All Your Questions on This Surprisingly Creative Notebook Practice, Answered

Writing on scrap paper is more powerful than you might think

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This article can also be read on my blog

As much as I love keeping digital notes in Obsidian, and crafting my own platform-agnostic, plain text productivity systems, the act of writing on real paper will always be part of my life. Lately I’ve set aside my Moleskine Cahier in favour of …scrap paper.

Yes, I really do, of my own free will and choice, write in a notebook filled with scrap paper! Or reclaimed paper, as I like to think of it. You’ll be able to read the why and the how in a soon-to-be-published article on the importance of non-precious paper to my creative thought processes.

Today I’ll be tackling some common questions and objections that might keep someone from embracing this style of notebook. You may find them helpful if you’re considering if the idea has merit for your own papery peregrinations.

I can see the shadow of what’s printed on the other side, through the page! Won’t that be distracting?

It’s true — you can see print through the paper and on the left hand side — but it’s not distracting. Not for me, anyway. Maybe it’s a personality thing? I don’t know. What I’ve found is that having marks already subtly present on and around the page I’m writing on is enormously freeing, somehow. It’s like I can’t possibly suffer from blank page syndrome, because the pages aren’t fully blank! This is a gift. A ticket labelled “this entitles you to permission to write whatever you want, however you want to write it; there is no right and no wrong — just write!” Or draw, or scribble, or doodle, or turn the page sideways or upside down.

I truly didn’t realise how much those perfect pages were holding me back.

Sometimes I write on the left hand side of the spread, too, on top of whatever is written there. The best way I can think of to explain how that feels is to imagine someone who wants to act on a big stage, but stage fright always sabotages their best efforts. Then one day, they find themselves in a completely empty theatre; the doors are locked…