https://www.storyangles.com/post/index-card-magic

This tool offers a visual way to plan your novel. It’s been used by many successful authors, from Vladimir Nabokov to J.K. Rowling.

#indexcards #writingcommunity #writing #StoryAngles #writingtips

Index Card Magic

Revolutionize Your Novel Writing Process. Are you staring at a blank page, overwhelmed by the task of writing a novel?Many struggle with organizing their stories. Index card plotting can transform your writing process. This tool offers a flexible and visual way to plan your novel. It’s been used by many successful authors, from Vladimir Nabokov to J.K. Rowling.Index cards are perfect for novel planning for several reasons. They’re portable, allowing you to work anywhere. You can easily rearrange

StoryAngles

https://medium.com/the-writers-reach/map-story-beats-on-cards-674958665611

Every scene needs a job.
If a scene doesn’t push the story forward, reveal something important, or change something for the characters, it falls flat.

#writingcommunity #indexcards #storybeats #medium #scenes #story #storytelling #creativewriting

A comparison of A5 sized notebooks with 4 x 6 inch index cards on a cost per square foot basis

Notebooks Product Sheet width (inches) Sheet height (inches) pages price Area sq. ft. $/sq. ft. Hobonichi A5 Graph 5.8 8.3 288 $23.00 96.3 $0.24 Leuchtturm 1917 A5 5.8 8.3 251 $25.95 83.9 $0.31 Moleskine Hard Cover 5 8.25 192 $20.00 55.0 $0.36 Travelers Notebook 4.3 8.3 128 $11.90 31.7 $0.38   4 x 6 inch index cards Product Sheet width (inches) Sheet height […]

https://boffosocko.com/2025/12/26/a-comparison-of-a5-sized-notebooks-with-4-x-6-inch-index-cards-on-a-cost-per-square-foot-basis/

In part because of the Eaton Fire, I've been way behind on filing my index cards. Today I blew through a massive stack of about 300 index cards!
Acquired Brodart Colored Blank Punched Catalog Cards (shopbrodart.com)

Medium-weight colored blank punched catalog cards
blue, green, buff, ivory, white, salmon

Stocking stuffers anyone? Santa brought 6,000 index cards down the proverbial chimney today. Should have enough now to index all the books in the house? 

In this blog post, I explore partitioning the alphabet into 8 balanced buckets for even word-start distribution. Dynamic programming tackles the imbalance of frequent letters like S & T vs. rare ones like Q & X.
This approach not only solves indexing frustrations but transforms your note-taking! 📚✨ #Productivity #Optimization #Linguistics #indexcards
https://tessarinseve.pythonanywhere.com/nws/2025-11-07.wiki.html
2025-11-07

Acquired Lochby Field Folio A6 (Lochby)

Keep your A6 notebooks, pens, and essentials organized on the go with the Field Folio A6. Durable, vegan waxed canvas, slim design, and flexible pockets—perfect for travel, journaling, or everyday carry.

I recently asked the kind folks at Lochby “if the Folio A6 will comfortably fit 25-50 standard 4 x 6″ index cards which are slightly larger than an A6 notebook? If not, is it something you might consider for some of us ‘Hipster PDA’ tribe members in the future?”  

Erring on the side of caution their customer service replied, “Unfortunately, since the Field Folio A6 zips up, there’s no way to fit this many index cards in it without the potential for damaging them when zipping it up. But I’ll take note of your suggestion and pass it on to our product development team so we can consider it as well as gauge interest.”

Because I often use A6 sized notebooks, I couldn’t resist adding to my Lochby collection, so I went ahead and ordered it anyway.

It arrived in the post yesterday. Today I’m happy to report that it actually will accommodate 4 x 6″ index cards reasonably well.  I can comfortably fit about 30 cards into the right side pocket and still have room to tuck a Hobonichi A6 notebook into the folio and still zip it shut handily. 

Because I usually have a few pre-glued decks of index card “notebooks” sitting around, I tried one of these and can happily report that the back cover/board fits into the right pocket easily (just as you’d tuck the back cover of a notebook into it) and works well with the Lochby A6 folio! (The center elastic bands are slightly smaller and fairly tight, and could work with these glued decks too, but will tend to cut the glue at the ends, so one should take care here or carefully only glue the center 5 inches of the deck for this use case.) I suspect that if one had a plastic wallet-photo type holder, it might work well in this, particularly if you’re carrying around some of your daily use cards in addition to blank cards for future use. 

Acquired File Tab 3 Inch Punch (McGill Incorporated)

A punch for making file tabs of 2 1/4" x 3/4"
P/N 68500

I had been considering getting a custom punch made several times, but never looked to see if one already existed commercially. Today, while doing a 5 minute peruse of the thrift store, there it was!

When you use as many tabbed index card dividers as I do, this can be incredibly useful. It’s just the right size for doing 1/3 cut tabs on 4″ x 6″ index cards.

Acquired at Acts Thrift Store on October 7, 2025 for $2.50.

Acquired Pen and Pad Holder in blue lacquerware with ship and nautical design (Otagiri (Japan))

Design by Gibson Greeting Cards, Inc.

I’ve been wanting a vintage desktop index card holder and pen set for a bit. This excellent version has a nautical theme featuring a ship with subtle blue lines on the sails and red rope lines that call to mind the red and blue lines on standard lined index cards. The fact that the blue color pairs well with my executive tanker desk doesn’t hurt.

$3.99 at Acts Thrift Store, Pasadena, CA. Acquired on 2025-10-07.