Writing Daily in a Scrap Paper Notebook Has Made Me More Creative

A non-precious notebook might be the key to boosting your creative process, too

Ellane W
9 min readMay 5, 2023

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Cartoon lineart showing a person sitting crosslegged on the floor, holding out an open notebook with writing inside it. Next to them is a stack of printed paper, and an empty wastepaper bin.
Image by Author

This article can also be read on my blog

Section 1, Where I unapologetically claim the fussbudget crown

I’ve heard that the things that bring us the most joy, also have the potential to deliver the greatest pain. It’s true! If you’ve ever parented a teen or experienced the delight of picking up a stunningly beautiful notebook only to discover dark, 8 millimetre-spaced lines inside, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Why would a designer ever think it’d be okay to smack us in the face with whopping great lines like that?? I’ll attempt to answer this question by putting on three different attitude hats.

  • Magnanimous: they’re catering to people with big handwriting, or who need dark lines because of low vision issues
  • Cynical: they’re nothing but profit-motivated ecommerce heads who went with the cheapest option in whatever app they were using
  • Victim: they delight in torturing those of us who know how to spell both Hobonichi and Leuchtturm

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Ellane W
Ellane W

Written by Ellane W

Designer and educational publisher for 30 years+. Plain-text advocate. Still using paper, but less of it. https://linktr.ee/miscellaneplans

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