What’s my Hobonichi done for me lately?

I am beginning to settle into my new home post-move. Now is a great opportunity to reflect on how I’ve kept tabs on myself between January and July. I’m thinking critically about my organizational habits — before I restart writing, lesson planning, and running life this week. En otro vez: what’s working with my Hobonichi Day-Free?

Habit tracking. Much better. Revised what I track to better fit what I want to attend to. That urge to track only what I feel expected to do transforms a fun tracker into a job.

Heavy-hitting weeks wherein I am pressed with tasks do still lead to missed days. However, consistency has followed revisions to my tracked habits. I converted “No Buy” days into “Ate In” days. I also removed “Meditate” to “Self Care,” which more accurately accounts for how I check-in with myself of late.

Happy changes to my tracking

Reading log. Success. The Favorites pages in the back of the Hobonichi house the books I’ve read all year. The spreads providea running source of accomplishment as I fill each up.

The pre-printed stars provide a space to record how strongly I enjoy each book. And the top menu distinguishes between printed texts and audiobooks. A useful distinction as I engage more deeply with analog books. Different types of reading.

My grey inks track this book list. It’s fun to see the contrasting grey hues as my daily drivers alternate throughout the year.

I use a Book Dart to remind myself that I could be reading rather than doom scrolling.

A dart that says, “Hey! You could curl up with a book right now.”

Blank notes pages. I made an intentional effort to put the blank notes pages to good use this year. I added important personal meeting notes, family-oriented notes for later migration into more permanent (and searchable) digital records, currently inked palettes, scribbles and swatches from pen group meetups, and a diverse population of scratch notes.

Seven months of such focused attention have lent colored liquids through page 78 of the planner’s 171 total notes pages. Some on-the-napkin math confirms this is a positive change. I’m on a pace to nearly finish this (high-cost specialty) Hobonichi planner. Bingo.

Multi-use, multi-color, Leeloo Dallas multi-pass.

This week’s Inked Tines update includes last week’s currently inked writing tools.

Toolset

Pens. The Hongdian N23 was a standout last week. The Long Blade, in particular, gets along famously with Diamine’s Solar Storm. Smooth M-width lines that show off line variation. With gentle feedback to spare. And Storm threw off subtle hints of rainbow shimmer at the tail ends of letters. Too much fun. 1/2.

• Pilot Kaküno (M) — 1/8. Smooth writing at both wide and vertical angles. Koninginne provided the usual haloing and subtle gradient shading. Excellent for adding life to scratch notes — especially on boring calls to utility companies. Two thumbs up.

• Lamy Safari (Cv) — 1/2. Fireopal has a crush on Lamy’s Cursive nib. Prominent shading from pasty orange to deep, black-orange made for cheery scratch notes, brainstorming and journaling. This is a pairing that should live on into next week.

• TWSBI Eco-T (EF) — 3/5. Midnight Twinkle clogged within the first hour. It then ran smoothly and consistently for an entire week. A playoff-worthy comeback. Silver shimmer dominated my writing and took up to 20 seconds to dry. My Hobonichi task lists are awash in smeared writing. Cheers, silvery smeared writing. A fun foray into playful daily driving.

• Kaweco Sport (BB) — 4/5. Kujakuryoku adored this Kaweco BB (double broad? broad broad?) nib. The steel nib writes most consistently with moderate writing pressure. This worked surprisingly well for scratching off notes while holding my pocket notebook in one hand and writing with the other. Kuretake’s ink shades wonderfully and shows rare sheen when given time to dry on coated paper. The pop of teal should make for lovely accent reading notes in a future week.

• Platinum Preppy (F) — 4/5. Brane flowed consistently in Platinum’s disciplined steel F nib. The nib expressed friction on the page as I made scratch notes and accented phone meeting notes. The feel is new to me. I’m unsettled as to whether I like or dislike the tactile feel.

Notebooks. Journal. Midori MD Grid (B6 Slim). I finished my Midori journal last week. The final page of the notebook fell to the power of my scribbling. A single page of brainstorming moving related tasks, written in Monteverde’s Fireopal.

Midori’s maximum pretty and minimal styling

Written dry. My bouts of writing lived few and far between one another the past two weeks. Packing and unpacking boxes took up a majority of my energy. As a result, all five pairings arrived at week’s end with plenty of ink remaining. A success of sorts.

Locked, loaded and ready to write

Newly inked. I behaved myself. Six inked pens in and six inked pens out. The perfect stationery gentleman.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. I have placed myself on an acquisition embargo until the DC Pen Show in August. Gestures matter. Gestures I can commit to: priceless.

Outgoing / trades or sales. A marked lack of movement.

In fact, I moved backwards. My plans for this past week involved bringing my TWSBI Eco-T back from the to-sell shelf. Dun-dun.

Currently reading and listening

Fiction. Peter recommended Becky Chambers’ “Monk and Robot” series to me. An excellent suggestion.

I started and finished Chambers’ duo of Monk and Robot novellas just before last week’s move. Earnest personalities and a great, healthy dynamic between the two main characters: the monk and the robot. Reading time well spent.

I appreciate Chambers’ thoughtfully delicate world-building, too. Enough that I dove right into their longer Wayfarers series last week. I’m 28% into the first story as of this post. All read in my Apple Books app. Lovely.

Exploring the nature of consciousness through Mosscap’s eyes was fascinating. Peter was absolutely right about Becky Chambers’ writing. Thoughtful, heart full, and chock full of characters who seem to be sincerely good people. A welcome breath of fresh air. Thank you, Peter!

Nonfiction. I also dug into Hemmer’s Partisans. Three chapters in, with Mitsubishi pencil and Mildliner in hand. I’m only on the first read-through. First read-throughs involve scanning the book for Hemmer’s overall argument. Hunting down the major points she likely had in her writing outline.

Quickly scrawled notes as a trail to follow more closely when I do my close read

Music. Chillhop released a compilation of excellent lo-fi just last week, called “Golden Hour.” The animation is excellent. The music is energetic (read: keeps me awake while I read at night). And the playlist sits well in the background while I continue to sort through boxes and unpack.

I like it when a playlist brings my activity, mindset and energy levels together. I invite you to give the playlist a try and, if you do listen, to let me know what you think.