Stationery Pulse: Four notebooks down to two, and why it stuck

October 12, 2026

New here? The Stationery Pulse is a short weekly letter for people who still think on paper. Every Monday I round up what's worth reading in the analog world: pens, notebooks, planners, and the people using them well, then close with whatever's new from Planning Engineered. The full gear catalog lives on the Shelf, linked at the bottom. One letter, once a week. That's it.

I went from a four-notebook Field Notes system, which I shared in a video early in the year, to a two-notebook system: one a catch-all general-purpose notebook, the other a collection of the things I want to keep long-term. Off camera, I read back through some of the entries I wrote, and anything important gets moved to a more permanent notebook. Open tasks get migrated to a project notebook or onto the this-week list in my pocket notebook. Fewer notebooks means fewer places for a task to get lost, and that is the whole argument. Two creators in this week's roundup are working on the same problem, so if your own system feels heavy, start there.

What's new in analog

Sunday Reading for October 11, 2026 (Gentleman Stationer): This is Gentleman Stationer's Sunday link roundup for October 11, opening with a Carl pencil sharpener plug and a Pen Addict recap of the Dallas show that questions whether a four-day format is justifiable. It also points to a Wearingeul modular glass dip pen, Karatis Tomoe River notebooks, and Lamy 2000 nib swapping, so open it if you want a quick map of what the pen blogs covered this week.
I Upgraded My Notebook Organization System! (Gare the Bear): Gare the Bear calls this video the "finale" of a studio upgrades series, with a proper studio tour still to come. Open it if you've followed the series and want to see the notebook organization piece before the tour lands.
I Used Sticky Notes as My Planner for 2 Weeks (Mark Your Pages): Mark Your Pages ran a two-week experiment where tasks lived on sticky notes, notes and information stayed in the planner, and every finished task earned a satisfying stab onto "THE SPIKE." If your to-do list keeps dying inside a notebook, this one tests whether making tasks visible and movable actually gets more done, and it asks which kind of person you are.
Weekly Drops: New Anterique Multi Pens, Carl Desk Accessories, and More Wood Pencils! (Gentleman Stationer): Gentleman Stationer's weekly drops lead with Anterique's first three-color low-viscosity multi pens, in standard and mini sizes, which finally put the .5mm Mach Ball refill in black, blue, and red instead of black only. Anyone who likes smooth ballpoints or long-point pencil sharpeners should look, since the Carl Angel-5 gets called a favorite long-point desktop sharpener on value.
Shop Update: New Stamp Sets & Stickers (Well-Appointed Desk): Well-Appointed Desk finished a batch of long-planned stamps after a stretch of pen shows and a bout of flu/bronchitis, and added two sticker sheets: Happy Hour and Lover's Eyes, the latter inspired by Georgian miniature paintings in decorative frames. Open it if you stamp or sticker your planner pages, especially with Happy Hour pitched for the holiday season and everything also on hand at the On The Paper Trail LIVE event.
Change Up | Kindle 2026 Aluminum Review (Steven Foster): Steven Foster bought the Kindle 2026 Aluminum in Seaglass Green with his own money and tested it for a week, coming from someone who has favored the base model Kindle for over four years. Skip the spec sheets and watch this to find out whether the upgrade actually earns its place over the base model.