I am trying to reset my planner life this week. I have been very tired since returning from the Chicago Pen Show and feel like I need to re-evaluate my planner/journal set-up. I may simplify a few things, take some pressure off myself and give myself permission to start over.
I enjoy making my journal pretty but am I putting too much pressure on myself to make it “fancy”? Do I set my expectations too high?
Am I the only one struggling right now? Let me know in the comments and left me know how you’ve reset your journaling or just commiserate with me.
Pens:
- Pen Review: Revisiting the Pilot FA Nib, This Time on the Pilot Custom 743 Verdigris Green (via The Gentleman Stationer)
- Video-Review: Pilot Custom Heritage 91 (via Scrively)
- Edison Pen Company, beginning of many things (via Fountain Pen Chronicles and More)
- Would I Buy Them Again? Take 2 (via Rachel’s Reflections)
Ink:
- Van Dieman’s Tasmanian Lavender (via Inkcredible Colours)
- Tono & Lims Explained (via Yoseka Stationery Blog)
- A Few Grey Inks (via An Inkophile’s Blog)
- Colorverse Erebus Crater Ink Review (via The Pen Addict)
Pencils:
- Mechanical Pencil Update, May 2026: Pentel, Pentel, Pentel (and Pentel, Pentel) (via Urban Adventure League)
Planners, Notebooks & Paper:
- Paper, scissors, glue: how to make a vision board (via – Flow Magazine)
- ACMc Blotter Paper (via Fountain Pen Love)
- Journal Pages (via Wonder Pens)
- The Best Planner Washi Tapes and Stickers (via JetPens)
Art & Creativity:
- Review: Ohuhu Cotton-top Watercolour Pad (via Parka Blogs)
- Flanders Poppies 2026 – Part 2 (via Apple-Pine)
- Little Things Here and There (via Apple-Pine)
Other Interesting Things:
- New zines: Not-knowing and Complexity (via Austin Kleon)
- New Book Offers a Glimpse Inside Kahlo’s Personal Sanctuary (via My Modern Met)
- Artist Review: Huawei MatePad Mini with M-Pencil Pro (via Parka Blogs)
- Rogue One: The Andor Cut (via Kottke.org)
- 2026 Chicago Pen Show Recap (via The Pen Addict)
- Sometimes it Needs Simplicity (via Dime Novel Raven)
- Travel Stationery: How to Pack for a Two Week International Trip (!?!) (via The Gentleman Stationer)
- Parting with parts (via The Typewriter Revolution blog)
- Twilight of the Velocipede: Typesetting Races before the Age of Linotype (via The Public Domain Review)
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I tried bullet journalling many times and always failed because I felt my layouts weren’t as pretty as what I saw online or it was too complicated. Now I use a Hobonichi Techo and their layout works for my life plus, if I’m feeling creative, I can always add a bit of washi or some stickers to my pages. Your planner should be fun, not exhausting. Find the right balance for yourself and your lifestyle.
I’ve been using a vertical weekly layout for the last three years (I work at a small liberal arts college and have a lot of appointments) but I’ve realized more and more this year that I really rely a lot on my digital appointment calendar. It’s been making me wonder if I should set up a Bullet Journal (functional, not pretty) and start using that again, and rely entirely on my digital calendar for appointments.
So you’re not alone on the planner struggle.
You’re not alone. I stare at my journal several times a week and yet I don’t write in it. I don’t know if it’s everything going on in the world or what, but I’m not feeling terribly inspired or like I have that much worth recording? All the while wondering what I’ll write about next!
Anytime you feel burdened by a hobby or something else that used to be fun, it’s time to revisit. It’s OK to have a “plain” planner with nothing but your scrawled notes. You can always resume fanciness if you feel like it later. I think it’s important not to be a slave to whatever rules we make for ourselves.
You’re not alone. After weeks of just not wanting to write at all, I have downsized from my B6 Midori, back into my TN Passport (the ltd ed. Train one). Got the wallet insert, a month-to-view insert and a blank insert, and my Travelers fp in green clipped to the cover. For some reason I wanted the reassuring weight of it all fitting into a pocket.
I haven’t written more than a few sentences, but I’ve been drawing in it a little bit as well. There’s just been so much LIFE stuff going on, and then waves all this as well. I’m too tired to write, and I just have to accept that for now.