Misfill, Relay for St. Jude Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

Reading:

— Relay for St. Jude - 2025 (Olive Octopus)

— Ink Review #2813: Colorverse Massive Storm (Mountain of Ink)

— Two Years of Curiosities, and May-August 2025 in Stationery (A Gathering of Curiosities)

— A Tale of Two Mousses (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— The unlikely story of how Banksy's artwork took root in New Orleans (Creative Boom)

— “Cmd+z doesn’t exist on paper”: Pat Thomas’ drawings are unapologetic and filled with feeling (It’s Nice That)

— AI doesn’t belong in journaling | The Verge (The Cramped)

— Reader Question 10: Personal Productivity Analysis Paralysis (Analog Office)

— 30 Days With Japanese Watercolors Turned Me Into a Painter (Wirecutter)

— Carry Scenario: Outdoor Summer Music Picnic (Everyday Commentary)

— Home Front — August Notes #2 (Line Variation)

— Fixative for Mixed Media (Comfortable Shoes Studio)

Watching:

— I Spent A Week Using Only Starter Fountain Pens: Here Is What I Found (dwrdnet)

— Drillog Dip Pen (Figboot on Pens)

— Both of the 2025 Nahvalur Pride Pens! (Inkdependence)

— Scopus Fountain Pens | Hand Made Pen with Nature Elements?! | Pen Maker Spotlight (Feed Your Creativity)

Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!

Galen Leather 1870 Marbled Notebook - Ocean Waves Giveaway Winner

If you are in need for a big, beautiful notebook for your big, beautiful ideas, then the Galen Leather 1870 Marbled Notebook might be the one for you. I have one Ocean Waves edition to give away, featuring 200 pages of 52 gsm Tomoe River, and the winner is:

Congrats Karen! I’ve sent you an email to collect your shipping address.

Laconic Pocket Log Diary B7C Undated Daily Planner Review

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

Plans are like goldfish, they grow to fill the space you provide for them. This past year, I switched from a Hobonichi Weeks into a Hobonichi Cousin because I felt I needed more space for more and bigger plans. But that was too many plans. I need to return to a smaller planner and make a rule that when I'm out of space, I'm not allowed to add anything else to my day. With that in mind, I'm looking for teeny tiny planners. When I saw the Laconic Pocket Log Diary, I felt I needed to give it a try.

This pocket-sized diary is the same size as a passport (though much thicker), so it fits in small bags, and only allows for so many plans. It is a six-month diary, so it won't last the whole year, but who knows what our plans will be like six months from now, anyhow? These days, 12-month planning feels like hubris. The diary has a vinyl cover that is removable, and the insert is a soft cardstock-covered notebook.

The first section has a spread for six monthly themes to be described--perfect if you have a specific goal or focus for your months. Then there are six spreads of undated monthly calendars. The days columns are labeled with a Monday start. There is also a wee column for a memo. Each date square is only about 1.5 cm, which is just enough space for one work shift, one appointment, and one event. Which is PLENTY. Then there are the six months' worth of daily log pages.

Each daily log page has room to write in the date, circle a day of the week, circle the weather and record the temperature, a place to record something else related to health or fitness, a meal planning section, and then a to-do list with handy checkboxes. It's part planner, part diary, part logbook, and it will make a nice keepsake for reflecting back on the past months.

Past the daily pages are some list pages that allow you to document up to 72 things. Books read, movies watched, etc. Then there are a few sheets of grid paper for making notes. The final page has room for handy personal information. There is also a nice note on the back page assuring that the paper is made from properly managed sustainable forests, which was neat to see. There are also two ribbon bookmarks, so you can keep your month and day marked.

The paper inside this diary is very nice. It's smooth and a soothing cream color. It feels and looks much like Tomoe River Paper, but it isn't. While the paper provides a great writing experience, it doesn't work well with liquid inks. Rollerball, Sharpie, marker, and fountain pen all had some bleeding issues. Gel pens, ballpoints, and pencil worked great. With writing spaces this tiny, I'd likely be using a very fine point gel pen anyway, so it's not an issue for me, personally, but if you stick to fountain pens exclusively, this one would be a pass.

The Laconic Pocket Log Diary comes with covers in eight different colors, and it sells for $18.50. That feels a bit steep for a pocket-sized six-month diary, especially considering that the Laconic A5 notebooks are only $6 — though those do have fewer pages and no slipcover. While the price is a bit more than I would have expected, it's definitely a handy little book. I don't know if it will become my plan-minimizing planner next year, though. I frequently have to plan more than six months in advance for things--in fact I have quite a few big plans already that happen beyond the scope of this book. But I do like the daily log feature a lot. I think it would make a better diary than planner, for me. But if you're also seeking to reign in your plans and don't need a whole year at once, this one is worth looking into.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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