Episode 01: Why We Started The Writing Practice

This is where it begins. In the first episode of Think on Paper, Andrew and Tanya sit down for the conversation that started the whole project: a frustration with commercial journals that skate over the surface, and the question of what a journal could be if it asked you something real.Andrew explains why he stopped buying off-the-shelf gratitude-and-affirmation journals and started writing his own questions instead — roughly eighty of them, grouped into eight areas of life, the kind of questions no one had ever actually asked him. Tanya describes what happened when she first read them: not a quiz, but more like thinking out loud on paper.From there, the conversation opens out into why an unexamined inner life is worth examining, where journaling sits alongside professional support, why a pen on paper does something a keyboard doesn’t, and how ink, handwriting, and even the nib itself shape the way you think. It’s a candid, unhurried first episode about getting back to thinking on paper.What we get into(00:00) Why write your own journaling questions — Andrew on his frustration with commercial journals: gratitude and affirmations that felt cheesy and superficial, "skating over the surface" instead of going deep.(01:25) Eight categories, eighty questions — Dividing life into eight areas (family, friendship, relationships, work, money, health, spirituality, and more) and writing about ten questions for each — including the ones nobody ever thinks to ask.(03:06) Reading the questions for the first time — Tanya on "dissecting your soul without you knowing," jotting down notes she didn't expect to write, and the freedom of not having it all figured out.(04:47) We're all the same underneath — Buddha, the Delphic oracle's "know thyself," and Socrates: why the same deep questions haunt a 97-year-old grandmother and a 15-year-old teenager alike.(06:09) Rummaging in your own attic — The case for self-examination — and a clear line that deep trauma calls for professional guidance first, not journaling alone.(07:38) Personal stories — A frank exchange about instability, trauma and mental health, the years they journaled most, and why writing carried part of the work that talking couldn't.(10:00) The 167 hours — Why journaling is the sustainable practice between sessions, like the study you do outside a language class.(11:34) Shapeshifters — Reflecting across countries, relationships and careers, and Andrew's master's thesis idea: turning habits into choices.(12:47) Is life a project you keep working on? — Not perfectible, but improvable — and refusing "it is what it is."(13:57) Thinking on paper — Journaling as an inner dialogue instead of a stew of thoughts spinning in your head.(15:02) Owning your personal development — Tanya on claiming her own progress, epiphanies and calm as her own.(15:27) Pen vs. keyboard — The Buddhist "monkey mind," the idea of one-pointedness, and the nib as the perfect single point of focus.(17:01) No delete key — Why writing by hand is slower, more deliberate, and more intentional than typing.(18:00) Handwriting, calligraphy and the reMarkable — How the same person writes differently depending on tool and intention.(19:43) Handwriting and emotion — Does your handwriting change with your mood the way some people's eyes do?(20:21) Ink colours — Green, brown, Bordeaux, turquoise, purple: school-day blue and black versus the small adult freedom of choosing your own colour — and why it echoes the brand palette.(21:56) The fountain pen world — Penmanship as a subculture, nib geeks, the r/fountainpens rabbit hole, and people who own sixty pens the way others own guitars.(22:31) eYou.social — A privacy-first European social platform with post-by-post verification, and the journaling-and-paper community Tanya found there overnight.(23:50) Why this excites us — Journaling matters to everyone from the CEO to the homemaker, and starting a venture from a real, felt gap.(24:16) An invitation into the fold — Something for lifelong journalers and complete first-timers alike.(25:09) How to get involved (CTA) — Come record with us, follow along, and subscribe.Connect with usEmail: [email protected] on Substack for new episodes and writingJoin The Writing Practice on SkoolWant to record an episode with us — about journaling, fountain pens, paper, or anything in that world? Give us a follow and send a message. Get full access to The Writing Practice at thewritingpractice.substack.com/subscribe