December Already? I'll Be Starting 2024 with a New, Happy Planner!
Okay, raise your hand if you get excited about starting a new journal!
There’s something about new journals and planners that fires me up. When it comes to planners, I’ve typically chosen the 15-month types, so I can buy the new one in the fall and start using it right away.
For 2024, I decided to switch. For a number of years now, I’ve been using the 17-Month Do It All planner from Orange Circle Studio. It was perfect for me when I was keeping track of multiple projects and a busy schedule.
Now that my schedule’s a little less busy, and I’m not juggling multiple projects, I thought I’d try something different. My daughter, who loves planners and journals even more than I do, persuaded me to try the Happy Planner.
It comes in many different flavors. The one I chose includes a monthly overview for each month, and then a weekly view with space for notes on the left. The days are divided into three sections: notes, to-do, and a blank area where I’ll write down my appointments. We’ll see how it works out. (Apparently it’s now unavailable — here’s one that’s similar.)
To keep it company, I also got a new journal from the same company. It’s your basic bullet journal with a cheerful floral cover, and several sheets of stickers. And of course, I got extra stickers, because, well, why not?
Now I can’t wait to finish filling up my current journal so I can start on the new one.
Do you have end-of-year rituals that get your blood pumping? Share them in the comments!
On the writing front, I’m happy to let you know that last Thursday I suddenly clicked with my characters again. After several weeks of feeling disconnected from them, that was a very good feeling! As a result, I’ve been writing some good words if I do say so myself.
I expect I’ll have a couple more good weeks before the holiday overwhelm hits.
What I’m Reading
This week I binged on the two latest Fiona Figg books by Kelly Oliver.
Mayhem in the Mountains puts Fiona, Kitty, and the ever-present chaperone, Clifford, in the Dolomites, in winter. So of course they get snowed in. Benito Mussolini makes an appearance, and of course both Archie, Fiona’s love, and Frederick Fredericks, her nemesis, glide in on a dogsled and skis, respectively.
It’s all a delightful romp in the snow until Mussolini gets killed. Then Archie and Fredericks come face to face, resulting in Fiona getting shot. Fortunately not fatally, or I wouldn’t have enjoyed the next book, Arsenic at Ascot, nearly so much.
And did I mention that Archie proposes to Fiona?
In Arsenic at Ascot, Fiona actually gets her first real, solo spy assignment. She’s looking into a group of anti-vivisectionist ladies, while trying to find the mole in a military group that experiments on animals. A society house party figures prominently, and Archie and Fredericks are more or less fighting over her. But that’s okay, because she’s at war with herself. She loves Archie, doesn’t she? But Fredericks has a strong physical effect on her. What’s a young divorced/widowed spy to do?
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Notable Quotes
I sat at the kitchen table, running through what I could remember of the wedding day that might be useful. If I did this while I was still half asleep, then maybe my subconscious would kick into action and I might be able to pull something from the depths of my mind, but all I succeeded in doing was stabbing myself in the lip with my fork.
- A Killer Wedding by Kate P Adams
Note to self: wielding eating implements while half asleep can be hazardous to your health.
Balancing the stack on one forearm, I opened the top drawer. A familiar smell hit my nose. The earthy scent of aging paper laced with stale cigar smoke and a hint of lingering futility.
- Arsenic at Ascot by Kelly Oliver
Hmmm. I never thought of lingering futility as having a distinct fragrance of its own, but I love the metaphor.