This time, however, is the first time I’m mildly disappointed with JetPens because one of the pens I received was used. It might seem nitpicky, but this pen was: a) a unique color (olive green) which would make finding the appropriate refill difficult; b) a gel pen which means the ink runs down relatively quickly; and c) not disclosed as being used. But I don’t plan to kick up much dirt because the pen was on sale, so I’m not out a lot of money, and I don’t care for the ink color anyway.

One product that I am in love with, though, is the Jstory Index Fun Sticker tabs (in bear and rabbit). The stickers are folded over the edge of the page to make a nice little tab. So far, I’m using them in my book summaries notebook to simplify access to the individual summaries.

Frankly, I’m wishing I’d bought a bunch more of them and something tells me I’ll be stockpiling these soon. (I also found some cute ones made by Jetoy on Etsy and I’ll probably get some of those, too.)

Koi WaterBrush (#6 Medium); Zebra Mildliner Soft Color Highlighters (Cool & Refined); Kuretake 2 Way Flat Head Waterbrush; Zebra Techno Line 0.4mm Ballpoint Pen Refills (Black and Red); Zebra Techno Line 0.4mm Ballpoint Pen (Wine Red)

Zebra Techno Line 0.4mm Ballpoint Pens (Green & Pink) and ink refills (Black) • Uni-ball E-Knock Erasers (White & Pink) and refills • Pentel Ain Supplio Nanotech Scented Mechanical Pencil Lead (Positive & Refresh) • Sura John & Mary Small Pencil Pouches (Black with Blue & Pink with White)

Pentel Ain Supplio Nanotech Scented Mechanical Pencils in Positive (Pink) and Healing (Green) • Akashiya Sai Outline Brush Pen (Black) • Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pens (Summer Colors)

(Yes, scented mechanical pencil lead.)

There are many pens with which I love to write. Lately, I’ve been using the one I purchased abroad. It’s a Zebra Techno Line 0.4mm ballpoint (it’s smaller than any ballpoint pen readily available in the US).

My handwriting varies based on the writing instrument. With such a fine point, my writing becomes “microscopic”, to quote a friend.

That’s not the problem. The problem is my anal retentiveness when it comes to whitespace on a sheet of paper. Frankly, I prefer to avoid an excess of it between rows and considering that I can fit three lines of writing per single college-ruled line, it was becoming a problem.

After searching high, low, and somewhere in the middle for a narrow(er) ruled paper, I decided enough was enough and fired up Photoshop. The result was a striking success. I even took the liberty of creating a space up top for the project title, session date (which I’m always forgetting to jot down), and page number.

The exact specs of the paper are:

• 1” margins all around
• Line height is a little less than half the size of college rule (0.125” or ~3mm)
• Faint grey lines

The rows may seem excessively narrow, but I can assure you they are the perfect size for ultra-tiny writers. I can even squeeze about 800 words on a page.

Here’s how the finished sheet looks: (Click image for full-sized view. And since I’m praying I know I’m not the only writer out there with tiny handwriting, I’m providing a printable version for download.)

In the future, I may even add some custom illustrations or decorative nuances to help jolt my muse from slumber.

Well, before you start rolling your eyes and wondering what any of that has to do with writing, let me just move it along.

As we were waiting in the line, I noticed there was a box filled with notebooks in various colors and designs and anyone who knows me well knows I can’t resist a giant box of stationary.

So, as I’m browsing the books, one leaps out at me. The color screamed at me and from the woman on the cover, I could envision clearly the character who’s story would be told within it. Immediately I snatched it up and clung to it like life itself.

My sister, being well aware of this little fetish of mine, only giggled. Then her eyes got big and as I followed her gaze, I found the next one which would grace my collection. Only this one was larger than your average 8.5”x11” notebook and it had my current story’s heroine emblazoned on the cover.

Still you might be asking what any of this has to do with writing (apart from the obvious). Let me tell you something amazing that happened when I got them both home…

They inspired me to write. Like a madwoman.

In the current novel (by the way, I have an interesting announcement about it coming up), there is a character I introduced late in the game and then suddenly realized she played a larger role than I originally thought. When I had this epiphany, I decided that I would go back and map out her story so I could get to know her better.

After the first few paragraphs, it fizzled for a while. I had the basic idea of who she was, but it wasn’t quite enough to make her more than a cardboard cutout character and thus, everything sort of stalled.

When I picked up the red notebook, however, her story suddenly smacked me upside the head. Not only did I delve more into the character’s psyche, but it ended up developing into its own self-contained short story of a pivotal point in her life: how she came to be who she is.

My point is, never underestimate the inspirational powers of a notebook. Like the perfect song, it can help push you forward when you believe you can go no further.

Up next…The Power of the Pen.

(I hadn’t intended on writing anything about the pen, that was just a cute closing line, but as I think more about it, I do believe I’ll write about the pen too because I can be insanely picky when it comes to my writing tools.)