[Open Journal Discussion]

[annofowlshire]

How goes it? It's been a while since we've had one of these!

Comment to tell us about what you've been up to with your journal, planner, or other stationery related items. Tell us about a new pen or a coveted notebook. Consult the hive mind with a problem you've been having. Post a picture! Whatever goes as long as it falls in the realm of journals and planners. Remember, you can always make your own top-level post, to

Comments

[lunabee34]

I will be back to comment here and on the other posts of the past few days but would you mind unlocking this post? It won't let me edit that setting. :)

[annofowlshire]

Done!

Never settled

[annofowlshire]

So I started the year with the Legendary Planner, but I trailed off using it around March. I really like it, except that I found a weekly planner is just not enough notebook for me, particularly a need for a daily plan, not just a weekly one. So then I had started carrying around a second notebook for all the other stuff (daily plans, musing, sketches, etc.), and I didn't like having to have multiple notebooks with me. Now I'm just using the second notebook--Clairefontaine softcover A5 Age Bag. It's totally plain. I'd gotten it in December with plans to use it for sketching.

Swiftly, it's becoming everything. The weekly spread. The daily lists. The occasional sketch. Musings on witchy topics, knitting, homeschooling, the garden.

So I carried that around for a while, and then I was thinking maybe I should get a pen loop or something to keep it contained, and then I dug out the Galen leather portfolio my partner had gotten me for Christmas, and... yeah.

I'll keep tinkering, but at the moment it's got a couple of pens, a pencil, and a pack of watercolor pencils in hopes it'll inspire me to sketch more. Not seen is a small detachable notepad slid behind for those times when you just want to write something on a leaf of paper and hand it off.

I'm debating migrating phone (a slim iPhone mini)/wallet contents as well, and then it's all in one package, but I'm not yet sold on that idea. It seems a bit cumbersome to have to root around in my portfolio to get my card to pay for the groceries.

Hm.

[thistleingrey]

On one hand, I really like the Kleid Kraft diary, and on another, I think it's partly because my usage has been very uneven, which the notebook's format forgives silently. Not how most folks here approach journal use, it seems :) but it's great for me! Low key means not pinging my old sense of "Oh no, I've wasted all this good paper" and discouraging me the following year.

Re: Never settled

[okrablossom]

This is so gorgeous!!

I keep debating the Galen portfolios. Thanks for sharing a picture of one in use :)

Re: Never settled

[annofowlshire]

It's a nice little thing, good for keeping some bits together. I found most of the photos and videos of it are a bit unrealistic for daily use, staged and overstuffed.

I'm still very tempted by the Writer's Medic Bag (and the Writing Box...), but since I work remotely and basically don't leave the house for days at a time, I'm like "where would I actually use it?" XD The portfolio works around the house, although to be honest I often just take the notebook and a pen if I'm out and about and sometimes not even that. I hate carrying a load of stuff with me. (Also see: why I can't cope with a multiple notebook system.)

[the_broken_tower]

Currently trying to figure out a travel journal situation.

Traveling happens frequently. And there is a deep deep fear of a journal being lost or stolen, so once a journal is used for a trip it doesn't go on another one.

The current solution is using small/thin ones. But! Thin journals are very flimsy, while small hardcovers are hard to write in. Sigh. Might have to consider making one...

- Dogstar (he/him)

[annofowlshire]

Perhaps a binder/loose page system? One home binder where it all lives, and the traveling binder (or similar) that goes with you?

[annofowlshire]

I need low key and forgiving, personally :D

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

Re: Never settled

[lunabee34]

I really covet a Galen Leather portfolio in crazy horse gray. Omg so pretty. Is yours the blue?

Re: Never settled

[lunabee34]

I'm the same about the medic bag. Its so lovely to look at but I don't really have a use for it.

[lunabee34]

Oh I definitely don't journal every day. I wish I did because I feel better when I do, but it's not something I have made stick as a daily habit.

I don't have a planner as such but a calendar and u do look at that daily or I'd miss meetings but I don't write in it daily.

[lunabee34]

Could you do the traditional travelers journal with the inserts and just remove the insert(s) you used after each trip?

[seleneheart]

I've shown pictures of my journals and planners many times, but never my pen case:


To the right in the middle, you can see where I made the mistake of taking a fountain pen on an airplane.

This holds my fountain pen, mechanical pencil for sketching, a metal ruler, mildliner, whatever brush pen I'm using for that month, two sizes of microns, a gel pen which is a back up for the fountain pen, and 9 colored fine liners to bullet each different category of tasks in my bullet journal.

Also, correction tape, extra leads and erasers for the pencil.

Re: Never settled

[seleneheart]

That's a great way to keep everything contained and easy to find!

[seleneheart]

I like undated notebooks for my daily life type thing where I can use as many or as little pages as I need and never feel shame for spending money on a thing I didn't use and now it's too late.

[seleneheart]

Oh, yeah, that's a good idea!

I totally get the fear of losing the thoughts and impressions that I recorded at the time. And any ephemera I might have tucked into the pages.

Re: Never settled

[thistleingrey]

Pretty as well as practical!

[thistleingrey]

Even my planning goes in fits and starts if it's handwritten (not an era/generation thing). Glad to know the journaling part isn't just me, even so!

[thistleingrey]

*nods* I wish I'd figured it out sooner for myself but am glad to know it now!

Good Timing!

[okrablossom]

I had just been thinking how pleased I am with my goal spread for this month. I'm not a visual artist at all but I really like how this turned out:

Re: Good Timing!

[seleneheart]

That's really lovely! I'm sure it's a pleasure to use.

Re: Good Timing!

[lunabee34]

I love the flowers!

Really delightful.

[lunabee34]

You are not alone!