Like many writers and/or visual creatives, I have a fascination with ink and paper products. I am choosy about notebooks, journals and, of course, planners. My friends share these obsessions. Parisian Phoenix art director Gayle Hendricks often comments about my collection of pens, and her eyes often sparkle when I deliver fresh notebooks.
I had a binge a year or two ago when I ordered a whole variety of planners in search of the perfect one, and our poetry editor Nancy Scott said she wished she could see my collection. Nan has been blind since birth, and I had to laugh when she told me that the next time someone asked her what she wished she could see, she would answer, “Planners.”
I have very specific criteria. I need monthly spreads, preferably before each set of weekly spreads— that’s where I plot my budget, income and expenses. I would like some attempt at good design, a bound spine and not spiral, a heavier paper weight, a ribbon for a place saver, an elastic band to hold it closed, and if we’re talking about the dream some stickers and a pocket would be nice. Diverse holidays, some humor or motivation…
My daughter, Eva, and I visited Barnes & Noble, after other stores had disappointed me, because you can’t buy a planner online with the same confidence as one you opened.
Eva selected the 2027 Herbal Enchantment Planner from Llewelyn, and I went with the “She believed she could so SHE F*CKING DID” planner from Sourcebooks. I really loved the soft pink cover of another journal with cats, but the interior was disgusting.
Gayle and I need to talk soon about designing something for our authors and for me that features all of my favorite characteristics.
Halloween is a sacred time in the Pagan/Celtic Year, a time to connect with our ancestors, a time to renew, and a time to look ahead. So let’s get this planner situation under control!
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