to $25 a piece, but I only use one a year.

Kind of boring. Everyone uses them.

I also find myself not actually using them. I’m not sure why. They don’t open as flat as I’d like. They feel a little too precious — like I’m afraid to mess up in them.

This year I bought a Hustle Co. A5 hard-cover notebook to use as a bullet journal. It costs 25 percent less than a Lechturnm and it has a neat pen-holder situation on the spine that I like. (Actually, that’s what made me buy it.)

The paper is relatively thick, feels nice to write on. The book lays nicely flat. And for whatever reason, I haven’t had the problem actually writing in it like I do with my Lechturnm.

Screenshot: Author

My Every Day Notebook for 2021

I changed up my Every Day Notebook for 2021 for the first time in four or five years. I’ve used a Miquelrius 600-page notebook forever. But I have a couple of struggles with it. The first, and worst, being that it’s so thick, it’s hard to write in until you’re about 25 percent of the way through the book.

It really doesn’t lay flat.

This year, I bought a Stalogy 365 notebook. It’s got a date thing happening at the top — where you can circle the day of the week, the month, and the day. But that’s so teeny tiny, I can’t actually see it well enough for it to be useful. So I ignore it.

The paper in this notebook is super thin. Ink doesn’t bleed through, but it ‘ghosts.’ In other words, you can see the shadow of what you wrote on the other side of the page.

For me, the ghosting is worth having so many pages in such a slender notebook. The Miquelrius notebook is so, so thick. Like three times as thick as this one.

For me, this paper is really nice to write on. Smooth, with that used feeling that I like a lot.

Screenshot: Author

My Resuable Goals Notebook

I seriously adore my executive-size Rocketbook. I’ve used a black Sharpie to turn the blank pages into layouts that I can write on and erase over and over.

I use mine as an editorial planner and to track my OKRs. If you use Frixion pens on your pages, those pen marks erase with water. Super cool. The Sharpie lines stay, so you can create your layouts and then fill them in with erasable ink.

Paper Adjacent Products I Love

I keep my Rocketbook in this pretty canvas notebook cover. I can store the special pens and the microfiber eraser in it.

Screenshot: Author

My husband gave me this La Vent notebook cover for Christmas. I’m not using the notebooks that came with it — there’s nothing wrong with them, they’re just kind of meh. The paper is on the rough side and not what I like.

But the cover itself? Gorgeous.

It fits my Stalogy Every Day Notebook perfectly.

Screenshot: Author

I’m a sticky note junkie. I have them in all shapes and sizes and I use them — a lot. These clear flags are my favorite for marking pages so I can find them later. I use them like bookmarks. They’re removable and can be repositioned, so you can reuse them at least a few times.

Screenshot: Author

I also like these smallish sticky notes. The 2X2 size is my favorite. It’s big enough to take a substantial note on, but not so big that it feels unwieldy.

Screenshot: Author

I write on index cards . . . a lot. My favorites are index cards that are nice and thick and sturdy. Not 3X5 pieces of paper. I want my cards to be cards, you know?

Anyway, Amazon’s Basic Heavy White Index Cards are my go-to. They’re thick enough, sturdy, and cheap.

Screenshot: Author

Another Christmas gift my husband gave me was a pack of Rocketbook Cloud Cards — erasable, resuable index cards. I’m seriously excited about them.