Tools for the New Year

Like most ladies, I'm a bit of a stationery fiend. A job always seems so much more manageable and enjoyable when you have a pretty notebook to hand. And then there's the annual diary purchase. People have tried time and time again to tempt me over to the digital side, but I love holding a paper diary in my hands. I love choosing the perfect diary each year, spending hours crooning over paper weight, design and functionality.

The process of writing something down on paper is cathartic for me. It doesn't matter if it's a food shopping list, a letter or a journal entry. Writing it in my own hand make it personal, real and considered.

Over the years I've honed down my favourite paper products to a few faithful staples, which I use for both blogging and life in general. Here are my favourites.





This is my weekly blog planner, which I bought from Paperchase. It's really useful for documenting which posts I plan to put up throughout the week, allowing me to make sure there's a good balance of content. I do tend to shift things around, so Tipex does come into the equation, but it's a handy tool for mapping out your editorial goals for the week.





My faithful journal is where I document life's ups and downs. The deepest, most personal feelings I have about my life and those within it. I don't write every day. In fact, I can go for weeks without writing a single entry, but it's a relaxing process, and helpful to me particulary when I'm feeling low. Working through my problems on paper helps me to prcess things rationally.



This Penguin notebook is where I pop any notes I might want to keep a record of. Books I've been recommended, films I've seen, things I need to buy, people I need to contact. It's a lovely notebook filled with a hodgepodge of topics. I wouldn't be without it.



This year's diary came from Joules. I've never had one of their diaries before and I absolutely love it. The quaint illustrations and thick anti-bleed paper (an absolute necessity for a diary!) makes it the best diary I've had to date. I love it.





I've blogged before about my Q&A a day diary. It asks you a different question for every day of the year. You fill out just a couple of lines, and at the end of the year go back to the beginning and start again. It's only now, in my second year, that I'm truly appreciating it. I can see exactly what I was thinking a year ago, and marvel at how much I've grown and changed in that relatively short space of time.

What are your essential paper tools for the new year?