Editing The Pen Addict 510/transcript (section)

== Journal vs Planner ==


'''Myke:''' Maybe. Okay. I mean, it's worth remembering that I'm talking about journal, not planner, right? Correct. I have a planner. I have a journal.

'''Brad:''' That's why I wanted to make this distinction. And that's why I thought it was a good question for you. Yeah. Because I do write. It's more emotional. Right. You will take a day and say, hey, this was good. This was bad. And sometimes the bad could technically be really bad. And have you ever gone back and gone, that was a little much. And let me redact this or something.

'''Myke:''' I tell you what is actually a better, I think, a better way of saying it. It's never the time for me. Or like rarely at the time. It's if I look back and it's not, the issue for me isn't, why did you, you shouldn't have written that. It's more like you're an idiot for thinking that or feeling that way. Or you know what I mean? Like you were wrong there or you were being stupid, that kind of thing.

'''Brad:''' So the argument would then be your journal did its job.

'''Myke:''' Yes. If I was, yes. If you're looking at it from a reflecting point of view.

'''Brad:''' Right. It could go away. You could rip the page out. But at the time where you did the thing, you needed it. Yeah, sure. Right. So you could argue that your journal did its job. And like that's the thing we always express is like anything can go in there. It doesn't mean, hey, maybe I had a regret later. And maybe, you know, maybe we need to send this page through the shredder. Yeah. But you know what? You got it out and you got past that. Right.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' So I think that's just like an important concept is to have a book to not hold back on. Right. Even if it's a secondary book. Right. It's like, oh, I have this great journal or I have this great planner. And like I'm doing tasks and I'm making notes and I'm saying how my day was. You know, not every day is, you know, hunky-dory and just amazing. Right. And sometimes there's bad days and you need to get that out on the page. That also doesn't mean that you can't go back and say, you know what? That was maybe a bridge too far. Let's get rid of this page. So I thought it was like a good kind of just basic conversation to have about journaling in general. So I thought that was a really good question.

'''Brad:''' This question is probably more for me than you because your journal, your theme system journal, is basically a rule-based journal. Like you get to decide what the rules are, but you essentially follow a set of rules every day. Right. Is that fair?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I do.

'''Brad:''' I mean, I set my structure. You make the rules though. Like it's not telling you what the rules are, but there are rules. Yeah. Where like my journal doesn't have any rules. And sometimes that's harder. Right. Like the reason why the theme system is so good and so popular is because it allows you to create your own set of guidelines. And then those set of guidelines are theoretically what you will follow the most to get the most out of your journal. Whereas I have a blank journal that says, here you go. And sometimes I struggle with that. Right. And that's why I've gone through.

'''Myke:''' I can't do the blank page. That's why when I do the. It's why I have boxes. You know, I can't deal with just a, here's just a blank sheet. Do whatever you want with it. I can't, I can't do that. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. And that's why I go back and forth on the theme system because it's like sometimes, Brad, I just need structure. I need to do the thing. And I thoroughly enjoy it every time I do it. And then I was, then I will have a theme system and then I'll have a third notebook going because, well, I just want to write some other random stuff. And then I back out of the theme system. So I'm always like in and out and in and out. And I always love it when I use it. But then sometimes I feel like I don't need it. And then I go right back to saying, hey, I can write everything. And that's not what I need right now. I need to write the specifics. So, you know, it's a journaling conversation is always fun. It's just such this huge nebulous thing that's very individualistic. And I love all the journaling and planning questions. And we always get a lot of good feedback. So if y'all have any planner rules or if you have any regrets, talk about like regrets or anything. Y'all let me know. Feel free to email me. Hello at PenHack.com. You know, and just talk about how you use your stuff because that's what we like to do here the most. So do you, this is a secondary question and I'm going to adjust this a little bit from Temporally Arai. Do you audit your theme system journals when you're done? And I'm sure I've asked you this in the past, but I can't recall the answer.

'''Myke:''' I don't even really know what to do with them. I flick through them sometimes and mostly I just put them in a drawer. But honestly, I just feel like I should just shred them and move on. But I just, I haven't worked that out yet. I'm not really, I am not one to like sit and go through it. Like I genuinely think most days I wouldn't even understand what I'm talking about.

'''Myke:''' You know, like I'm talking about something that feels important to me right now. But like I'm not going to sit and give a bunch of contacts to my journal for me. Like it's because I don't do that. I feel like if I ever flick through them, but a lot of the time I'm like, what is this even talking about? I don't even know.

'''Brad:''' Right. There's no necessary, there's no need to go back and reflect because it's more. Small picture isn't the right word, but it's more specific.

'''Myke:''' It's a mental health thing for now. And like a thing to help me, as we say, stay on course and stay productive right now. Not for like me to, I'm not doing this for me to reflect on. And that's like a different way of journaling, right? Like I think that that leans heavily, more heavily into the type that you do where it's more prosy.

'''Brad:''' Yes. Yes. Yeah. Definitely. And like a lot of times I will go back and if I'm reflecting through a journal, like starting at the front and going through it, I'll almost skip anything that's the more long form writing because that was more in the moment stuff. What I will pick up on is like notes and shorter form ideas. Like sometimes I'll use, I have never done an entire notebook like this, but sometimes I'll use just draw like a little, like a little special, draw like, you know, you could use a light bulb or whatever and then have like an index page of all the pages that the light bulbs were on. Like as, Hey, these are ideas that might be good to refer back to, but the four pages straight, I wrote about the weekend that I had that I don't need to reflect on that. Like I'm good. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. So like in your case, like I, I mean, throw them in the fireplace is a very valid thing. Right. Like, and, and there's some, you know, there's some comfort in that too. It's like, I, this, this did its job and now it's time has come.

'''Myke:''' That's how I kind of, kind of feel about like it closes and well, that's another period of time. Yep. Complete.

'''Brad:''' So, you know, good, good. Okay. I just wanted to get those. I like these, these little planner questions again, because they're just like picking out, you know, pens and inks. It's like so specific. And like, that's the kind of things I like to nerd out on is like the very specific stuff like this. So thank you all for those questions. I wrote down, I have a list of about eight or 10 more questions that I'm keeping in a file. So we'll pick up, we'll pick and choose some of these as we go through the coming weeks. And, you know, it's just a future, future podcast notes and topics. So there you go.

'''Myke:''' I like that. If you do have these kind of very specific planner related questions, you can send them in the same way you do any Ask TPA question. Tweet with the hashtag Ask TPA. You can use question mark Ask TPA in the RelayFM members discord, or you can email them to hello at penaddict.com.

'''Brad:''' And if you email me, like the questions like you really want to be sure like I get to put Ask TPA in the title. That does help.

'''Myke:''' Let's actually finish out today's episode of a couple of more generic, more regular Ask TPA questions. First comes from Frames who asked Brad, what stationary items did you take with you on your last vacation?

'''Brad:''' Good question. I tried to limit myself. So we talked about the Atlanta Pen Show wrap up is I returned home from the Atlanta Pen Show, had a really busy evening, then left the next morning to go on vacation. So I had really no time to think about what I wanted to do. So I brought the basics. So I brought my planner, which is my Hobonichi Cousin A5. And I bought my journal, which is still my Misubi Indigo Denim Journal. Brought those two paper goods. And then I brought a brass town full of mostly new pens that I picked up at the Atlanta Pen Show. And then a couple of pens that I just wanted to bring that I had inked up, you know, like my elbow. So essentially six pens, two notebooks. I worked in my planner for two days and then skipped like five. So that was the first gap in my planner that I've had. And I'm totally cool with that. It's vacation. I don't need to be messing around with that. And then journaling. I didn't do any journaling. I just did some basically what I was talking about before, like idea writing. Like I really like the vacation is good. Like getting away from home allows you to just I I always often think about project stuff. So I always want to have something to write in when I'm on vacation. Usually just something like the journal, which, you know, an open page journal, not a planner to just kind of. Note sketch, you know, a lot of times, you know, like the way we do vacation, we have a lot of downtime at night. Right. Because we have kids and, you know, I'm I'm not going out partying at night on vacation. You know, I'm like at eight o'clock, you know, I'm like sitting there and don't really have much to do. So that's when you get out your notebook and sketch or brainstorm some ideas and listen to some music and have an adult beverage and write a few things. So I didn't use much of what I took and I even took a limited amount. So, yeah, that was it. Sometimes I will plan for that differently. But that is a really good basic carry set up for me on vacation when I'm not planning to write a lot of stuff.

'''Myke:''' And I have a question from Jill as well. Gil, sorry, I should say. I'm assuming Gil with one L, right?

'''Brad:''' GIL. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Love the needlepoint discussion on episode 509. Are XF, I assume you mean extra fine? Mm-hmm. Or needle ground nibs more likely to have ink flow issues? Are there brands of ink that you intentionally avoid or prefer with your superfine nibs?

'''Brad:''' So that's a really good question. Good follow-up. Good follow-up. I, it's about expectations with the flow, okay? When you get a needlepoint nib, you're signing up for a dry-flowing nib. Because if you have a wet-flowing nib, you no longer have a needlepoint line effectively on the page, right? So that matters as far as, like, your needlepoints go. When you're thinking about the idea of a needlepoint and ink flow, you have to realize what you're signing up for on the front end, right? And that's not to have a flow issue, but to have a more dry line experience. Because if you have a wet line, then you're kind of, you know, missing the point of owning a needlepoint.

'''Brad:''' Secondly, related to that, steel nibs versus gold nibs probably makes one of the bigger differences in needlepoints for grounds. Like, as compared to, say, like, a cursive italic steel versus gold. Because that little fine grind you have on a gold nib is going to be more flexible than a steel nib. So, technically, you will get a little bit better flow because the tines are going to spread and your lines are going to be effectively wider. That's why I prefer steel needlepoint nibs. Because I don't really want that flexibility. I do have some gold nib needlepoints that I do love. But if you're asking me, like, a preference, I do prefer the nail type steel nibs. The inks, I will intentionally avoid any extreme sheening inks. Certainly not shimmer. Like, that's not even a consideration. Anything that has, like, an intense sheen or an intense saturation. I tend to go more basic the better. For inks, I use a lot of... Brand blue blacks. Like, a Pilot blue black. Lamy blue black. Things like that. That I know are going to just be consistent. And, you know, not something I have to really consider what I'm using. You know, just your thinner traditional inks. You know, anything from Diamine. Like, Pilot Roshizuku's. I like a lot of bright blues. I will pick that because when your line is that thin, that brightness of the blue, like a Konpecki, really, really stands out on the page. And it makes it a little bit more easy to read. So, yeah. I tend to stick with the basics and not do anything. I won't use an ink with a lot of character, if you will. Because you're not going to get the effects that the ink is being sold for. Like, a really good one is Venta Armada. Which is one of my favorite inks. But I almost need to use that in a stub nib. Because it's kind of bland until you get a lot of ink on the page. And then the character comes out. Well, inherently with a needlepoint, you're not going to get a lot of that inky character on the page. You're just going to see, like, this dull, like, gray line. That's not going to be legible. So, therefore, I would never choose an ink with that much character for a needlepoint. So, I stick with the basics. Thanks.

'''Myke:''' All right. If you would like to send in a question for us to answer the show, I'll say it again. Tweet, hashtag AskDPA, question mark AskDPA in the Discord. Email them to hello at penaddict.com. If you want to find Brad online, in the meantime, go to penaddict.com. He's penaddict on Instagram. Dowdyism on Twitter. And he streams live two times a week. Twitch.tv slash penaddict. I'm imyke. I-m-y-k-e. And I stream on Fridays at mike.live. Thank you so much to our sponsors of this week's episode, Squarespace and Pen Chalet. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. The Pen Addict is hosted by Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley. Written by Brad Dowdy with assistance from Myke Hurley. Fact-checking by Brad Dowdy with special assistance in this episode by Myke Hurley. Produced by Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley. Edited by Myke Hurley. Audio mixing by Myke Hurley. Branding by Brad Dowdy. Publishing production by Myke Hurley with assistance from RelayFM.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I'm so excited. You think I was going to do it, son?

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]