What's the Best Journal to Use?

I was on the tanglepattern.com website and ended up responding to an article about papers and pens.  I wrote so much that it seemed more like a blog entry, and I decided to include it here. Writing my thoughts made me realize that I need to get back to including my doodles, collages, figurework, etc. in my blog on a daily basis.  Practice is the doorway to personal magic.  Anyway, here's my response...
There are two differnt notebooks/journals that I use. The first is Miquelrius. It’s the Spanish version of Moleskine. The second is the GIANT JOURNNAL made by Michael Roger Press.


The Miquelrius that I use as a grid. It’s looks like it’s glued, but it opens fairly flat. When opened to a full spread, the journal is a little smaller than a full sheet of paper. The pages are thin, however the journal has 400 pages. I love this. I’m a writer, composer, and visual artist. I tend to be a magpie and use my journals as catch-alls. The small size lets me carry it everywhere.

The GIANT JOURNAL is spiral bound. It’s pages are 5.5″ x 8.5″. It comes lined or blank. The paper is typical sketchbook paper. It’s selling point–500 pages! The drawback is because the paper is thicker, the journal dimension a little bigger, and the addition of 100 more pages; it’s harder to carry in my purse. (Notice that I didn’t say impossible.)

If I could only have one I’d get the Miquelrius. I originally got it as a replacement for my GIANT JOURNAL. Barnes and Noble were out of the big one and didn’t know when another shipment was coming in. Apparently, I was one of a select few who appreciated its size. The Miquelrius came closer with the page count, so I decided to try it. Having that many pages and being able to fit it in my purse make it my number one choice. I get around the thin paper by glueing in a blank behind my tangle page. Then I use that sturdier blank page as a collage/gluebook page. When I’m in a waiting room or watching TV, I sometimes go back and tangle in the nooks and crannies of those pages. I like the layered effect.

ZENTANGLES!

I know I've been remiss. I have been so busy with school and the new job. I'm in that crazy "home stretch" time when you're uber-busy but the call of spring fever is too strong.

I miss doing all my creative stuff: writing, drawing, knitting, crocheting, sewing...

I definitely have NOT been doing my DRAW365, but I have been doing little spurts of doodling and writing. I really need to draw and write. I feel like I'm about to have a "creative explosion", it's like there's something simmering under the surface just waiting to get out but I just can't tell what that is yet. I figure I need to get back into the habit of free-writing and steadily doodling to help that "mind-wraith" pop to the surface.

In my google search for doodles I discovered ZENTANGLES!
This has got to be one of the coolest things that I've discovered. I'm not downstairs so I can't scan my examples in, but I'll point you to three different examples I found online (there are so many more, but I do have papers to write. Grad school is a B*@&%CH!) Anyway...

1. Maggie's Nest: Patty's blog looks very cool. It seems like we have a lot of the same hobbies. Her first attempt at Zentangles are here.

2. Daily Art Muse: Another really cool art blog. Susan just tried them too. Her review is here.

3. D.I.Y. Planner: Cool blog that makes you want to buy moleskine notebooks. Review is here.