A Whirlwind Away from the Whirlwind

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available for pre-order!)

I was able to escape the tornado wreckage for a week to attend the 2024 StokerCon convention--the annual gathering for the Horror Writer's Association. I go every year, mostly to see my spooky fam, the Halloween People, as my friend Kevin's children named us. But it's also a wonderful opportunity to network, gain new education and skills, and a place to meet your heroes. This year's convention was particularly good, and the biggest one to date. And it didn't hurt that it was held in San Diego, which is a very beautiful place.

At the convention, I gave a reading, a signing, participated in two panels, and helped to hand out awards at the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony on Saturday, June 1st, which also happened to be my birthday. Best birthday party ever! The ceremony is one of the convention highlights. We call it Horror Prom, or the Horror Oscars, and everyone gets dressed up and has a lovely time. My short story collection Root Rot was nominated for an award this year, and while it didn't win, the award went to one of my biggest heroes, Gemma Files, which absolutely delighted me.

I signed a lot of copies of Root Rot over the weekend, and I had some thoughts about the best pens for book signing. I sometimes had to sign with ballpoints, which just felt wrong. My fountain pen I brought for signing ended up way too feathery for the task. I did a lot with a regular Sharpie, which is the pen of choice for most authors, and it worked quite well. But the best one--the most ideal pen I found for book signing--was a Metallic Sharpie. The Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore was the official bookseller of the convention, and they had a tower of copies of Root Rot for me to sign. They let me pick from a selection of Sharpies, so of course I went for the sparkly one. And it was perfect. So much so that I'm going to get some for myself for this very purpose. My new book, The Atropine Tree, releases in just four weeks, so I'll be signing more towers of books soon!

That's really the only stationery thought that I had for the whole con. I was so busy I never even got my notebook out of my backpack, otherwise. But while I was running around the convention like a fast zombie, I did manage to escape a few times.

I wasn't going to go all the way to San Diego and not see the place that claims to be the most haunted house in America. That would have been silly. The Whaley House was indeed lovely, but not as spooky as I'd hoped. Still a fantastic museum, well worth the visit. I also wasn't going to come all the way to California and not see the ocean, so I spent an hour strolling along Mission Beach, watching waves, observing strange seaweeds, and eating what can only be described as California food, which I didn't know was a thing until this trip. Very enjoyable.

And then it was over, like a whirlwind, and it was back to my home, which is still suffering from the whirled wind. But progress is being made, and there are signs that I might be able to return to my hobbies again soon! Which is good, because the writing deadlines only ever seem to speed up, and my notebooks are calling.

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Posted on June 13, 2024 by Sarah Read and filed under Travel, Writing.

Plotter Letterpress Refill Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

If you've listened to The Pen Addict Podcast in the recent past, you've probably heard Brad talk about his Plotter Planner and how he uses different paper refills to create a unique notebook with lots of different paper options. Plotter is a binder and refill system that is owned by the same company that makes Traveler's notebooks, and that should be enough to let you know that the bar for usability, quality, and aesthetics is high.

Similar to the Traveler's notebooks, you first pick a size, then a cover, and then all of the paper refills and accessories to pack inside. All of the options are made to last and are pleasant to use. With Plotter, instead of a standard notebook that is strapped into a leather cover by the binding, these notebooks use a 6-ring binder to hold paper refills in place. This is great because you can combine different types of paper, add or remove accessories, and even reshuffle the order of everything whenever you want. The possibilities are endless, and I can see how trying just a little piece of this system can be addicting.

But a notebook or planner system relies heavily on the quality of the paper, right? No one really wants to use a planner that has mediocre paper at this price. Luckily, the paper that Plotter uses to create these notebook refills is fantastic. Before taking the plunge on an entire notebook system, I chose to dip my toes in the water with a single paper refill that Brad sent over.

The Letterpress Printing version of the paper I'm using here isn't for sale anymore, but it's still a good representation of the other options that you can pick up today. I'm using the Bible size paper, which measures in at 6.7"× 3.7" (170mm X 93mm). It's tall and narrow, similar to the larger Traveler's notebook size.

Aside from the Bible size, you can also use standard A5, Narrow, and Mini.

  • A5: 8.3" × 5.8" (210mm X 147mm)
  • Bible: 6.7"× 3.7" (170mm X 93mm)
  • Narrow: 6.7"× 3.1" (170mm X 78mm)
  • Mini: 5" × 3.15" (127mm X 80mm)

I think the Bible size is a pretty happy medium in between a standard A5 and pocket notebook (like a standard 3.5" x 5.5" Field Notes or the Mini Plotter size). It's tall, but still skinny enough to easily fit into most pockets or bag pouches with no problem. That extra inch or so provides just enough additional space to make the page feel larger, even though it's not technically that much more two-dimensional space than a pocket notebook. I'm struggling to see where I'd prefer using the Narrow size, but I'm sure I'll eventually be able to find a perfect use for an even slimmer paper size!

Once you have a size picked out, there are still a few more choices to make. With the layout, you have several options that you can mix and match to make the perfect notebook. Every size refill offers the same layout options, except that the blue grid paper isn't available in the Narrow size.

  • Plain
  • 2mm Grid
  • 6mm Ruled
  • To Do List
  • Drawing Paper
  • 5mm Dot Grid
  • Blue Paper 2mm Grid (not available in Narrow)
  • Chart Grid

So many options to make the perfect notebook! Keep in mind, these are just the memo refills, not the Diary refills (calendar based).

The cream-colored paper is smooth to the touch and provides just a tiny amount of feedback to your fingers as you write. In my case, the letterpress ruling means that there's no ink used to create the ruling — the ruled lines are debossed into the page. Even though the lines are debossed, I can't feel them with my fingers or when writing over them. It's really subtle and well done, while also providing a soft guide to keep my writing perfectly horizontal. The lines can be nearly invisible in certain light, though. This can be a good or bad thing as the lines can easily disappear if you don't need them, but it can be a bit of a struggle to find the lines when you need to draw a straight line or find the guiding line when writing. That said, it's still a really cool feature, but the standard ink-based rulings are perfectly fine and more dependable.

Since this is a binder refill, I think it's reasonable to expect that you can write on the back side of the page, and show-through isn't an issue with this paper. You can certainly see ghostly outlines of the inks through the page, but it's not noticeable enough (for me, anyway) to keep me from writing on both sides of the page.

The paper is Midori MD Cotton, which is made by Designphil, parent company of Plotter. It's thin and smooth, but handles fountain pen inks remarkably well. There's no feathering or bleeding, and dry times aren't affected. It's a great paper that is a joy to use.

At the end of the day, the Plotter system isn't cheap. But, what they offer is a high quality product that you can customize to your heart's content. If you can envision yourself using these refills, you can rest assured that the product will deliver for you. Thanks to Brad sharing, I think I'll have to start planning out my Plotter configuration soon!

(Brad purchased the paper from PLOTTER at one of several pen shows he attended in the past.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Plotter, Paper Reviews.