If James Ward has a nervous breakdown, it's Molly Skinner's fault

Or possibly my fault, for suggesting the contentious topic of notebooks for discussion at Stationery Club last Tuesday.

I didn't blog about the inaugural meeting of Stationery Club (which you can read about here and here), but I was there, and it was fun, and it was me who suggested that perhaps we could focus on notebooks for the next one. The reason I wanted to talk about notebooks was because at the first one a couple of people started discussing their favourite paper to write on, and inevitably those pretentiously-marketed, overpriced black notebooks with the quite-nice paper came up in the conversation. I've never really understood the utterly rabid fandom these notebooks can generate in people, and I thought that discussing the subject of notebooks at the next Stationery Club might be a good way to find out if they really were as great as people claim, or if I was right to be unimpressed with the Great Cult of Molly Skinner.

Stationery Club's second meeting was picked up and blogged by Londonist, which meant that even more people turned up than they did for the first one, and the room was really full. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but it was certainly a chaotic thing, and it was the first thing to push poor James Ward towards a nervous breakdown, because everyone had an opinion they wanted to share with the room, and they all wanted to share them at once.

Although I did have some idea of how just how contentious the subject of favourite notebooks is, and a teeny part of me was being a bit of a devil's advocate when I suggested it, I really did go in there hoping for someone to explain to me why Moleskines are so bloomin' popular, apart from the quite-nice paper. I'm always looking for good notebooks and my research has shown me time and again that there are plenty of cheaper notebooks with nice paper, and pockets and bookmarks and all the rest, and that, frankly, ten quid for the standard Moleskine is a lot of bloody money for a notebook that is mass-produced in China. Yet, I was starting to wonder if there was something I was just missing, because they're immensely popular amongst my friends, and I was starting to feel like the only person who wasn't in on some great big secret.

At Stationery Club, I discovered I wasn't the only person who felt like this, which was reassuring. Lots of people thought that the Moleskine notebooks are overpriced and that the way the company presents itself is a "a load of marketing wank" (to quote someone, but I don't remember who). On the other hand, lots of people got extremely excitable and passionate about how much they really do love their Moleskine notebooks. One girl was so enthusiastic, she was practically screaming, which I actually found a little bit terrifying, and which made OyeBilly lose the will to live.

However, it seemed that none of these people could specifically put their fingers on why they love these particular notebooks, so I really felt more in the dark than ever. It did indeed begin to feel like they were a cult, as one random stranger had asked earlier, after they'd been scared out of the room by people ranting about stationery. In fact, it all got so much for OyeBilly and me that we had a brief diversion amongst ourselves, where we discussed favourite sandwich fillings (we were hungry, and regretting not bringing any). This momentously important — but massively overlooked — occasion was the birth of #sandwichclub. It's still being massively overlooked, but the idea behind #sandwich club is that, since people often use Twitter to talk about what they're eating or which cafe they are in, perhaps they could pass along nice recipes or recommendations, and use the hashtag to collate them. That's it. All there is to it. Maybe it will take off in popularity and we'll soon be holding monthly meetings in a pub, where people will get passionate about their favourite bread, and whether or not mayonnaise is God's Own Condiment. In the meantime, post your hashtagged sandwich recommendations on Twitter, because everyone likes sammiches and we all have our favourites.

But I realise this is not a post about #sandwichclub, it's a post about #stationeryclub, so let's get back to The Great Notebook Debate and The Alleged Evils Of Molly Skinner:

At one point there was a discussion about other notebooks, during which I regretted not bringing my old one (I'd been holding off on buying a new one until after the meeting, in case I found something I liked more). What I liked most about this bit was finding out what other people use their notebooks for. Some people have different notebooks for different projects; some write in notebooks for their girlfriends; some make notebooks for their girlfriends; some people have notebooks to take to the pub; some nick them from work; and some people stockpile nice notebooks to only use them on occasions where they want to impress strangers.

One of the other things that interested me was the flurry of activity that popped up on Twitter after I posted a couple of things during the meeting. It seems that lots of people have an opinion on the Moleskine notebook, and wanted to share them with me:

Then there was a simple vote on which kind of paper and binding people prefer, which somehow descended into utter, utter madness. Honestly, reading this blogpost will give you no idea of what the night was actually like, unless you were there too. These words on a screen just can't convey just how much people care about notebooks. Which is to say, VERY, UTTERLY, PASSIONATELY MUCH.

And that's the point where James Ward almost collapsed into a gibbering wreck on the floor. But it's not my fault. It's that pretentiously-marketed but quite-attractive Molly Skinner's fault.

Ironically, I came away from the Great Notebook Debate at Stationery Club #2 with the intention of buying the same notebook as I always do, the Paperchase A6 Multi Notebook. It seems to be the one that best suits my needs. One thing I look for in a notebook is having different sections for different ideas — I've tried having different notebooks, but my brain is too chaotic for that and I just end up forgetting which idea goes in which notebook. I also like a place where I can stash a pen because I have a habit of putting pens down and forgetting them somewhere (I forget things a lot). And I'm a big fan of pockets to put other things in. This cheap Paperchase notebook does it all:

• costs a measly £3.75
• has a sturdy plastic cover and elastic binder
• is ringbound so there's somewhere to put my pen (Muji gel pens fit best)
• has lined paper, plain paper and squared paper
• the paper is nice to write on
• has five sections
• the sections are handily seperated by pockets
• 8 cardboard pockets which can fit anything postcard sized or smaller
• 5 plastic pockets of varying sizes and function, including two for business-cards, and one with a plastic zip
• did I mention it was cheap?

I suppose there might be another Stationery Club meeting next month, if James Ward has recovered from his nervous breakdown yet. I do feel a bit guilty for being the person who basically precipitated it, but I'm going to lay the blame for it firmly at the feet of that bitch Molly Skinner, aka Mola-Skinna, which is apparently the Italian way to pronounce Moleskine, at least according to Wikipedia.

Other Stationery Club write-ups from:
James Ward | Tonight At Noon | Ace Discovery | 1 Million Gold Stars