The ring binder is the best option for morning pages if you are left-handed, if you want to tear out and destroy your writing, or if you write on your lap. It is the worst if you rest your wrist on the notebook or if you carry the notebook in a full backpack, because the spiral becomes deformed. The stitching gains in durability and touch.
The three bindings that exist
Spiral or metal rings. A continuous wire or a series of rings passes through the perforation of the leaves. It allows you to open the notebook completely flat and even fold it on itself, leaving only one side visible.
Sewing. The sheets are sewn with thread to the spine. It is the binding of quality books and notebooks. It opens quite flat if the sewing is good, and it degrades elegantly: the leaves do not come loose.
Glued. The sheets are attached to the spine with adhesive. It is the cheapest and the worst: it does not open flat, and with use the leaves come off. Most gift notebooks are glued.
There is a fourth category, the ring binder with replacement pages, which is a different system and deserves separate consideration.
In favor of the rings
Absolutely flat opening. There's no holding the page with your free hand or fighting against the spine. In a thirty-minute session of fast writing, this is more appreciated than it seems before having tried it.
It is folded in half. You can work with half the surface resting on your lap, on a train or in a cafeteria with a small table. No other binding allows this.
Tear-off leaves. If you practice the ritual of destroying what was written, the clean perforation makes the gesture simple. And if you don't practice it, the possibility of tearing out a particularly painful page is a little emotional insurance.
Price. A spiral notebook with two hundred sheets costs as much as a sewn notebook with ninety. If you write three faces a day, the annual difference is notable.
Advantage for left-handed people. A left-hander writing in a sewn notebook rests his hand on the bulging spine. With a spiral, just turn the notebook over or start at the end.
Against the rings
The spiral sticks. It is the ultimate problem and there is no elegant solution. The wrist of your writing hand rests exactly where the wire is when you work on the left page if you are left-handed, or on the right page in double-spiral notebooks.
It is deformed. A spiral notebook that travels in a backpack with other objects returns home with twisted wire and loose leaves. The sewn one tolerates abuse much better.
Hook up. The spiral clings to knitwear, zippers and backpack pockets. It is a minor annoyance that repeats itself every day.
Take up more. With the same number of sheets, a spiral notebook is thicker and heavier because of the metal.
Leaves are accidentally lost. The ease of tearing off has a downside: the blades come loose on their own when the wire gives way. If you save your morning pages, this eventually happens.
Who should each choose?
Rings if: You are left-handed, you write outside the home on small surfaces, you want to tear out and destroy the pages, you prioritize price, or you abandoned the method before because the notebook closed by itself.
Sewn if: You rest your wrist when writing, you carry the notebook every day, you want to keep your pages, you enjoy the touch of the object or you write with a fountain pen on good paper, which almost always comes sewn.
Glued if: It's the only thing in the stationery store on your street and you don't plan to stop writing because of it. It's worse, but the practice outweighs the material. About that hierarchy goes the mistake of preparing instead of doing.
Ring binder with loose pages if: you want to reorder, file by month, or combine morning pages with other notes. It is the most flexible option and the most uncomfortable to hold.
None of these choices will change your creative life. What changes it is opening the notebook tomorrow.
Common brands and models in each category
In spiral, the school notebooks of oxford y Miquelrius They offer many sheets, correct paper and a low price; Their double spiral models resist deformation better. Rhodia It has spiral notebooks with its usual high-quality paper. Clairefontaine It also makes versions with a spiral.
in sewn, Leuchtturm1917 y Rhodia are the construction references, and Clairefontaine the paper one. Moleskine It is stitched but with thin paper: acceptable with a ballpoint pen, problematic with liquid ink.
In ring binders, any A5 binder with a 90 gram refill works. It is the option for those who come from the world of bullet journaling and want to separate sections.
Details of paper weight and behavior are in the A5 notebook guide, and the format decision in A4 vs A5.
The criterion that almost no one takes into account
The morning pages page is meant to be ugly. You write quickly, with mistakes, with crossed outs, with complaints about work and shopping lists. It is not a display item.
That is why a school spiral notebook, which no one associates with solemnity, is psychologically more appropriate than a hardcover notebook with an elastic band. The object suggests what can be written on it, and an expensive notebook suggests that you write something good.
Julia Cameron insists on this idea from the first chapter: the enemy is not a lack of talent but interior censor, and anything that reduces the solemnity of the act of writing takes away the strength of that censor.
If you hesitate between a pretty notebook and an ugly one, take the ugly one. If you hesitate between buying and starting, start.
Tricks to live with the spiral
If you have decided on rings and the wire bothers you, there are intermediate solutions that work reasonably well. The first is to write only on the sides that are to the right of the spiral when the notebook is open, leaving the left side blank. You lose half the leaves and gain half an hour of comfort daily.
The second is to fold the notebook completely on itself, so that the wire is behind it. It is the natural posture of the reporter's notebook and the reason why that format continues to exist. Requires a sturdy spiral notebook, because repeated folding ends up opening the wire.
The third is to change the orientation: use a top spiral notebook, with the wire on top instead of on the side. The hand never touches it. The drawback is that most of these models are small, designed for notes.
The fourth, for left-handed people: start the notebook at the end and move towards the beginning. The spiral is always to the right of the writing hand. It takes a moment of bewilderment and then it is completely forgotten.
None of these tricks turn a spiral into a sewn spine. But they allow you to take advantage of the price and the flat opening without the penalty on the wrist, which is the only serious objection to the format.
Summary
The rings gain in opening, price, comfort for left-handed people and ease of destroying the writing. The stitching gains in durability, touch, transport and comfort for the wrist. Gluing gains nothing except availability.
If we had to choose a single answer: double spiral notebook, A5, about two hundred sheets, 90 gram paper, without motivational phrases on the cover. It costs little, lasts half a year and there is no shame in ruining it.
The rest of the team covers it pens for long writing y the table where you write. And the complete method, free and in twelve weeks, begins in this guide.