mid-april update

new pens, new books, and independent bookstore day!

Nahvalur Voyage Cherry Blossom with an Extra Fine nib inked with Robert Oster Dusky Pink

Hello friends!

The last couple of weeks felt like a roller coaster, and somehow it’s now mid-April. I feel like I had a ton of motivation at the start of the month, then my day job completely drained it all. Now, I’m trying to bounce back.

I think I truly understand why full time creatives recommend those starting out to work a day job that is mindless to keep their brain fresh to work on their creative projects. My day job doesn’t always have tasks that are absolutely draining, but it’s been happening a lot this month.

I hope your month has been going more smoothly than mine!

updates to my commonplace book system

I teased my new personal commonplace book recently on Instagram. It’s a commonplace book/reading journal hybrid, and it’s also in an A5 Leuchtturm1917 dot grid notebook like my work specific commonplace book.

I’ve been struggling with my reading journal lately because with my reading journal I have two goals: 1) track my reading and 2) keep quotes that resonate with me. Typically, I’d just keep a reading journal for the year to track the books I’m reading and to keep all the quotes, but I reread a lot. I didn’t want to be copying the same quotes over and over again.

So I’m trying to combine my commonplace book with most of the elements from my reading journal, while tracking what I’m reading in a separate notebook like a Field Notes. Something super simple with book information, date started, date completed, and rating.

Sometimes, I think that a ring bound system may be good for my reading journal and keeping all the quotes and everything, but I can’t wrap my head around how I’d archive pages. I really don’t want to be buying cheap binders just to archive pages, and I’m not a fan of the Plotter refill storage since it doesn’t allow you to easily flip through pages.

As you can see, I have very little figured out, but hopefully, I can settle into my new personal commonplace book/reading journal and figure out if I need something different later. I just need to start getting quotes onto paper.

my posts around the web

Over on the blog, I shared my planner system review for the first quarter of 2025. I also shared a book review for Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (4⭐️ read). I was hoping to post more than that by now, but life got in the way.

Over on Instagram, I shared the new Nahvalur Voyage Cherry Blossom (Use code AMY10 for 10% off most items at Atlas Stationers). It’s honestly my favorite pen thus far from Nahvalur. It’s gorgeous, and I’m so lucky that they gifted me one. They also released an in-house extra fine nib! I’m so glad they finally did it. It’s a contender to be used as an everyday writer.

celebrate indie bookstores!

I acquired quite a few books thus far in April, which is kind of surprising. But April celebrates both libraries and independent bookstores! So the book shopping isn’t done yet. Do you plan on shopping at any indie bookstores this month?

If you enjoy audiobooks, Libro.fm is having an audiobook sale the week of April 21-27 in honor of indie bookstore day. Libro.fm is my go to shop for audiobooks because 1) they support indie bookstores, 2) all the books are DRM free meaning that you’re not stuck in a specific platform or app, and 3) you can buy audiobooks even without subscribing to their membership. (Although, I am a member myself.)

I’ll be sure to share a haul of all the books I’ve acquired at the end of the month. There’s quite a few titles that I’m eying from Libro.fm, including The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon.

& That’s all I have for you today. I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend!

🩷, Amy