End of The Line?
Discover more from Shadows And Thorns
I apologize for missing last week’s edition.
I never expected to get so sick that I would curl up in my recliner with one or more cats at any given time and simply not move because I lacked the energy and the desire to do so.
Over Christmas, no less.
Alas, that is what happened. Gory details are provided here, if you want them.
What makes it so ironic and funny for me is that for the month of December I had scheduled out all of my writing topics and I had been keeping up with the writing…which enabled me to schedule posts here, on my blog, and on Medium without any issues whatsoever.
My schedule did not account for being so sick I could not move nor think. My schedule accounts only for when I am feeling unwell, with my usual medical issues.
Moving forward, however, I am going to strive to work a little harder come January, or at least when I can breathe without the aid of medications anyway, so maybe at least a few days before January begins. I have plenty of topics left-over from my sick days—as I scheduled at least three, if not more, topics per day to write about. I didn’t ever want to see a topic, roll my eyes, and then decide to skip a day, so I made sure to overcompensate on that side by scheduling several topics to write about per day. It works for me, I tell you. Plus, since I sit down to write several times a day, it works for me. I can write about one thing in the morning. I can write about something else in the afternoon. After my son goes to bed, I can write about something completely different. It’s all good.
Now, how do I schedule myself out like this?
I caved in November and bought myself a 2023 Hobonichi Weeks. I started to use it in December because, well, December was there in the planner.
I gave a little flip-through on TikTok that you can check out here, if you are interested in seeing it.
I have morphed into using this as my work and content creation planner. Since that video, I have begun to write in topics every weekday (Monday through Friday). I create a small tracker on the right-hand side that tracks when I publish where, as well as keeping track of daily word counts.
My Hobonichi Weeks is a mega, so I have begun to use the back pages for tracking other things. (A Weeks mega means it has TONS more notes pages in the back than a regular HoboWeeks) Come January, I am doing away with my everyday carry PrintPressions microjournal/tracker notebook. I broke up everything that I was tracking in that notebook between my HoboWeeks and my Sunshine Sticker Co Slim Dot Grid Notebook. I call that one Morticia. My HoboWeeks is Ophelia.
Sidenote: in the original Addams Family television show, Ophelia was Morticia’s sister.
I have already filmed the video walk-through of Ophelia for January…as well as January’s set-up in Morticia. I have not yet edited or uploaded either video. If you are interested in seeing them when they are released, keep an eye on my blog here. I always post something on my blog when I release a video.
In January, Ophelia is going to be stepping up a little bit more. I begin work on the course I am creating, so I will have my action steps laid out every week on her pages so I know what I am doing when. I am hoping to have all the preliminary work done on my course by the end of the first quarter. That is my one goal for this quarter. I want to have the essays written and complete. I want to have the prompts written out and edited. I want to have the videos made. I want the finished product walk-through that I make in the videos completed and ready for publication. Those are my goals. I can do this in three months.
My plan for Quarter 2 is a project I scribbled out notes for years ago, before the pandemic hit, while watching a video of an oil painter’s latest work in progress. It triggered a lot for me. This project needs a bit more work because I have spent the past couple of years looking at it through the lens of everyone else. I need to step back and re-examine the project through my own personal lens, so I can see what still resonates and what I need to change about how I am creating this piece.
Yes, I also have projects set up to be done in Quarters 3 and 4. It’s the first time in my entire life I have had this much planned out for the year before the year has even begun.
Morticia is part of a two-book artsy Bullet Journal experiment I began in December 2022. I am still working with Morticia, who is of the similar size as the HoboWeeks. I am also playing in Roisin. She is an Archer And Olive A5 notebook. I plan to work along with Jashii Corrin and A Year Of Planning throughout 2023, doing weekly bujo prompts. You can find out more about this here.
Since I have begun using my two journals, I haven’t thought about saving room for Jashii’s challenge. I had already expected to need an R&D journal (research & development) for her challenge, so I already have an empty A5 notebook standing by…except…I am sitting in my recliner, sicker than can be, and watching other 2023 bujo set-up videos, and 2022 bujo flip-throughs, and I am seeing all of these amazing and cool artsy bujo themes that I would like to try.
So, I started a collection in my B6 memory-keeping Stalogy notebook and wrote down different ideas. I love the idea of one central theme for the entire year.
For one example, my youngest loves the zoo. It is mandatory that we visit the penguins, insects, reptiles, and bears when we go there. I was thinking of making him his own bujo for 2023 with the zoo as the main theme throughout the year, but using a different animal every single month. The penguins are his favorites. Stingrays come in next. And so on, and so forth.
Which leads me into my own silliness. When we go to the zoo, we always have to ride the carousel. It is my favorite ride and has been ever since I was a child. I could create an over-arching year-long theme using the carousel as the theme. The zoo carousel has all sorts of critters and characters on it, not just the typical horses. Although I think creating a different carousel horse each month for the main theme could be amazing.
Speaking of my own silliness, I watch a lot of reading bujo set-ups on top of the ‘regular’ set-ups. A theme for the year for my bujo could be either Beauty and the Beast or the Library … and both could work and flow together. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, but it was the library I have always lusted after. Every month could either be a different library set-up, different couches to curl up on, different curtains for each room…or it could be something Beauty and the Beast-related…a tea party…the rose garden…Belle and the Beast’s first meal together…and so forth…or both mixed together.
Belle and the Beast may be my favorite fairy tale, but Alice’s tales in Wonderland are my favorite stories. With Alice’s Adventures as my year-long theme, I could break my year into two parts, each six months long. The first bujo would be dedicated to Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. The second book would be dedicated to Alice’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass.
If you watch only the Disney versions of these, you might be disappointed in how things go. Through the looking glass, we find the White Queen turns into a sheep…among other things.
For the first book, a month of Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts, and a Mad Tea Party. For the second book, the Tweedles (Tweedledum and Tweedledee), the Lion And The Unicorn, the White Queen, Humpty Dumpty, the White Knight, and finally, the Walrus and the Carpenter. But there are so many little tidbits to play with, like the Caucus Race, or the Pool of Tears, or the Garden, and so on…
Being a Goth myself, I quite like the idea of doing something Goth/Witchy/Halloween-esque for the entire year. Choosing any of those three alone for the year could reap such delights as it is.
A whole year of Witchiness gets us more than black cats and witches’ hats. For twelve entire months, I would have to dig into what I am as a Witch and then go even further to bring out the goodness of it to put on display in my Bullet Journal.
As a Goth, I would have to have more than just black, black hair, black eyeliner, black lipstick, black clothing. Let’s bring in the moodiness. Give me a month of Gothic castles, dire weather, a damsel in distress, some sort of monster, and nightmares. Oh, there are so many things to touch upon. For Gothic inspiration, what writers embrace the Gothic aesthetic? Poe, of course. But I could spend a year doing spreads dedicated only to Poe. The Black Cat. The Raven. The Tell-Tale Heart. The Mask of the Red Death. The Pit and the Pendulum. And of course, Lenore… On and on…
This leads me to my favorite writers as the theme for a year…or writers I love from one genre or another. I read mostly horror and fantasy when reading non-fiction. I have been called the Queen of Creep, a title I adore. Stephen King. Jim Butcher. Kim Harrison. Patricia Briggs. But then again…I could take one series from one writer for one year and merrily be on my way.
I am not a foodie, but a year of your favorite meals, or ingredients. What can you put in a hot pot? Then again, what can’t you? Carrots. Potato dishes. Specific dishes from specific regions that you adore.
Herbs for a year. Herbs that heal. Herbs that kill. Flowers that attract bees. Plants that eat meat. Plants for a year. House plants. The most poisonous plants. Plants to avoid, like nettle, or maybe even roses.
I didn’t go into a year of Halloween. I mean, really. A month of horror movie monsters. Or pumpkins all year round. Bed knobs and broomsticks. The Three Sisters. Creepy creatures, like bats, rats, or spiders. Or perhaps an entire year of spiders, different types, different webs, with different killing techniques. Maybe each month is dedicated to a different costume, or different style or era of costumes. A month of witch’s brew. Or a month spent chasing down an ostrich feather as that last odd ingredient to finish off the potion you need to brew.
Ok, so the themes jaunt was not intended, but hopefully, you get something out of it.
All of that to say, in the end, I want to pull every spread I use in my Bullet Journal practice into a single journal. I am hoping that this will be the Sunshine Sticker Co slim dot grid notebook because darned if the purchase and use of Ophelia have not started up something entirely new and different that I had not in any way planned on.
I was thinking of creating my R&D journal as an actual art-filled bujo that I set up for the coming year (that’s 2024, oh yes, already) so that I have one standing by if needed and still wanted. Or maybe it can become a gift or a giveaway journal at some point if it is no longer wanted or needed.
With that, I shall leave you, until the coming year greets us.
May you stay safe and healthy. Blessed be.
Until we meet again…