I had a difficult time choosing what of the many ideas floating in my head I should use as my Link Love intro this week. So, I decided to just choose more than one.
First, Joe at Gentleman Stationer and I seem to be on the same wavelength right now. I have been expanding on the long standing post about Ring Bound Planners by adding other types of notebooks and planners like the Discbound and Elastic Band (AKA Traveler’s Notebook) Planners and Notebooks. This week, Joe posted about standalone notebooks and next week, I’ll have a post about all-in-one planner books. See? Same wavelength.
The next topic is a bit more personal so if you only came here for pen and ink talk, go forth to the links.
Everyone else, here’s a little personal life update.
Friday was my last day at my current job. Changing jobs can be disruptive and leave us feeling a bit discombobulated. Luckily, I have a couple days between my new job and my old job to give myself a buffer. The move to this new position will be good. Its a good company with good benefits and I will be working with some people I have worked with in the past that I really like. It’s all positive but I leave behind new friends at my old job and I’m a little sad to leave my previous position. I suppose that’s better to be sad to leave an old position but happy as well to move to a new opportunity. Right?
Now, back to notebooks and planners. Have you decided on your system for 2023? IS it the same or different than your 2022 set-up? Please leave details in the comments. I’m always fascinated to hear how people are using paper systems.
Pens:
- Pen Review: Esterbrook Premium Camden Northern Lights Manitoba Blue (via Macchiato Man)
- Luxury Pen How To: Cleaning Your Cartridge Converter Fountain Pen (via Pen Chalet Blog)
- Karas Pen Co. Decograph (via Left Hook Pens)
- Top 5 Pens Page Update Underway (via The Pen Addict)
- Platinum Preppy: A Comprehensive Guide (via JetPens)
Ink:
- Fountain Pen Ink Review: Vinta Inks The Awareness Project Collection (via Rants of The Archer)
- Octopus Fluids write & Draw Pigment Inks review (via Nick Stewart FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART)
- Stipula Calamo Ebony Black (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
- Monteverde Sweet Life – Chocolate Pudding (via dapprman)
- Dominant Industry Milky Way Blue Ink Review (via Pen Chalet Blog)
- The Quest for the Perfect Green-Black Ink: Anderillium Colossal Squid Dark and Green Kingfisher Green (via The Gentleman Stationer)
- Laban Ares Red (via Mountain of Ink)
- Van Dieman’s Wineglass Bay on Muji Planting Tree (via Inkcredible Colours)
Notebooks & Paper:
- Guide to Notebook Systems, Part IV: Single Notebooks, or the “Non-System System” (via The Gentleman Stationer)
- Midori MD Notebook Diary A6 1 Day 1 Page Diary | FLIP-THROUGH (via Seaweed Kisses)
- Note taking in your Filofax (via Philofaxy)
- Analogue Dialogue // Welcome Nolty 2023 Planner! // Kei and Wakako (via Baum-kuchen)
- 2023 Planner Overview (via JetPens Blog))
- How to Use the Hobonichi Techo (via JetPens Blog)
- (67) Journaling for People Who Don’t Like Journaling | LinkedIn (via The Cramped)
Art & Creativity:
- My Tools Update (via Apple-Pine)
- Portable and Precise, Horizon’s ‘Swiss Army Knife of Sketch Tools’ Combines an Array of Functions into One Ruler (via Colossal)
- Laundry Treasures (via Apple-Pine)
- Mixed Media Art Supplies for Urban Sketching (via Parka Blogs)
- Why artists and designers are moving out of big cities (via Creative Boom)
- Why Adobe software is changing, and what it means for the future of creativity (via Creative Boom)
Other Interesting Things:
- Vintage Illustrations of Flora and Fauna Are Superimposed into Surreal Portraits by MUMI (via Colossal)
- The Most Pawesome Looks From NYC’s Halloween Dog Parade (via Hyperallergic)
- Bungubox Enshu Cotton Pen Roll and Sleeve Review (via The Pen Addict)
- How To Make A “Fancy” Pen Display Case (via Seaweed Kisses)
- My Olympia (via The Cramped)
- Take A Trip Through The Pepper-Verse With These Alternatives To The Good Doctor (via Dieline)
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Congrats on the new job!
For years now, I’ve been using the Levenger pre-printed daily calendar cards. I’ve also been using my Hobonichi A6 for the monthly view and a Leuchtturm Week view. With the Hobonichi Cousin in English for 2023, I’m going to try to put all three views in just one book. I’ll still use the A6 for journaling and habit tracking, but the Cousin is going to be the monthly, weekly, and daily planning center.
In related news, if anyone wants an unopened Leuchtturm 2023 week planner in sage green, I have one available. 🙂
I invested big in all the traveller’s size (regular) notebooks last year as I liked the portability and multiple options for inserts. I spent ages devising the layout that seemed to work best: days of the week (for appointment times) on the left, to do list and notes to the right. This worked for a few months and then … I dunno, I fell apart? Or my diary just became more unstructured?
Meanwhile, I maintain a B5 26-ring notebook for work jottings, and my system was to have dividers with a section for each major project and a catch all section for incidental notes. This started to become my work diary, too, as I picked up a discounted B5 diary (Midori weekly) and have been cutting out its pages to insert in the notebook (I have a tiny punch perfect for this). I’m still experimenting but probably won’t keep doing this next calendar year. However I did notice that I was instinctively making lists of things to do (or had progressed) on each project, so I’m trying to figure out how to work that in.
With the traveller’s stuff, I still like the portability a lot – both for note taking and sketching – but for journalling I currently crave a bigger page, so I’m cracking open an A5 Everyday Notebook with Cosmo Air Light paper (Galen Leather) now.
Having said all that I think the answer for me is not to fix on any one system because I actually like to change all the time!
Congrats on the new job, Ana! I hope it’s an exciting, productive change! And speaking of not changing, I’m using a Leuchtturm weekly planner for the third or fourth consecutive year. It seems to be meeting my simple needs.
Congratulations on the new job!
I am sticking with the Hobonichi Weeks for 2023, but adding in a plotter and a Mossery twin book – I’m hoping to do more journaling this year.
I fell for the Hobonichi hype and ordered a Cousin Avec, but when I got it and saw first hand the amount of structure it has, I totally decided I didn’t want to do that! For the past several years I have been using blank notebooks to make my own, with a sort of bujo approach, and only drawing out two weeks in advance at a time, so I have lots of blank pages to write down anything and everything. I decided that was the way to go, so I exchanged the Cousin for one of the 5 year Hobos so that I can have good paper for my daily lines. This means that I don’t participate in new planner season, but it works for me!
Congratulations on your new job! (I’m a little late catching up.)
2023 will be my fourth year using customized Agendio inserts in my junior- sized discbound planner. I love that my important dates and recurring events are saved from year to year, and I only tweak as needed. I can even decide what holidays to include. I have a tabbed monthly section with the days of the month in list view on the left, and monthly tasks and projects organized in categories and columns on the right. Another tabbed section contains a week view, two pages per week, with Monday through Friday vertically on the left and a general task area on the right (divided into my preferred categories). Because I use this planner solely for my weekday job, I wish I could remove the date labels for the Saturday and Sunday section that is on the bottom of the right-side page – I just use that area for notes. My work appointments are tracked digitally, but I still write them in my planner.
For my non-work life, I use a combination of digital tools, a large kitchen calendar (shared with spouse who doesn’t use digital calendars), a notebook, and index cards.
I strongly prefer a separate system for work and one for everything else, and this works very well for me.