I really like Austin Kleon’s take on creativity.  His weekly newsletter is filled with bits and pieces which give insight and stir creativity within myself.  This fairly recent issue goes into the many options for pens and notepads and index card systems and … I get breathless reading it all.

By the time I got to his notebook turducken, I thought I was going to need a bit of a lie down.  I’m surprised he doesn’t have a notebook to keep track of all his notebooks!

Reading articles like this often causes me to fixate on my own tools and how I use them.  Many of the systems he describes are things I’ve tried, thought about trying, and almost always given up on.  Even my bullet journal has turned into something less than it was designed for.

It’s not the systems, it’s the fancy notebooks and pens.  And being a school supply nerd myself, I can get into all the fanciness.  But I don’t have the money to be spending on those things anymore.  And, what’s more, I don’t feel like my creativity is missing out.

I do have a preferred style of notebook, they’re usually the type which can be found in museum gift shops.  And I loved this sampler set of pens from JetPens (where I also bought this great pen case, which also stands up).  Those are my preferences.

But what it comes down to is having a stack of composition books, blank journals, etc. I’ve accumulated over the years, that’s what I’ll be using.  Nothing fancy, just something I can throw in my bag with the pens and current book.

I don’t begrudge Austin or anyone having preferences for tools which are more than I can afford right now.  I love learning what others use.  And I’m extremely comfortable knowing that whatever I use and how I use it will still get the job done.