(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I recently finished copying Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince. It took me several years to do it, mostly because I didn’t work on it regularly. Don’t worry, this won’t be a book report about The Little Prince, but rather what I learned along the way.
The right book matters - I originally started copying an Italian translation of The Little Prince (“TLP”), but my Italian wasn’t very good back then (I am closer to intermediate these days), so it was pretty discouraging to write something I didn’t understand. It was so much better once I decided to give it up and switch to an English version instead.
What also improved the experience was that it wasn’t anything like the other book copying project I had started prior to TLP. Some of you may know that I’ve been copying Meditations by Marcus Aurelius in a typewriter font. I started Meditations in late May of 2020 and by the time August came around, doing primarily Meditations was kinda driving me nuts. Meditations is a difficult book to read and follow, and writing it in typewriter requires me to focus and slow down a lot, so it is fairly brain-intensive. TLP, on the other hand, is a very easy read and writing in my cursive at mostly regular speed was quite relaxing.
In addition, TLP is a good length for copying. For reading, it is a short book. But for copying, it’s long enough that it takes some time and effort to finish, but not so long that it ever felt laborious. I liked that the chapters were fairly short too, but I stopped whenever I finished one or a few pages, regardless of whether the chapter was done. If you’re thinking about starting a project like this, I’d suggest something short, like the lyrics from your favorite album, or a short children’s book, instead of Lord of the Rings or War & Peace, lol.
Related to this is that having the variety was good for me. I’m sure I could have made a lot more progress on Meditations if that was the only thing I worked on. But I’m also fairly certain that I would have given up on it too. Having several projects makes it more fun for my squirrel brain because I can work on whatever suits my mood that day.
The right notebook matters - When I started TLP, I was using the Hippo Noto A5 “slim” and I quickly discovered that I disliked it. No, I take that back, I HATED it because I realized that I really didn’t like super thick notebooks, and the Hippo Noto is 500 pages thick!! The A5 slim size meant that my hand was constantly “falling off the page” because it took half a sentence to get to the end of a line, and then the edge of the notebook would be digging into my hand. Ditto for writing on the bottom ⅓ of the notebook, which also got messier because my hand is falling off the edge. I got through 36 pages before I gave up. This is not to disparage this particular notebook, just that I realized that this size/format is not for me. Discovering what doesn’t work for you is just as valuable as finding something that does.
Example of “not right for me” notebook.
Side note: I shelved this notebook for ages wondering what I would do with a notebook that had 464 pages left. Ever since I decided to just use it as scratch paper, I’ve been going through it so quickly! I use it when inking up a pen to make sure it’s writing, I occasionally make word art, or figure out the order of my next Currently Inked spread. I’m sure some folks feel that it is sacrilege to use old 68 gsm Tomoe River this way, but I’m much happier using instead of having it sit on my shelf, taking up space.
I am getting much more use out of this notebook now!
Size matters. Once I gave up on the A5 slim, I decided to use something I hadn’t used before: a B6 notebook from Galen Leather. B6 is not as common as the smaller A6 (like Hobonichi), or the larger A5 (which is the size of most of the “regular” notebooks/journals like Leuchtturm, Rhodia, etc.). It’s a really nice size because it’s neither too big nor too small. It was easy to make progress and finish a page without expending a lot of effort. While B6 was perfect for this project, I don’t think there is a perfect size that fits all projects, so it’s always good to experiment. But if you’re not ready to randomly pick a size, you can try different loose leaf papers to see what size you might want to work on for your project.
Dot? Lined? Gasp….BLANK??? - Picking the Galen notebook also meant that I was going to use a blank notebook. I usually go for dot grid (for bullet journaling), or French or Seyes-ruled (for handwriting practice), so blank was uncharted territory for me. I knew that I couldn’t write straight naturally, so I printed a free guidesheet from The Well-Appointed Desk.
I printed this on letter size paper and trimmed it to fit the notebook.
Guidesheet in action.
I have since made guideshets in different sizes and line spacings for various projects. I’m now using an A4 one to use with the Yamamoto Paper Pack for writing letters. If it wasn’t for this project, I don’t know that I’d be touching my blank paper stash very much, so yay!
Some Tips/Tricks/Hacks
Washi tape for the win! - After printing my guidesheet, I covered the backside with washi tape, which adds a nice little cushion and also keeps the guidesheet from moving around underneath. The washi tape isn’t sticking to the page below, but the texture from the tape keeps the sheet in place.
Pro tip: use washi that has uniform thickness so your guide sheet isn’t bumpy. I used washi that came in a set, so it was also color-coordinated!
E-Books are worth it - Aside from not needing to prop open a physical book, using an eReader (Kindle app, in my case) means you can (1) see how far along you are, either by percentage or by page, (2) change the font, and more importantly (3) change the size of your font! With Meditations, I can only read a couple of words before I write them out because it takes so long to write them, so I use a much larger font so I don’t lose my place. Since I’m writing a lot faster with TLP, I can read more words before writing. I use a smaller font so I can also see where the line breaks are. Pro tip: If it’s not an in-demand book, you might be able to borrow it from your local library via the Libby app (or other similar apps).
Print out pictures - I can’t draw but I really wanted the illustrations from the book, so I used the Kindle Reader on my computer and pasted images into Word, resized them, and then printed them out on label/sticker paper.
I can’t even draw this - Printer to the rescue!
Single sheet paper cutter, the tool I never knew I needed - There were a few instances where I messed up. Like royally. Like when I was writing on every other line and was like wait, what am I doing?!? Or when two pages stuck together and then I had a blank page in between. Enter the single sheet paper cutter! Thanks to Pen Addict Slackers for recommending this Olfa Top Sheet Cutter!! In the past, I would have either ripped it out, or use scissors to cut it out, but this cutter’s blade barely sticks out, cutting just one sheet! I used it like any other straight blade and held it against a ruler so it wasn’t crooked.
The Olfa Top Sheet Cutter.
Teeny tiny blade.
Let it go! - Channeling my inner Elsa when mistakes happen, which they are bound to do. You can do one of two things: (1) Ignore it and keep writing, which personally drives me nuts, or (2) strike a line through it and keep going. The messier you make the cross out, the more noticeable it is. I look at it as a metaphor for life: mistakes happen, the more you futz with it, the more you see it and the more annoying it gets. But if you can cross it out, you have addressed that (1) yep, you made a mistake, (2) you’ve dealt with it, and (3) you’re moving on. But if ignoring the wrong word or misspelling works for you, then do that! Either way, it’s fine and you can Let It Go!!!
Looks pretty good, right?!
Take a closer look and you’ll see a simple cross out that you might not have even noticed.
Along the same lines, it would drive me nuts to start a new page only to discover the chapter was over in a line or two. Decided to just go with it and use the same pen for the next page too - that was kind of freeing. Ditto with what I did in the picture below.
I turned the page and there were just 2 words left in the chapter so I started the chapter in the middle of the page and it turned out just fine!
Random thoughts I wrote in cursive for most of it (with the occasional “italic”) and I really like the consistent look of the finished product. I plan to switch it up with different styles for the next project.
Writing has always been meditative and relaxing, and this project was no different. It started during an especially stressful time, with the pandemic, lockdown and virtual schooling, all while living in an apartment while the house was being remodeled. I’m so glad this activity helped me de-stress and relax.
I have finished notebooks before, after all I’m on my 10th A5 notebook for bullet journaling and have kept diaries many years ago, but finishing this project was different. There’s something about starting something and working on it until it was done. As a chronic project-started but not chronic project-finisher, I was really proud of myself for finishing this and am even more motivated to finish my other projects.
I recently saw Yunus Prens (of Galen Leather) and showed him my completed notebook. Galen Leather has been tagged in every IG post that I’ve made for this project and he was so happy and proud to finally see this notebook in person! It made me feel pretty happy and proud too! You may not get this opportunity, but be proud and share your completed work - it’s a big deal and you deserve to show it off!
One of the highlights from the Atlas Sidewalk Sale was showing Meltem (Yunus’ fiancée and Galen Leather’s nib grinder) this page where I used her cursive italic grind on the Kaweco Sport. She was so happy to see the writing in person!
Now that I’ve finished writing The Little Prince, what’s next? I’ve already started writing out an Italian kids book (meant for 8+ year olds, lol), which I view as a different kind of project because this is more about learning the language and I’m already understanding more words without looking them up.
More Mediations, which I’m happy to report is 52% done! This project is definitely going to take a long time before it gets done, but this continues to be a meditative part of my day, and knowing that I’m past the halfway point is very motivating.
Hamilton - I keep telling myself I’m not gonna throw away my shot but my motivation has waned significantly on this one because writing out each character’s names a bajillion times per song is so not appealing. But, having finished TLP, I’m more motivated to keep working on it! Maybe I’ll even finish before Meditations!
As soon as I make more progress on Hamilton, I will be picking another book in English to copy and plan to use different styles instead of just cursive throughout.
Here’s a little IG reel of the completed project. Hope you enjoyed the posts and my journey - thanks for following along!
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