Editing The Pen Addict 658/transcript (section)

== Comparison of Plotter and Traveler's Notebooks ==

* Pick one, man. Pick one. Oh man. Um, yeah. So while you, while you chew on that, I'll tell everyone while I, while I'm, um, while I'm bringing this up, you did a great video. Um, the, the title of the video is plotter rings or traveler's notebook, which one is right for you? And we just want to know the answer, Carola, which one is right for you? Like it's, it's right there. Answer the question.
* So, um, so here's the thing. Um, I'm going to preface my, my, my choice with, um, I've used traveler's notebooks a lot longer than I have used plotter. Um, I am finding myself really enjoying the plotter. Um, and so my choice is going to be plotter only because I've been using it for planning. And so if you watch my YouTube video or you read my sub stack post on it, I kind of break out how I use them. Right. And I've naturally been drawn to TN's traveler's notebooks for creative purposes. Um, but I like using the plotter for planning. And the thing is, Brad, I don't use the plotter for journaling, but I feel like I could. And I think that possibility in itself is like really exciting for me. And so I, I want to explore, um, not only using plotter for, you know, keeping myself organized, but I want to try and make it a little bit more of a creative space as well. Yeah. I think that's the interesting thing about this comparison is because I see it as like a, a, a pretty defined line between the two, right? There's no wrong answer, right? For which one's better. It's depends on how you're going to use it because I think it's pretty clear that they're set up for generally different things, right? They can do some of the same things and you can, of course, like they're both paper products. You can do similar things, but one is a ring system where the pages are, you can add and remove pages where the travelers, the inserts are self-contained notebooks, um, that once you fill a notebook, you can remove it and add another full entire, another, another notebook in there. And so the creative aspect is something I haven't done in the plotter. Uh, but they, they posted an article last week about, uh, creative journaling in the plotter, um, which I'll, I'll put a link in the show notes to that, which gives you a good idea of how a lot of people would use a traveler's notebook, right? When you look at this post that they, that they, um, uh, released in, in this last week. And I was just thinking, it's like, I would never do that with my plotter. Like, and, but I don't want to be restrictive. I don't want to tell myself I can't do that, but like, it doesn't, it didn't seem like the right format for me, but like, it's fun to see people explore with these two systems because they're, they're both really good systems. Like I said, there is literally no wrong answer. Like I think travelers is probably for more people for, uh, like we can do a whole nother podcast on the reasons why. Um, but like I use my plotter like exclusively, right? Like, so it just depends on what you're looking for. So I would love to see the creative process play out a little bit more. Like I've only gone as far as like adding new papers into my plotter with like a whole punch. Like I've got a bank paper section in there because I like how my fountain pens look on that. Well, could I do more? You know, maybe that's, you know, a little bit more of an exploratory area area for me. Like, it sounds like you might be looking to do.
* Yeah. Yeah. And, um, let's report back on this, Brad. Let's use our plotters a little bit more creatively. We might have to do just a whole, uh, versus, you know, plotter versus travelers, uh, episode because it, it, it's a, they're both like big systems. Uh, oddly enough for people who are not familiar with the system, they're, they're owned by the same parent company. Uh, so a lot of people may not realize that. So yeah, like we could, I could literally do an entire show on like pros, cons, usages. So, okay. So it sounds like you just challenged me to be more creative in my plotter, which I got to think about. Like I, I have to think, so I use a plotter narrow, which is kind of a tall, skinny, uh, format, which would work for my creativity too. Maybe I should put some watercolor paper in the back. What do you think about that? Yeah, I agree. And I will also say that the DP paper from plotter is, uh, great for light watercoloring. Okay. So you can do a little bit of experimenting and then throw some watercolor paper in the back and really throw some ink on there. Fine, Corolla. So I, I'm challenging you to a Twitch stream where you're painting on watercolor paper that goes into your plotter. Fair enough. I, yeah, this is, I think this is where I'm going to be a lot of work. To kind of wrap things up, um, you know, on today's episode, I think this is kind of where we're getting, especially after you've been in this hobby for a while, fountain pens, writing, ink, like there's infinite combinations and things you can do with pens and writing, um, and you know, paper types, ink colors, nib styles. But I've never added in this other layer of creativity with inks and paper that is just, it's still kind of new in my head, but I'm very interested in it because it's a way to use what we have. It's a way to be creative. Even if you're not a creative person, like you can make different ink colors on your page. That's awesome. Right. Just do something that simple. You don't have to, you know, necessarily draw or, you know, you're not going to be a Picasso in the Louvre or anything like that. But just like sling the ink around, let yourself go a little bit. And I see like our hobby as a whole, um, is experimenting more, right? Not that we're bored with what we have, but like, I can only have so many fountain pens. Like I am very lucky. I can get anything I want anytime I want. I don't need them. And I've learned that I don't need that stuff, but what I need are the creative aspects of the tools that I already have. And that's where someone like you comes in and helps me explore these things. And I just wanted to say, I appreciated that.
* Yeah. And, and that's kind of why I started the Twitch streams is because I love sharing, you know, how I'm using stationery so that other people can be, you know, can use your stationery in creative ways more for, you know, yeah, fountain pens are great for writing, but what else can you do with them? Right. And so I love, I love that part of let's do art on stream. Let's hang out, you know, have a chill space, but also an encouragement. Encouraging, inspiring, just a space to like geek out on our hobbies and have fun. Yep. Yep. And that's a great way to put it. And it's a great spot to end it this week. Thank you so much, Carola, for joining me on this episode. I'll have all the links in the show notes to everything that we talked about today. I want to give a shout out to Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's episode. And y'all should go get inky and go make a mess and grab a notebook and make it all crinkly because you threw too much ink and water on the page. It's fun. You should do it. All right. We're going to wrap it up here until next week. Say goodbye, Carola. Goodbye, Carola. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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