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Ciak!

When in doubt how to say Moleskine...

"This is your Ciak journal.

Inside, your pen can record your important and not so important notes, your major and minor details, your useful and useless information.

Then once you are finished writing, with the elastic band you close your journal with a ...ciak!

This book is meticulously handmade in Florence, Italy by those who love quality, versatility and style.

Ciak, much more than a Journal."

CIAK

This is the first time I've heard of this brand, but then again I started using Moleskine only four years ago.

Aloksak

"To protect your notebook from rain, dunks in Venetian canals, and other liquid hazards, place it in an 4.5 inch by 7 inch Aloksak (by Watchful Eye Designs), which is like a super heavy-duty ziplock bag. The Moleskine with Bullet Pen attached will fit perfectly into this bag.

To easily remove the journal from the bag, push against the bottom of the notebook with your thumbs, while holding the bag and notebook in both hands between your first and middle fingers. If you angle the bag so that the opening is pointing down, the weight of the pen will also help pull the notebook out of the bag."

WanderLyte's Compact Travel Kit

Link: Aloksak/Watchful Eye

The pen is mightier than the laser

"When did we get so subservient to our new typeset-quality overlords that we have to apologize for anything done by hand? Why do we think that the Times New Roman Bold 24 point medium is more important than a well-written message?

Take a look at this sign from a high school drama department.

At the bottom, an apologetic addendum reads "Sorry for the hand written note... computers are not my friend today." Look at that sign. It's wonderful. Its heading is clear, easily readable, and it catches the eye. The three bullet points are well-formed and thought out. The different colors help the reader differentiate between them.

Why would that sign have been any better if it was laser printed in Word? No clip art, or variety of fonts, or anything that any page layout program could offer, would make things better...

Pen and paper works on the small scale, too. Extreme Programming uses the concept of the "story card", a 3"x5" handwritten index card that shows high-level tasks to be done. They're easily shuffled and reorganized.

Stop assuming that the computer is the way to go! Step back and consider what your target format is. Is it something you're mass-producing? Is it something that needs that "professional" look? Maybe you don't actually (need) the computer to take care of it for you..."

Andy Lester

Carnet de Vins

"As someone who adores notebooks of any shape or form, as someone who wants to teach herself about wine and is convinced that keeping wine tasting notes is the only way to go, you can imagine my joy at finding this darling little notebook at Lavinia, the wine super-store close to La Madeleine.

Small enough to be slipped in your purse or shirt pocket, it has a slim spiral for easier jotting, and a nice cover design for easier boasting. Each page has neat little sections for you to write the characteristics of the wine (year, appellation, producer, price), your actual tasting notes, and food pairing suggestions. (And yes, you do need to get to the point and use a teeny tiny handwriting, but hey.)..."

Clotilde @ Chocolate and Zucchini

Archives: Quill Bill

"It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword -- and in Quentin Tarantino's case, the pen is mightier than the computer when it comes to scripting his signature creative genius. It's a little known fact that Quentin Tarantino hand writes all of his scripts with a set of three red and three black retro-styled Flair pens. It's no wonder that the Paper Mate black and red Flairs were given a "supporting role" in Kill Bill Vol. 1 as Uma Thurman's weapon of choice when she composes her hit list -- laying the premise for Kill Bill Vol.2. When discussing his writing stylei, the moviemaker affirmed, "I'm not superstitious in my normal life, but I kind of get superstitious about the methods of writing ... it's the way I started doing it, so that becomes the way. My rituals are that I don't use a typewriter or a computer. I write by hand, and what I'll do - it's a ceremony, actually - I go to a stationery store and I buy a notebook. Then, I'll buy a bunch of red and black felt pens. And I'm like, 'These are the pens that I'm going to write Kill Bill with!'" Kill Bill Vol. 1 has been nominated for three 2004 MTV Movie Awards, including Best Female Performance, Best Villain and Best Fight. The awards are set to air June 10th."

"Tarantino Proves The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword"
Sanford Corp. Press Release

[via John]

Belated National Handwriting Day

"Who among you still practices the fine art of sending postal letters written by hand? Or for that matter, who can remember practicing handwriting in school? Talk about revealing one’s true age…

Today is John Hancock’s birthday (his 268th if you’re planning on buying candles), and so partly to honor him and his notable signature today is also National Handwriting Day. Started by the Writing Instrument Manufacturer’s Association (WIMA), ostensibly to promote a return to handwriting but obviously intended to benefit the association’s members, the celebration hopes to draw attention to the fact that we as a culture (at least Western culture) have lost some of our personality and individualism in the headlong rush to communicate virtually via keyboards..."

Gary Varner
Inkmusings

Pollinate Chain Reaction

"Wow. I just watched Belief’s presentation, Pollinate Chain Reaction, from Promax/BDA 2004 in New York (via Mr. Sutter), and I feel like staying up for a few days straight to create something. The video from the lecture, is 45 minutes long, but it will be some of the best 45 minutes you’ve spent lately. Watching this really hit home for me because it touches on many of the ideas I was trying to convey in my recent article for Design In-Flight, “Fighting Off Design Stagnation”. But, actually watching this served as a sort of creativity pep-talk. It wasn’t that they were talking about methods or ideas I haven’t heard before, but when it’s get packed together in such a concentrated form, it manages to smack you in the face. The same way when you witness something unlike anything you have seen before, be it a movie or a song or whatever, you are just urged to get up off your ass, create something."

Jason Santa Maria, designer and blogger
Pollinate Chain Reaction (Quicktime Movie)

If you're a creative person, or wish to be more creative, this 45 minute movie is a mind-blowing, power-packed must-see.

Getting organized

"Consider a datebook. Paper is endlessly formattable--you can use different color inks, boxes, and underlining to keep track of things. If your stuff for a day is going to overflow the allotted space, you can use a Post-It note to accommodate the overflow.

If you're sick of standard student planners and spiral bindings, you might want to look at The Daily Planner, a great source of datebooks and other stationery items. Datebooks from Exacompta, Letts, and Quo Vadis are especially well-designed (and not very expensive). Bookstores and office-supply stores are also good sources. Just buying a datebook that you really like can inspire you to stay more organized.

If you have many meetings and appointments to keep track of, choose a datebook that breaks the day into hours. If not, choose something more flexible, with blank or ruled pages to write on. And choose something that you can easily carry with you.

One obvious but very useful suggestion: Don't use a datebook only to keep track of appointments and meetings and due dates. Use it to list the things you need to do and when you're going to do them. A running to-do list can make a great difference in keeping up with your responsibilities. (Much better than turning the page and suddenly seeing that there's a paper due--something that you wrote in a week ago and forgot about.)"

Michael Leddy

Visit his blog.

How I Write and Authors who handwrite novels

"Last night I finished a short story called "Vrenna and the Red Stone". I seem less frightened of writing stories with gratuitous sex and violence for some reason. Perhaps I've been reading too much of Robert Howard's Conan.

The last page of Red Stone ended on the last page of my August through December Moleskine. I carefully labeled each of my used Moleskines with a slip of paper folded over the cover and fastened with the elastic band of the notebook. So today I get to start page 1 of my next story on the first page of a new Moleskine. That's a daunting page as many Moleskine junkies know. You want whatever you put in these books to be really good.

I have a pretty solid writing process now. While I am not exactly consistent, I get about 1000 to 2000 words a week written each week. I usually write when I get home from work around 6 or later in the evening around 11. I sit at a desk in my bed room which has no electronics anywhere near it. The only electronics in the room are three lamps and an alarm clock. I call this my "analog" room. I also have a poang chair from Ikea and a reading lamp to sit back, put up my feet, and pretend to read but pet the cat instead.

I handwrite about 250 to 500 words in a sitting in a Moleskine plain journal with a Waterman Expert 2 pen loaded with Pilot black .7mm G2 ink. I try not to do any editing save for a misspelled word or two. When I'm done with a story, the second draft gets typed into my computer using OpenOffice. I have a format template for the standard science fiction manuscript format (double spaced, 1" margins, courier new font).

Once finished, the story goes off to my best friend and editor. He beats on them and sends me an email with comments and specific suggestions aligned to quotes from the story. I open up the draft and make his corrections and then the story is finished.

Over the last year I think I've written about a dozen stories not including my Loral Ciriclight Everquest fan fiction. These stories include: The Fall of the Knives, The King's Man, Recruitment, The Blademaster, Mad Cow, Honesty, The Traffic Jam (which I wrote in a real live DC traffic jam), The Sword of Light, The Warlord's Legacy, The Bear, Pavlen (I wrote this short short in a boring meeting), The Demon Knight, Loyalty, Vrenna, and Vrenna and the Red Stone.

For some odd reason I became fascinated by authors who hand-write their novels. Sure, Orwell wrote 1984 longhand, he sort of had to, but what about modern authors who handwrite?"

Mike Shea

LINK

Image: sa.dk

How to Keep a Body Log

"If you’re new to The Skinny Daily Post, you may wonder why Journaling is rated right up there with exercising and eating as a concern for people who are working to lose weight and keep it off.

And the answer is simple: because it worked for me. Though everyone knows that writing, logging, charting are great and supportive tools in the process of managing a massive weight loss, few people do it. Or they start but stop. Something gets in the way. I live to push back and keep pushing....

...Here’s a way in: You get a notebook. My favorite is by Miquelrius. It’s plain and handsome, faux leather, and though it’s unexciting, I like it because it’s filled with graph paper. And I’m a girl who likes a graph. Find these online at thedailyplanner.com. You can get big ones and small ones. I use the big, fat ones. "

Juju @ skinny daily