So, I Bought a New Planner
Actually, I bought two new planners. I’ll get to why in just a bit.
January seems to be a month of trial and error. It’s coming back from the holidays for some, or an end to the holiday rush for others (as a tourism professional the holidays are super busy). The days are starting to get longer and one is no longer driving to and from work in the dark. For the planner enthusiast it’s time to actually get going in the planners that were meticulously curated over the course of the fall. And it was about halfway through January that I realized there was a hitch in my workflow.
I laid out what I’d planned for next year in my year-long notebooks post back in December with this lineup in mind:
Hobonichi A6 Weekly insert (for recording daily activities as I went)
Sterling Ink A6 Monthly Insert (for goal and appointment tracking, new to lineup)
A6 Hobonichi 5 year techo (quick recap of day and phenology entry, new to lineup)
Odyssey Notebooks Song of Achilles 160 gsm (weekly and monthly review journal)
Love, love, love having a month at a glance in this Sterling Ink Monthly Insert in A6 size.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the two things that I added that were giving me a workflow hiccup. The monthly A6 insert is working great. I love the layout, the paper, and how nice it is to see my entire month at a glance. My Odyssey Notebook is working great even though I’m still unsure about the paper. The weekly and monthly reflection system is about four years in now and I value that time at the end of the week where I write about it in summary. It’s really great for reading back over at the end of the year when I am deciding how I want to start of a new year. The 5 year Techo is taking some getting used to, but I think I’m starting to get into the habit of writing it down at the end of the day before I get in bed for the night.
A little peak into the start of a 5 year journey.
Of all things, it’s the calendar that I’ve used for several years now that isn’t working. I already goofed up by showing up to work when I wasn’t supposed to because I wrote down an old version of the schedule in one calendar and didn’t update it in the other one. Oops. I’m also having trouble with having two separate books for my calendars. It’s getting unwieldy in my TN. Not to mention I’m having to keep a separate notebook with goals related notes and plans because there aren’t enough room in either the monthly or the Hobonichi.
I struggled for a little while whether I should just do some kind of crazy rebinding and use what I already have or to just get something else. I sat on it until this past weekend.
This is where the first new planner is coming into play - I am currently waiting on a Sterling Ink A6 Compact Full Year Common Planner to arrive in the mail. This planner has the same monthly layout that I am enjoying in the monthly insert, but with the addition of weeks sections and then over 100 note pages at the back. It is going to be a lot chunkier than my current calendar, but I think it will work better. Primarily because I can now keep all of the information I previously had in three places in just one place.
On to the second planner that I bought about two weeks ago, officially breaking any idea that I had of doing a no buy until the Chicago Pen Show. But I broke it for the best reason. After all, a new planner for a new job sounds like the perfect treat. I am still at the same museum, but I am moving into the Assistant Curator position which I have been hoping for since it became open about six months ago. They were slow at getting the job announcement up and I was convinced that I wasn’t going to get an offer when I learned of some of the other candidates… but then I did! And I decided that my new work planner could be something new that I haven’t tried yet because I don’t need to carry my work planner around with me in my TN.
After some searching I discovered that Vanness Pens was having an amazing sale on 2024 Midori planners. I’ve long admired them for their minimalism, but always felt they’d be too small in the A6 size. But, since I was constraining myself to what would fit in my TN, I went for the A4 2024 Midori MD Diary (and it was 75% off to boot, AND I didn’t buy any ink samples… which takes some restraint on the Vanness Pens website).
Lots of room to write!
The A4 Midori MD Diary has 12 month on two page spreads with a good margin for notes and then pages of grid paper in the back. This planner is beautiful and I think it is going to work really well since the next several months is going to be a lot of organizing in the archive collection. I am so excited to get into it.
Here’s to hoping these new planners serve me well. I’ll definitely check in with them again in a while. How’s your planning/tracking setup going?
Currently Inked
Ferris Wheel Press Knitted Nettle - Kaweco Sport Mellow Blue B ‘premium’ - Using up the remains of this fill at work this week as I take notes about the system we use at this museum (last archives gig was in government so a little bit different, but same sort of thing). This ink is really pretty and almost stealth professional, not as subtle as some other shimmer inks, but the pink shimmer just adds such a nice element to this dark teal.
Birmingham London Fog - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo M stub - This ink was on my “never inked” list and so I decided to give it a try after Colorverse Coffee Break was a little too warm for what I wanted at the moment. Again, I don’t know why I was never reaching for this ink. It’s a brown with a gray undertone and is perfectly moody. I haven’t written with it much yet, but I’m going to make a point of reaching for it over the next week.
Taccia Black Jeans - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K B - Refilled this one this week and will probably just ink until the sample is used up. This ink is nice, but it’s not love. I have other blacks that I enjoy using more. However, this one does get to be in the interesting black option category with its black sheen and warm black undertones. It really does remind one of a pair of black jeans.
Diamine Jacaranda - Kaweco Liliput copper 14K M ‘selvedge’ - Didn’t reach for this one much this week and it’s hanging out with about 1/3 of a cartridge left. This is such a lovely purple, but I think it’s time to switch this light purple shader up.
Colorverse Kuiper Belt - Kaweco Liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - Okay, this ink is a dark horse. When I first inked it up it was a resounding ‘meh’ to me. It didn’t seem all that interesting, just a really dark blue-black. But this ink has layers the longer I used it. It has a black sheen over the very deep blue and depending on the paper the ink can appear anywhere from deep navy to black. Its name makes more sense to me the longer I play with it. I am, however, craving a mixup to another Colorverse blue… probably Supernova is going to be next (I am anxiously awaiting the new Colorverse season and in the meantime I will play with my many, many other Colorverse inks).