journaling

Detour

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Hey, all. Anna here. As Storm said earlier, we are on a life detour around here. On Thanksgiving Eve, Real Life Romance Hero fell on the stairs, which resulted in a hospital stay. I won’t go into details here, but the goal is discharge. Days now begin with a hike to the hospital (we are only a few blocks away) and then the day goes as it goes. Hike back home, chill with Housemate and Storm, then wind down for the day.

Here, I will mention that I have anxiety and PTSD in part around loved ones in hospitals, so that adds another level. RLRH is stable, and I am doing what I need to do. Part of that includes getting my planners and journals set p for 2026. Right now, I want to use what I already have. Thankfully, I have a good deal. Focusing on things like planning and writing actually helps a lot, so I am planning (hah, see what I did there?) on setting up a tentative posting schedule here and on Melvaandanna.com.

A couple of days ago, I came home from the hospital, not yet ready for bed. I set up January in a personal sized ring planner, with an undated refill that has lovely pale pink accents throughout. I like my own handwriting, so I don’t need date stickers. I’m pretty well stocked with deco stickers, washi, etc. I like to think of it as a wine cellar for stationery. Please note, I do not drink, so maybe I have the wrong idea of how to use a wine cellar.

My everyday carry (EDC) is different when my destination is the hospital, not knowing how long I will be there. I bring one bound journal, equipped with colored page flags. I call it my maid of all work journal because that is what makes most sense for me. Everything goes in there. Notes on RLRH\s progress, notes on apartment stuff, personal journaling, and writing stuff.

Melva is taking the lead on publishing Drama King in early 2026. We have a tagline now, which I will debut on our site, and I will return to editing Queen of Hearts once things calm down over here. A Heart Most Errant will also be out in 2026, and I am writing on A Heart Most Ardent. A scene between my two leads, newlywed strangers, fell out of my pen in one waiting room session. Writing felt good. Familiar. Useful, even. Not perfect, not firm, but written, and that is the most important thing.

TLDR: RLRH needs some extra care right now, planning is mental health, and 2026 will see new releases in both contemporary and historical romance. I am also making some loose plans for 2026 reading, but that’s another story. Pun intended.

as always, Anna

Writing Planner Setup: Organizing for Fall

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Yesterday, a worker at Wal-Mart told me I looked “very gentlewomanly.” I will absolutely take that. For those who wonder, my outfit of the day was a baseball t-shirt, leggings, and hot pink Croc style shoes. The reason for my visit to that emporium was, of course, office supplies/back to school. Now that we are in September, back to school will be giving way to Halloween, so pouncing on the back to school deals is of the hour.

I have recently bought into the hype on composition notebooks, which are a lot more versatile than I originally thought. My preference is heavyweight paper, wide ruled, but I am flexible. I have also discovered that there are a lot more bold ballpoint pens than I thought. The Paper Mate Profiles above have a 1.4 mm point, which my strained eyes greatly appreciate. The Bic Cristal and Glide pens are my favorites when it comes to ballpoints, with 1.6 mm points, but I needed a pack of different colors, to live in the book sleeve with my landing pad notebook.

I have also found that there are more sizes than the standard (B5) composition size. The Staples notebook, above (black) is a B6 size, about the same as a Happy Planner Mini. I normally prefer gel or fountain pens, but for composition book paper, ballpoints are working well. I have seen the Pen + Gear notebook above used with fountain pens before, so I will probably try that.

My contemporary co-writer, Melva J. Michaelian, has her latest nonfiction book out now, available in both e-book and paperback. Thanks For The Memories chronicles Melva’s journey through the changes her husband, Jerry’s, Alzheimer’s diagnosis affected him, her, them, and their family. They found a place called The Memory Cafe, where other families dealing with memory issues gather for activities and community. Many of the events Melva describes, I have seen play out in real time. I said more on that on our blog together, at Melvaandanna.com.

While I’m here, a quick bit of housekeeping. I don’t have Facebook on my writing computer (can’t fall down a FB rabbit hole if I can’t get onto it in the first place) so subscribing here on the site is the best way to make sure you don’t miss any entries. Storm will be posting more regularly now that summer is but a memory. Until then, here is a taste to hold her fans over.

Storm has a box. There is catnip in it.

After I post this blog today, I get to spend the rest of the afternoon putting away spring and summer planner/journal things and getting out the fall team. There is indeed a separate winter team, which comes out the day after Thanksgiving. Right now, I am all browns and yellows and reds and oranges, in anticipation of the foliage soon to come. Here’s a peek at my writing planner, before the pen:

Happy Planner Classic, Dashboard Layout

With my vision, I need high contrast, and clearly defined sections. Using washi and water based markers helps my eyes know where to rest. It’s also pretty, and who doesn’t want to look at a pretty page? Setting up the pages gets me in the right mindset to get the right information down. I like to use the section covered by the sticky note for a bit of art. Maybe ephemera, maybe a doodle, maybe something else, but purely decorative all the same.

I also finished reading a wonderful historical romance, A Lover For Lady Jane, by Virginie Marconato. It’s book number five in her Welsh Rebels series, though never fear if this is where you jump on board; I had read only the first book, A Husband For Esyllt, before this one, and I only found my appetite whetted to get current on the others.

All in all, it’s been a decent week. Writing is happening, and we draw ever closer to a release date for A Heart Most Errant. I can’t wait to share Aline and John with all of you.

illustrated image of a redheaded woman writing in a journal as her calico cat observes.
as always, Anna

Snoop Bloggy Blog

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This is one of those days when I don’t know what I want to blog about today, so you get unhinged blabber. We are in the start of back-to-school season, the most wonderful time of the year for us stationery dragons. I have spent the morning organizing things around the home, and now come to the part of the day where I have to actually tackle the writing stuff.

current blogging notebook setup

The front pocket situation is an ever-evolving sort of thing. I’m not used to the sideways pockets (I am sure there is a name for that kind of pocket, but I don’t know it. I do know the secretarial (big vertical) pocket. That one is for sticky page tabs, which are immensely useful. This blog has a section, Storm’s blog has a section, and there are other sections. I like to keep everything I need for one project on hand, so I only have to pick up one thing. Neither the big nor small dot stickers fit my aesthetic, but they are easier to transport than a bunch of dot markers. The flowered card in the middle pocket is just pretty.

The dashboard is a clear pocket with inserts I can change at will. This one is from one of the boxes from Cora Crea. Inside the notebooks themselves are a collection of big furry messes because that’s how I think. Washi borders, stenciled phrases, homemade stickers, several different colors of ink, and wild blabber with the censor off. Lots of sticky notes

Today has been a boring day. I don’t think anybody wants to read about me organizing my sock drawer, but being excited over new sock drawer organizers actually does give me a dose of dopamine, so I will count it as a win. It also smells lovely, as I remembered the hack to stick a bar of scented soap (in this case, cedar and lavender) in the back of the drawer to act as a subtle sachet. Good-smelling drawers has always meant an elevated grown-up status.

With August approaching and me noticing that I have fallen back into not-reading and not-watching tv/movies, this is the time to haul out the neglected reading journal. I know myself well enough to know that I will be more accountable if I have to tell somebody (like the interwebs) about what I have been doing for story intake. I am watching We Were Liars on Amazon Prime, based on the book by E. Lockhart, but through my fingers, and with breaks, because the ending wrecked me. So far, it’s a good adaptation, and I like that they give the older generation a little more to do than they did in the novel, which is YA.

That’s about it for right now. This is also a reminder to myself to start writing in the blog notebook before the day the blog is due (or two days after, in this case) because I don’t like coming to the creative space and my first thought being, “uhhhhh……” Another reminder that I need to be taking in story in order to put out story. Right now, I am doing most of my writing longhand, so there will be a lot of transcription going on in my near future.

What’s on your agenda for the week?

as always, Anna

Cat Days of Summer, 2025

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We are more than halfway through July, which is excellent news. We have had a couple of things with people vets this week. All should be well, but productivity for this week is…not. We are comfy and cool and have all that we need. That’s all good. Still, it’s July. Ugh. I do not like July. Maybe if I had a pool. Bonus points on indoor pool. I do not, however think we can sell our landlord on installing a pool in the apartment.

Enough of that. These are days for slowing down, taking in, and taking time to indulge in the art and stationery supplies we’ve laid in over the months. I am doing rather a good amount of writing fiction in longhand, which is a delight for me. Less so when I have to transcribe it, but that’s a problem for Tomorrow Anna. I am already on my second Landing Pad notebook (the last one, I joined in progress, so it’s not a full notebook) and still in love with it. I have a composition notebook for general novelling stuff :salute: (IYKYK) and then another for therapy homework. I am definitely going to hit the back to school sales as soon as the big orange thing in the sky stops trying to roast us like rotisserie chickens.

A5 traveler’s notebook for blogging

Back to school truly is the most wonderful time of the year for us stationery dragons. I have learned the hard way that I cannot have enough page tabs, flags, or sticky notes, and even if I don’t like the colors of the tiny dot stickers, they are super accessible and I use them a lot. One day, I will be able to buy single open stock black or gray dot markers in multiples, but today is not that day. Le sigh. It is still a day, though, and I can think of worse places to be than in my air conditioned home with plenty of food, beverage and internet connection. Also stationery.

Storm also approves of the composition books. She makes an excellent paperweight. She usually wants to hang out in the primary bedroom/office, of her special place under Housemate’s bed, which I can only assume holds a massive hoard of earbuds and hair ties. Neither heat nor humidity affect her desire for snuggles. We are fine with this.

Today is a low-demand day, aka TV/movies, air conditioning and bottomless beverages, a journal at hand to catch stray thoughts for a brainier day. Therapy Dude is highly in favor of my landing pad notebook. I am keeping an eye on my in-box for pictures and dimensions of a design assignment. I have the laptop next to the bed now, so working from the soft office is a very real possibility. I am not going to complain.

What are you doing with your summer days/

illustrated image of a redheaded woman writing in a journal as her calico cat observes.
as always, Anna

January Blabber Post

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We’re going to need a headboard. Not the most exciting way to start the new year (well maybe, but this isn’t that kind of blog) but that’s what’s most on my mind. Not exactly news, but an unavoidable fact. We do have one in storage, though it may take some Storage Tetris to access it, so we are also browsing. It’s actually fun to think of starting out the year with doing something as adult as picking out furniture.

So far today, I have had Housemate help me figure out why Real Life Romance Hero and I couldn’t get the bed properly aligned with the wall and what do you know, that’s space for the headboard. Well, okay then. I’m actually excited about this because a good headboard does a lot to tie a room together (well, a bedroom; it probably wouldn’t do much in the kitchen, et al.) That does bode well for the coming year.

This is the current desk setup. Wooden crate with planners is on the other side of the laptop. The posterboard may eventually be replaced by a corkboard (we have one in storage.) The fairy lights are staying as permanent fixtures because mental health. Storm has been not so subtly suggesting that I reverse the positions of tent and crate, because if she is on the side of the desk where my crate currently is, she can get an excellent view out the window. We are in negotiations.

According to my own plans, I am now officially in prewriting for A Heart Most Ardent, the second story in my medieval series. This is also the time to finally pull the trigger on the whole uploading and actually publishing thing, to which I am equal parts excited and terrified. The way publishing looks now is not the way publishing looked when I first started this journey. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’ll figure it out, because that’s how these things work.

Reading, which was almost nil last year, is going gangbusters now, as I am diving deep into the big vintage historical romance novels I have always loved the very most. I have a reading journal I look forward to getting into every evening. I will be intuiting the living daylights out of a writing journal. Jump in with both feet and splash around until I end up swimming.

Social media…who knows what’s going on with that anymore? I certainly don’t. This is my blog, so I am planning to make sure I stay on track with this. Thinking and talking (and blabbering on paper and/or keyboard counts) happen at the same time for me, which works super well with being an extrovert. This means time to talk to my friends, both old and new. My anxiety is not as on board with that as the rest of me, but we have ways around that.

So. It doesn’t feel like I’m saying all that much right now. I have spent the greater part of the day, after sorting out the bed to wall ratio, changing sheets, and then probably the most fun part of the day –organizing my pens. I have a lot of pens. Like seriously, a lot of pens. There may be some de-stashing going on in the near future, but putting like with like felt seriously soothing. Maybe a pen case tour could be in the future.

Anyway, hi. I’m Anna. I write stuff. I plan. I journal. Sometimes I make art. I share my desk with a calico cat. Let’s do this year.

as always ,Anna

Balancing Holiday Chaos: Tips for Planning and Productivity

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This is technically last week’s post. This week, besides dealing with Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, I am focusing on the final details on getting ready to pull the trigger on putting A Heart Most Errant out there. Real Life Romance Hero is making ham for the holiday, and I am chomping at the bit to put up not only the family Christmas tree but Storm’s as well. Since Housemate and I shopped an early Black Friday sale online, that initiated the launch sequence, and we are now in Holiday Prep Mode. This does, of course, include my desk.

almost current state of the desk

The three-drawer unit in the wooden crate has dot markers (dual tipped) in the top, Tombow brush markers (also dual tipped) in the middle, and then the bottom has my favorite size lined sticky notes and glue runner refills. My small black pouch in front of the laptop is currently a lot more Christmassy-looking, because the blues and purples were making me cold. I live in New York. I’m already cold.

The end of this week is the start of December. How did we get here this quickly? Do I want to know? Since I am on the last month of the year in my planners and journals, that means time to think about next year’s lineup, as I want to be prepared for the coming sales and temptations, because I love all the formats. Bound books, disc bound, rings, traveler’s notebooks, spiral bound and wire-o, twin loop, reporter style, all of it. It’s easy to get dazzled, lost and overwhelmed. How do I sort it out? I go back to preschool.

Let me explain. I went to a Montessori school for preschool, and I loved it. I studied early childhood development and education in college (where the most important thing I learned was that I am not suited for that career) and once in a while, it does come in handy. What do I find myself naturally gravitating toward? What do I reach for first? What do I actually use? When I get in a groove, what is going on that helps me stay there? It’s been a while since college, and even longer since preschool, (and Early Childhood Education students also worked in the college’s preschool) but I am still going to call the method to my madness Montessori-influenced. Providing I remember it right, that is, but Maria Montessori started out with cats, and I have a cat, so I fgure I am on the right track.

Anyhoo, there is probably a video in this, because that feels more natural than blabbering here, but refer to the opening paragraph about this being last week’s entry. Domestic tornadoes do happen this time of year, but everyone is fine and bonus points, we have a mystery pumpkin that showed up on our stoop around the same time our downstairs neighbors left.

Some of my discoveries:

  • Even though I love my A5 rings, I am mostly in disc bound planners this year. Folding the pages over is a must, and I need to be able to move things quickly when Storm decides it is time to supervise.
  • I love my everyday carry traveler’s notebook, but don’t need a weekly calendar in it; all it’s doing is copying what I have in my desk planner. A monthly insert will be fine.
  • The bells and whistles, aka accessories, aka dashboards and charms and tabs and pen loops and pouches, et al, are part of the planning process.

Some of those bells and whistles actually serve a practical purpose. Since I am visually impaired, I need high contrast. If the lines are light, they may as well not be there, and my eyes generally view dot grid (unless the dots are dark) as “blank.” The solution? Line stencils. Pencil or fineliner, stencil, and we are in business. The decorative tapes at top and bottom aren’t just for pretties, either. They help anchor my sight on the page.

green inside border was already on the paper

Okay, I do also use the borders as a visual signal what section I am in, for multi section notebooks. I also like the process of preparing the page. I like the whole stationery process. Case in point, the current state of the EDC or at least the pouch and TN cover:

Pouch could probably be more Christmassy, but we’ll see.

That’s enough rambling for one week, especially since I need to stay on track with the whole publishing thing. I have forms to fill out and a release date to pick. I am waffling :;mmmm, waffles:: on whether I need a pre-order, but probably not, as this is a re-entry which means I am basically new again. Can we spot the overthinker? Yes. Me. Got it in one.

My reward for posting this blog is a cup of tea and some shortbread, so time to wrap this and move on along with the day. How’s your week looking?

as always, Anna