miscellaneous

Typing With WetPaws: Welcome Back, Super Powers Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It has been a while, but that awful summertime is over, and Super Powers are returning. Happy New Year to all our Jewish and Messianic friends. The picture above these words was taken by Aunt Linda, as I was taking a much-needed nap in her window. Some of the fans are off now, and Mama Anna is even wearing a sweatshirt as she helps me write this. There are noises from the humans about a Big Wash, which means ALL of the bedding, including blankets. I know what this means. This means it is time to be cozy and cuddly and snuggly. I am all about all of that.

Another thing that lends itself to cozy and comfy is that Mama Anna is listening to something I find very interesting these days: creepypasta. I do not mean things like spaghetti with spiders in it, but a certain kind of story she listens to on You Tube. It’s usually first person, kind of scary, but she doesn’t find it scary; she finds it interesting, and even listens to it to help her sleep. Yes, she will be bringing this up with the special talking people vet. her favorite kinds of stories so far are those about things that happen in the deep woods, and also where the narrator works at a place with some strange rules to them. Maybe she will try to write one for one of her blogs.

Now that summer is basically over, and will be officially over next week, Mama Anna is feeling much more herself. That means much more like writing. She is still working on the reading thing, which she will also mention to the talking people vet but is pretty sure that will come in time. Probably also with a nice autumnal candle.

Photo by thevibrantmachine on Pexels.com

Some scents that she likes for this time of year are: cinnamon, clove, woodsmoke, tobacco, leather, wine, pumpkin, apple, coffee, fallen leaves, and that sort of thing. Aunt Linda wants to go to Yankee Candle, which Mama Anna is all for, even better if they can meet up with some friends who also like going to candle places. I mean the factory, but maybe Aunt Linda only means the small stores in the mall. That one is good, too. Mama Anna is also playing around with making her own candles with wax melts and wicks, but she is starting on that journey, so buying candles is still a good idea.

I, of course, am not allowed to investigate candles, no matter what fragrance they have. Something about fire. Blankets are much more fun, as they are fuzzy and soft, like me, and good for napping. I am extremely good at napping. When Mama Anna is at her keyboard, i am usually sleeping in her sock drawer right next to her desk. I let her know I want in my drawer by scratching the drawer below it. Mama Anna says that sets a precedent, but Papa says I’m cute, and this was a curb dresser, so it’s okay. It’s a good thing he’s cute.

Mama Anna’s schedule says it is now naptime, so I had better sign off now, as I am nap commissioner. I will let her update you all on writing and stuff in her own blogs. What are you currently reading?

Headbonks!

2024 Planning Already?

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Yes, already. We in the planning/journaling world do not take this kind of thing lightly, especially when stationery items seem to bloom all on their own in back-to-school displays. July is the midway mark on the calendar, after all, as evidenced by Christmas in July anything. Add to that the fact that it is July (duh) and I am, as the ancient Greeks say, “bad at summer,” which means a lot of summer days spent inside with my beloved journal stuff, and we arrive at interesting places. It’s kind of like that low hanging fruit thing, but with stationery.

l have already locked down two planners. The A6 traveler’s notebook I carry in my purse is definitely staying. I will be buying my monthly 2024 insert from Yellow Paper House, probably in pink The weekly calendar, I can make by myself in any A6 notebook, of which I have plenty. I can make my own horizontal layout, maybe throw in a quadrant or dashboard if I’m feeling frisky. I have the leather cover from Chic Sparrow already; love that, so that stays. I have a standard Bic four color pen in the attached pen loop for now but I think I want to upgrade. I have been wanting to use my fountain pens more, especially my favorite Writer’s Blood ink (dark red, very appropriate) I already have a couple of pens I might like to put there, so the only pen cost would be ink refills.

The other locked in planner thingy is my writing planner. That’s going to be my A5 pink Carpe Diem six ring binder. What goes inside it is still under consideration. I may keep the same Agenda 52 dividers, as the monthly calendar does not begin on the back of the divider, which I absolutely love. Then again, I may make my own, because I have a lot of cardstock that could make awesome dividers, and several different options for tabs. We will see what transpires. The actual inserts, I will either buy from Agenda 52, horizontal spread, or print my own,

Then I will add my own flair – vellum, acetate, assorted decorative items, and definitely pink sticky notes. After that, sections for active projects, with timetables, outline, etc. If the planner is prety and feels like me, I am more likely to use it. Not t hat it is the thing that makes me do what I do, but it does make it pretty and fun.

I am not at all sure what I will be using for the household catchall planner, but most likely it will either be me redating an existing planner that I already own, or maybe grab a super pretty planner that I won’t need to decorate much and can keep functional. Right now I have my morning and evening brain dump/mental health check in stuff in two separate disc bound planners. I would like to streamline that, and it may all end up in a good old-fashioned bullet journal. I like the idea of having all of that in one place. Not sure if I want to keep all of my trackers in such a thing, but I do know that each project I work on in the coming year gets its own notebook where everything lives, and No Where Else, because that way, we do not lose entire manuscripts when the publisher needs them in four weeks, Anna.

Since I am now a few days into the new regimen with updated pharmaceuticals and lifestyle changes, I like looking forward. I have books to write, both with Melva and on my own, and maybe even more beyond that. I feel like making media content and planning it out before I actually hit the publish button, or even boot the computer.

So, that’s this week. It’s hot, it’s humid. I’m in front of a fan, in a fetching white t-shirt dress, staying nicely hydrated, and doing quite well with the reading, which is a very nice new development. A little Bertrice Small, a little Maeve Binchy, a little YA. Seems to be working. What are you reading, or planning, or planning on reading?

as always, Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: In Da Fan Club Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are one day away from the middle of July, and that is fine by me. Summer is not the best season for those of us with built in fur coats, but no worries, my hoomans have this handled. Long before there was a me, (aka the Dark Ages) Papa was already a dab hand at creating fan networks so that air flow connects with air flow. Mama Anna put a banker’s box (it is full of vintage historical romance novels), thanks to Aunt Mary) in the perfect spot for me to catch that sweet spot. Sometimes, she puts an ice cube in my water bowl. That’s a fun treat.

What is not so fun is that my cardboard house got smushed. Papa was involved in that, but it was not really his fault. It was dark and there may have been cat toys on the floor where cat toys are normally not. The hardwood floor was clean, and therefore slippery for bare feet, and, well, they owe me a new cardboard house. Considering that Mama Anna’s pink office chair is done being a chair (Aunt Nicole says it’s not fixable) odds are good that a big enough box will be coming our way fairly soon. I should point out that I highly customized the pink leather of that chair, with my very own claws, too. One of a kind, right there, but no matter. I am up to customizing a new one.

In other news, I have told Mama Anna, in no uncertain terms, that A) she needs a new desk, because hers is too small. I need to be lying on her desk, not merely near it, like in my drawer, and B) This whole no way into the front master bedroom window thing is not going to work. I Want. In. That. Window. I am the kitty. I need to see what is going on outside my home, and that window is my, well, window on it. The printer table has got to move. I don’t know where Mama Anna should put it, but I need my window.

One way Mama Anna has thought of to get around this is to squish the kitchen table into the corner and do some of her work there. Neither Papa nor Aunt Linda like eating at that table because A) they are introverts, and B) the kitchen is, hm, cozy. They want to eat in their own rooms and they outnumber Mama Anna, so she is not going to fight that kind of thing. It also means a whole table for her own purposes, which might end up fixing that on the desk issue for me. I can totally get on that table, especially if there are empty chairs nearby. Bloop, bloop, there I am, on the same surface as Mama Anna. That’s because I am her mews, and because I need to be as close to her as I can be. Even on summer nights, I want my cuddles. She is okay with that because I smell really good. Also, she loves me.

How are you staying cool this summer?

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Well hi there. Anna here. It’s a hot July day, and I says to myself, Anna, if you blabber your way through a blog post, you can cross “blog post” off your list for the day and then you get to write the interview questions for the next scene in Her Last First Kiss, and after that, you get to go back to reading A Circle of Friends, by Maeve Binchy, in front of the box fan, with a huge glass of ice water. This is a strong motivation, because I am only fifteen percent through said book, and already adore it.

I’d tried to find the movie version, with Minnie Driver, but that’s apparently not streaming anywhere, so book it is. At the moment, I am on a movies from the late 60s-mid-70’s drama movies kick One would think such movies would be readily available on streaming services, but one would be wrong I did find The Sterile Cuckoo on Amazon Prime Video, which I loved. I did not know it was a book first, and that the book covers three years, where the movie compresses all of it into one school year. I found this movie when I was actually looking for Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, which was also a book first, by a different author. I can rent it on Amazon, and I will probably cave, as well as Summer of ’42, which I have wanted to see since I was nine and fell crazy in love with the theme song. My parents would not allow me to see the movie, even though these are the sane parents (okay, mainly my dad) who took me to see The Manitou.

Anyway. :breath: I have a huge soft spot for broadly middle of the twentieth century coming of age movies. If there are dual timelines or a where are they now type of epilogue, all that much better. My educated guess is that it’s the saga element that I love and crave in my historical romances.

Earlier this week, I had a long video call with my friend, Mary, how is a huge help with historical research assistance. With a few pointed questions and referring to her impressive historical nonfiction library. An hour or so of that, and then boom, the foundation of a Tudor-era quartet, there it is. This will be going in the journal pictured above, in a way that makes sense to me, along with the corresponding information for the pirate trilogy, and a couple of standalones.

All of this, of course, means that I need to make with the tappity tappity and get Her Last First Kiss to the end of this new draft. My medieval novella, A Heart Most Errant, may need more eyes on it, to figure out any related stories (writer friends, I’ll do the same for you) and will be headed back out on submission in the fall. For today, I get to ask some pertinent questions of a character to get a scene moving. That, I am delighted to report, can be done in front of above-mentioned fan, sipping above-mentioned journal.

After that, it may be movie time. What vintage coming of age movies would you recommend?

as always, Anna

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I don’t know exactly h ow much there is for me to say here, because Mama Anna actually posted yesterday (go, Mama Anna!) but of course I always bring the cat’s eye view.

First of all, the big question is probably how is Mama Anna adjusting to having a phone? Well, I can tell you. It means she can take many more pictures, mostly of me. Sometimes also of stationery. Sometimes both of us at the same time, but there does still seem to be a time delay between when she takes the picture with the phone and when it shows up on Amazon photos for her to use here. She’ll figure it out.

She has not yet found Tik Tok. She knows what it is, but right now, Facebook reels and Instagram are filling that space, and really, do any of us want her confused with any more technology than she already handles. There is a reason she gravitates to pens and paper. Well, that and the fact that I can interact more with physical things. Then again now that I have figured out how to walk across her keyboard and even sit on it when I am Really Serious about there having been Enough Keyboard Time and I am in need of belly rubs.

Speaking of which, my belly rub count is going up, up, UP this weekend. Papa has Saturday and Sunday off, which means he will be home all day, while Mama Anna is home all day, and now we do the math. Papa has two hands. Mama Anna has two hands. Maybe one and a half because of the brace, but it doesn’t impact her belly rub ability, so that means there will be four hands available to rub my belly at any given time over 48 hours. At 12 hours per hand, that’s only four shifts, so no reason for my belly to go unrubbed for even a minute. Well, there is my window time, my nap time, my parkour time, my under-the-bed time, my inside my “house” in the bedroom time, etc. so they get plenty of breaks.

Mama Anna has the house to herself today. Correction: WE have the house to OURSELVES. Let’s remember who is the big draw around here. I reminded Mama Anna that Feline Friday was a thing back in Big Sister Skye’s day, and sticking to that would be great for consistency. Surprisingly, she did not argue with me on that. After we get done with this blog, it will be time to put away yesterday’s laundry (Aunt Linda is the one who actually does the washing, but whoever wears the clothes has to put them away. That means all I have to do is lie around and look pretty.) At some point, there will be dinner. I don’t think anybody wants to cook-cook, because A) it is hot out, B) everybody is having a pretty full day, and C) we live in a city, so delivery options are endless. The humans always make sure I get a bag or box to play with, and they serve me crunchies at the same time because families eat together. I taught them that.

Speaking of which, it is almost dinner time…what are you eating?

Writer Days and Almost Summer Cleaning

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Hey there. Anna here. Hopefully this bunch of blabber counts as proof of life. I had meant to write a blog post this morning (same day though, so surely, I get partial credit for this) but I leaned into the whole monthly reset thing for planning and writing both. Jashii Corrin on You Tube has some excellent ideas on this kind of thing. The first part of that is a physical reset, aka “y’know, this mess is going down.” Some stuff is staying, some stuff is going. All the stuff gets a thorough assessment and finding neat stuff that might or might not have been appropriated as cat toys is a bonus.

Photo by Mike on Pexels.com

This is a good time for rolling up real and metaphorical sleeves and diving into The Work. Melva and I have heard from The Wild Rose Press, and the news wasn’t what we had hoped. That’s a little disappointing, but we will have Drama King back out on submission soon and are considering whether indie publishing might be right for the rest of the Love by the Book series. We are also in the discovery draft stage of a new contemporary romance series starter, which allows me to research ice cream and honestly say I am working.

Her Last First Kiss is primed to resume. I have 45k words left to complete the revised draft, estimated at 100k words. I am using the last bit of this month to break the outline into work sessions, aka how many it will take to get to The End. I have never been that much of a word count person, but Camp NaNo is coming, so why the heck not? Besides, that means I get to make a progress tracker, which is always good.

It’s also time for A Heart Most Errant to get back out there on submission, and, again, I am considering indie publishing, but we will see. Not going to worry about following books at this point, I have a couple of places to consider submitting, so this should be an interesting journey. Let’s see what happens with this story first.

After that, there is the pirate trilogy. This story is one I have wanted to tell for a very long time, though I didn’t know exactly how I wanted to do that. It still needs some time to crawl organically out of the primordial ooze. Broadly, it’s the story of three generations of pirates, starting in the aftermath of the English Civil War, then touching on an island-sinking earthquake and coming to a close at the end of the golden age of piracy. It’s three books but feels like one story in three parts.

After that, it will be interesting to see. I do have bits and pieces of things that have been floating around my brain long enough to be able to drink, own property, and marry without parental consent. That sounds about par for the course. One of the journals I have going at the moment is a media tracking joufrnal, covering not only the books I am reading, but other media I am consuming; television and movies watched, games played, podcasts, music, etc. All in all, a big ol’ pot of idea soup. This includes TV shows (I am still going to call it television even though we do not have a TV at present and watch everything on streaming.) that I follow only by recaps, as I don’t subscribe to the channels where they currently are streaming.

A few of these include:

  • Yellowjackets
  • The Last of Us
  • Silo
  • From (seasson two)
  • Fear the Walking Dead

There are definitely more, and then there are shows and movies I have seen and want to re-explore. This very much does also include books, and i will probably blabber about them here at some point. Nothing particularly earth shattering here, but that was never my goal when writing this.

What are you up to this week?

As always, Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Mama Anna’s Day Recap Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Last Sunday was a holiday that is not always easy for Mama Anna. It is easier now because, well, me, but she still prefers to spend the day at home. Cuddling me, of course.

We thought some about my first humom, Mama D, and hope she is doing well. She did a great job with me when I was a baby, and I hope she can be a cat mom again. She is a great one. We thought about my cat mom, too. I don’t remember her as much, but she made me. She had to be awesome.

Mama Anna is definitely awesome, because she takes great care of me, as do Papa and Aunt Linda. I take care of Mama Anna, too, especially when I have to tell her when to go to bed. She has a hard time remembering when that is. Maybe noticing is a better way to put it. Anyway, it generally ends with me herding her to bed and then sitting on her. She knows well enough to not disturb a resting cat.

The day before Mama’s Day, Mama Anna went to the park with Aunt Nicole. Mama Anna hoped to see baby ducks, but they didn’t see any while they were there. Maybe next time. Mama Anna did get to take some park pictures while they were there. This one above is her favorite. There was a festival, but Mama Anna and Aunt Nicole didn’t really see a lot of it. They listened to a band play, and they talked some, then went out to a diner with Aunt Linda, for belated Aunt Linda’s birthday and kind of non-traditional Mama’s Day stuff.

Mama Anna got the mystery notebook she ordered from Archer and Olive, and she is very happy with what she got. She got this one. They call it “Latte Love”, but Mama Anna says the cup on the front of hers is actually a teacup because she likes tea better and it is her notebook, so she has the final say.

All of the colored pencils she got in the same package are pink, which is one hundred percent okay with her. She has some ideas about how she wants to use that book, but there is no telling until she actually gets to it. I will let her do that, because it will give her a topic for her blog. This is supposed to be hers, after all. She’ll get to that. It’s been a while. She is planning on moving the day for her blog from Thursday, which is obviouslynot working, to Tuesday, which is a much better day for that sort of thing.

With all of that out of the way, let’s go bac to Aunt Liinda for a minute. Many people may not know this, but Aunt Linda is very brave. This week, she saved me from bees. Or she saved bees from me. I’m not sure. Anyway, some of those stinkers got in through the very top of the window, between the screen and the room. Specifically, the windowsill, which is the best sunbathing spot in the entire apartment. I won’t go into details, but she saw what was very likely to happen and she sprang into action by closing the window and kept it that way until, well, corpses everywhere.

(Mama Anna here. A moment of clarification. Storm’s Aunt Linda uses the word, “bee,” to describe any flying insect that stings, but I checked the windowsill, which is still closed, and the uh, remains, do appear to be black and yellow striped. Also, there are only two of them,)

Eh, whatever, I said what I said. Mama Anna is perfectly free to express her own thoughts on her own blog, if, you know, she makes any entries, Mama Anna.

Back to me. I joined Mama Anna in watching a British show, Utopia, which we both liked. Mama Anna liked it a lot, mostly because of things like the plot and the characters and the acting and writing, but for me, it was all about the colors. In this show, the whole thing is shot in CYM, which means Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, instead of RGB, which means Red, Green, Blue. Mama Anna picked up on that kind of stuff early on, like right away, because her papa was a professional art person, both the fun kind and the commercial kind, so she knew that kind of stuff form when she was a people kitten. We are both looking for something else to watch now. It’s a team sport, the team being her and me. I told her she can use this time to read, and she reminded me who does and does not have thumbs in this family. Yeah, kind of touchy there.

Anyway, what’s up with you this week?

Typing With Wet Paws: New Journals Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It has been a big week around here, and most of it involved me, so it was mostly a good one.

photos by Mama Anna

First of all, this week marks Aunt Linda’s birthday. She does not like to have her photograph taken I have no idea why, because think she is beautiful. Here is a picture of the Sim version of her, instead. She loves to knit. I love to make biscuits on the things she knits. She gives me belly rubs every night, and breakfast every morning. My cat tree and crunchies barrel are in her room. So is the best sunbathing window. Probably some of my toys as well. Try looking under her bed. Her earbuds are probably there, too. She still loves me even though I steal them a lot. She is obviously a very important part of our family, so the anniversary of her getting born is a special holiday.

Sim made by Mama Anna

Second, this is an important week for Mama Anna because journals. Not only did she finish a whole 240 page journal, she started another one immediately and is already over ten pages into it. Here, you can see the okd journal (red) and the new one (green.)

Exceed A5 journal, lined.
(it comes in lots of colors)
Here is the front of them.

The pen is from Staples and has plain black ink. Mama Anna still needs stickers for the front of the green journal. I think she should get calico cat stickers.

As if that were not enough, she also got a surprise journal from Archer and Olive, which she will talk about later. This one has white pages. She is still getting to know it, and hoping it plays nicely with the other Archer and Olive book she has, which has black pages. I think she should get one of their books with black, white and orange (kraft) pages. Then that could be her calico journal, because it would be colored like me. The journal Mama Anna got came in a box. Aunt Linda told me not to sit in it. Hmph. Who does she think is in charge here? Mama Anna was cool about it. She understands the appeal of a good box. Also, the box came in a padded envelope, and that sucker is mine. Crinkly and soft, 10/10 would sit on again.

This blog does not have enough pictures of me. I don’t even mean only the blogs I write. I mean all of them.

There is also the planner I am looking at today, which is actually not a planner. It is set up like one, but it is for Mama Anna to record the media she consumes. This includes books she reads but is also for TV shows and movies she sees on streaming services, and You Tube and that kind of stuff. She says that will be useful in seeing what kinds of things go into her whatever it is where those things go. It probably has something to do with writing. I will be interested when it has something to do with belly rubs.

extra picture of me, because I am awesome

Did you get any boxes this week?

Self-Discovery Draft

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Right now, I am sitting at my desk, in front of an open window. The temperatures are going to hit the high eighties today. Seems a little soon for summer temperatures to me, but what do I know? I am drinking peach iced tea. The nook is progressing quite well, so expect pictures of that soon. For now, the above is my everyday carry traveler’s notebook. Skull book is lined ivory paper, and pouch with the kitty on it holds small ephemera and a Pink Pearl eraser. Pen next to the book is a brush tip Mildliner in Vermillion. Still working out what pen I want for an everyday carry, so will keep you updated on that front. Dark flowery dashboard wraps around a lined insert I am using for a random collections journal. I can move those into a proper bound book later.

Melva and I have sent Queen of Hearts to our editor at The Wild Rose Press, so now we wait. We are putting a sticky note on Drama King, so stay tuned. Since I did indeed write my back forty outline for Her Last First Kiss, I get to watch The Lords of Flatbush, which I may turn into a Saturday matinee. In the meantime, I devoured FROM and Daisy Jones and the Six on streaming. I absolutely love both of them and am excited to see FROM return for a second season on the 23rd, so that’s only ten days away. You bet your sweet bippy I am planning on reading the book version of Daisy, and very likely gobbling the rest of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s work.

On the research front, I will be dipping my toes into Imperial Rusia, which is a new area for me, but it’s part of Ruby’s background in Her Last First Kiss, as she is herself half-Russian, so there will be interesting tidbits I can share along the way. My father was once engaged to a delightful Russian cosmetologist. Alas, they did not suit and went their separate ways in the end. Had they wed, we would have traveled to Russia to meet her side of the family, She told me that I would love Russia, and Russia would love me. A once upon a time writing group member returned from a trip to Russia with some amazing photos and the insistence that I had to write something set in Imperial Russia. This might be close. 1784 England, but half-Russian heroine, so yes? Maybe I better rewatch Dr. Zhivago just to be sure. Yes, I know, different period, but the ice palace.

Reading hit another snag. Eh. It happens. I have been doing a lot of journaling lately. I like the direction that’s been taking lately. I took a bunch of detailed notes while watching the last two episodes of Daisy, which resulted in a bunch of sticky notes of topics to expand upon later. The whole interviewing present day (of the story) characters about what happened years or decades ago is catnip for me. Add protagonists in the arts and I think you can hear my “yesssssssssssss” from wherever you are. Plus the music does not suck. Yet another reason I want to have one of my journals be a place to stuff idea soup ingredients. This thing goes with that thing, which fits with that thing, but with this change, so it’s best to have one place where they all live and some sort of index that allows me to access it all when I need it, rather than shuffling through bits and pieces scattered everywhere. I call it my organized magpie stage.

If I didn’t mention, I did not end up registering for Camp NaNo, and I am okay with that. I am actually getting stuff done, which is the whole point, so still calling that a win. I will put a sticky note on the July version of Camp, especially if I am ready to tiptoe into a new discovery draft by that time.

What are you discovering this week?

As always, Anna

Pre-Spring Stationery Rambles

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Another Thursday, another blog. We are now past the midpoint of February, and I am not at all sure we are going to get smacked by winter this year. I am not sure how I feel about that. To be determined, I suppose. One way this reflects is in the way I handle my stationery, because stationery is life. Though I didn’t manage to get the pastel Christmas theme this year (but I did get a start on it for next year) I figured that pastel winter would do as well, but then it wasn’t clicking, so I am now in a themeless wilderness. I will probably keep the Bloody Valentine theme for the rest of the month and then we will see. March, for me, suggests RWA conferences, though we haven’t been for the last few years for various reasons. I’m sure that will pick up again in the very near future. In any case, full speed ahead.

In full stationery nerd mode, I am currently fiddling around with my everyday carry (EDC) aka what’s in my bag. With spring in the offing, I want to stretch myself into going out more. Ever since we got this apartment, after our year of vagabondage, I have bene more of a homebody than I would like to admit. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I am an extrovert, I work at home, and I live in a city. There are people out there. :gestures to window: Part of this means doing some of my journaling and possibly discovery drafting outside of the house.

Not going to lie, nifty stationery goes a long way toward that end. Right now, I am sorting things out when it comes to my EDC. Pictured above is a leather traveler’s notebook from Chic Sparrow, in the size A6. This size is new to me, so I didn’t have any inserts that size, wasn’t sure where to find them, but I found a bound sketchbook that looked like it might fit. I popped it in, and oh my mercy, it’s great. The shiny things in the first picture are plastic dashboards, also from Chic Sparrow, which I can fill with whatever strikes my fancy. I moved the pocket sized inserts I had been using into a pocket-sized cover from another maker. Do I want to carry A6 with me, or pocket, and what about my B6? The good news is that as a writer, I absolutely am going to write in all of these books, so I’m not worried.

Here you see my very first Archer and Olive journal. That’s a silver spiderweb on the front cover, black linen with dark blue sparkles, and black dot gridded pages. I am challenging myself to make one spread per day. No theme, no plan, but throwing stuff on the page as I will, which I will probably show later. Right now, we are getting to know each other, and I am definitely planning on getting more, but definitely will wait until they go on sale. Go figure I finally discover this brand when they phase out the lined books. Eh, it’s fine. What I do know is that I am all about the GSM these days. I always suspected, but now I know.

For the rest of today, I get to transcribe that scene, send it off to Melva, and then tidy my desk area. I am excited to get back to historicals and seeing what I can do with that genre now, both with stories that have been on pause for far too long and new stories yet to come. I am eyeing Camp NaNo in April, which will no doubt get a notebook of its own.

That’s about it for that for the time being, so I will move on along to the transcription and then it’s desk tidying time. When we renew our lease in May, I want to get my secretary desk out of storage, because I want all the nooks and crannies. what notebooks are you using this season?

Anna