(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
Ok, after my last not-so-quick “quick recap” of the DC pen show, I pinky swear this article will hold true to its title. (Disclaimer: “quick” for me means less than 1500 words, lol)
A #askTPA question came up recently where a listener was looking for notebooks for bullet journaling with white and not cream paper. My ears perked up because I had an answer and was yelling at the phone when the episode came on. The Rhodia GoalBook comes in white paper!
What is the Rhodia GoalBook? It is Rhodia’s contribution to the bullet journaling market. It is a notebook with numbered pages, an index and more. The notebook features 240 pages (224 of which are numbered), an elastic band to keep the notebook closed, a pocket in the back cover, and 2 ribbon bookmarks. There are 6 pages for Contents/Index) and two different undated calendars to help with planning/important dates. Until 2020, Rhodia only made the GoalBook with cream paper. Now it is available in white and cream paper in a wide variety of notebook colors. I bought my white paper GoalBooks in 2020 and 2021 from Cult Pens in the UK because they were the only place that had them when they first came out.
Rhodia GoalBooks with cream paper (left) and white paper (right). Pardon the lighting, it was overcast today. The cream one was probably purchased before 2020 and the white paper in 2020.
Cream (left) vs white (right.)
Contents/Index - I don’t always remember to use this feature as I also use bookmarks, clips and washi tape for certain sections.
The lack of daysmakes it easy to use the Goalbook for any year.
Space to enter monthly notes/events or as a placeholder where you don’t yet know the dates.
The paper in the GoalBook isn’t the same as what you’d find in their dotPad, but rather the 90gsm Rhodia R paper which is a bit nicer. The paper is fairly fountain pen friendly, but it can feather with wet inks or flex nibs. In general though, there is minimal ghosting and bleeding with most fountain pen nibs and inks and I rarely have to worry about ink dry times.
I am currently using the white GoalBook, but I took an old cream GoalBook to duplicate my Currently Inked log. Note that the colors of some of the inks on the cream pages may be a little different due to the pens being inked longer than when I made the entries on the white pages (some were light due to needing a slight dip in water or were darker due to evaporation in feed).
This is the current bullet journal with white paper. And yes, I really did ink up that many pens just before the St. Louis pen show!
From afar, the inks behave pretty similarly on the cream paper too.
Pay attention to the Lamy Studio and LMZ White Salt entries; the former has a bit of a green sheen that is hard to capture, the latter shows off the shading of Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi.
The green sheen is almost non-existent on the cream paper and the Nekoyanagi is really feathery.
Minimal ghosting and no bleedthrough on white paper.
Quite a bit more ghosting and bleedthrough on cream.
Writing sample with other standard pens and a pencil.
Not surprising that the Sharpie ghosted.
As you can see, with most of the pens, the papers behaved similarly but for some inks/nibs, the cream paper feathered or bled through more than the white paper. I don’t see any difference in the paper (besides the color) but the white paper feels smoother and a touch more coated than the cream, which would explain why it behaves a bit better, but folks who dislike coated paper may not like the white paper as much as the cream.
The Rhodia Goalbook is available in soft cover or hard bound, comes in dot grid or graph (though not all colors/options are available in graph) and of course, with cream or white paper. Some versions have an attached pen loop (I haven’t yet figured out why some do and some don’t). Cult Pens’ prices for the GoalBook range from $22-29 USD (or £21-27 GBP with VAT) though you may be able to find the white paper GoalBook elsewhere in the states these days.
One last thing, my bullet journal is very much a functional one that I don’t spend a lot of time making it pretty or for Instagram posts (though I occasionally post some matchy match pen/ink to-do lists). This means that it doesn’t bother me too much if the paper ghosts or feathers from time to time. The fast dry time, coupled with the index, numbered pages and now with white paper makes it my go-to bullet journal notebook. (I’m currently on GoalBook #7, books #1-5 have cream pages and #6-7 have white.) So if you’re looking for a generally fountain pen friendly bullet journal option with white paper, give the Rhodia GoalBook a try.
My stack of GoalBooks (#1 was a Leuchtturm, and the stickers on the GoalBooks are from Leuchtturm too, lol.)
PS - Less than 1000 words - I consider that a success!
(Disclaimer: All products have been purchased by me. The GoalBooks with white pages were purchased from Cult Pens and the cream ones were purchased from both Cult Pens and Lemur Ink.)
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