Plotting Reflection

Over the past month I started attending daily Mass once a week. It’s been a practice I’ve slowly incorporated into my life as I have tried to rebuild my routines. I try to attend on Wednesdays or Thursdays as a mid-week boost to spiritually and mentally get me through the last part of the week without devolving into frustration and confusion, as I tend to do a lot lately.

Anyway, enough about my confessions. For those not familiar with the practice, daily Masses are smaller and more intimate than the Sunday Masses. They are also much shorter, usually running about 30 minutes, which gives me enough time to make it back to work in an hour on my lunch break.

This practice has enabled me to reexamine my bible-size Plotter use and how it can enable me to reflect during Mass and at other parts of my life when I need to slow down and reflect. If you’re not religious, I hope this can enable you to create your own system to reflect and pause. And as always, you don’t have to use my exact tools. Use what speaks to you, whether cheap or expensive, that can easily adapt to your life.

Getting Over the Snags 

One aspect of attending daily Mass that always tripped me up was fasting before communion. It was difficult to dedicate enough time to fast one hour before communion in the middle of the day when all I want to think about was food. But exercising in the mornings enabled me to better control my diet throughout the day, where like Bilbo Baggins I have a first and second breakfast, leaving me enough time to wait until later in the afternoon to eat lunch.

In the back of my Plotter, I have a section for PCOS-friendly food options that have helped me stay on track with my diet. Making these changes has enabled me to think more clearly and take control of the choices I make throughout the day.

Daily Missal

For Sunday Masses, churches usually use hymnals or leaflets that list all songs, prayers, and scripture verses that pertain to the day we’re celebrating. All churches throughout the world who follow the Gregorian liturgical calendar will use the same scripture verses in their services every day. You don’t have to guess what the verses of the day will be, and can somewhat guess what the music and homily/sermon will touch on. This includes Daily Masses, too, but churches usually don’t have hymnals to cover readings for everyone every day. Some parishes have subscriptions to monthly missal booklets for parishioners to use. Some people use phone apps like Universalis or iMissal. Those have been excellent apps to help me start, but I don’t like using my phone in church, so I use a Daily Roman Missal by the Midwest Theological Forum.

Creating a Custom Setup for Daily Masses

This inspired me to rethink my bible-sized Plotter usage, which I have discussed before but was looking for something new I have written before about creating a notebook system for Sunday Mass, but I wanted something different for weekday Masses. In this instance, my bible-size Plotter has been a great companion to house specific prayers and quotes that I reflect on.

A traditional Catholic practice is saying a prayer called the Angelus at noon. This prayer, which dates back to the eleventh century, commemorates the incarnation. On a weekday Mass, we all say the Angelus before the start of Mass. Since I’ve never prayed it much, I don’t have it committed to memory. So I wrote the prayer in my Plotter to reference.

This kickstarted a new idea of dedicating a section of my Plotter to prayer. Ring binders, especially small ones that require a set amount of pages, can be more daunting to me than bound notebooks, but they serve purpose when I want something discreet and to the point. I like ring binders for creating custom layouts and sections, but I don’t like tearing paper out all the time.

Call it a weird psychological glitch, fear of letting go, or a form of stationery rebellion, but I like holding on to some type of permanency in my systems until I’m good and ready to change. So I have landed on quarterly reference system, which specific sections that I can glance at several months before I get the itch to change. My other sections include a monthly calendar and meal planning that highlights the best foods to eat and avoid at specific times of the month.

But back to the fun part. Recently my local stationery shop began carrying bible-size Iroful paper for ring binders. Iroful is 75gsm paper with a matte finish. I decided to use this paper for the Angelus and other prayers that I would like to reference throughout the day, especially during the service. Along with the Angelus, I wrote out the Anima Christi prayer. Written in the medieval times, this prayer is traditionally said silently after receiving communion.

Outside of Mass, I also like to reference these prayers and random saint quotes I find on social media. Writing out these quotes by hand and easily referencing them in a small notebook throughout the day anchors me in a world that is filled with necessary and unnecessary digital noise. I like the beauty in having these quotes in my own custom system, with my own doodles, that I can take anywhere and anchor myself with.

The Iroful paper has been a nice addition to my system due to its thickness and ability to make colors pop. I like using it specifically for this section due to its thickness. It’s too much for simple lists and calendar events, but it’s excellent for areas that I want to reference for a while. Being slightly thicker than other types of Plotter paper enables me to stop and realize that I’m entering a more sacred section of my notebook.

This is another fun experiment for me to find small ways to take me away from the digital medium and ground myself in a more realistic space using analog tools. It enables me to use my creativity in a way that’s not restricted by set templates and designs, nor does it pull me away from reality like my phone does at times. As always, balance is key. The most important factor is being intentional with all the tools you use, digital or analog, and being in control of how they move you forward. Daily Mass is an essential aspect of my life that grounds me, and the analog tools enable me to more fully understand this truth.

Dallas Pen Show Adventure

Twenty-thousand miles to an oasis

Twenty-thousand years will I burn

Twenty-thousand chances I’ve wasted

Waiting for the moment to turn

This song always pops in my mind every time I drive down Interstate 30 through Texarkana to Dallas. Partly because of the song’s title, Texarkana, from R.E.M’s 1991 album Out of Time. And partly because the lyrics are a reflection of my feelings of driving down Interstate 30. Driving this interstate has always felt long and tedious for me. I always look forward to the reasons to drive down this stretch of road, since I have friends and family who live in North Texas, but the stretch of highway feels still dreary and never-ending, especially on the Texas side.

Walking through the woods, I have faced it

Looking for something to learn

Thirty-thousand thoughts have been wasted

Never in my time to return

This weekend, Mike Mills’ chorus played in my head again as I traveled to the Dallas Pen Show via Interstate 30. I have attended the Arkansas Pen Show for years, and had heard about the larger shows. After sinking my teeth into the Arkansas Pen Club, and a friend at church asking when I was finally going to attend, I decided to travel to Dallas to their annual pen show.

The pen show circuit happens in various locations the world throughout the year, including several states in the United States. A pen show showcases a variety of independent pen makers, pen companies, vintage pen collectors, stationery stores, ink suppliers, and artists. It’s one big writing and art extravaganza that celebrates the art of analog writing, art, and design.

The Arkansas show is held in Little Rock every March. It’s a great starter show because it’s small enough to not feel overwhelming. You can walk around and easily talk to the vendors without having hoards of people surrounding you. Other locations, such as the D.C. Super Show and San Francisco Pen Show, are known to be intense and overwhelming at times.

Before my trip, Lisa Vanness asked if I would be willing to stop by the store on my way out of town to pick up a box of the new Twisbi fountain pens that were arriving after she left for Dallas. I was honored that she trusted me enough to carry an entire box of Twisbi pens in my car without fear that I would smuggle any for myself.

The Dallas show was a step above the Arkansas show, but it didn’t feel overwhelming or intense. The crowd size was larger, but you could still talk to the vendors and hold conversations. I heard from various attendees that this year’s show was the busiest they had ever seen it.

The show was held in the DoubleTree Hotel next to the Galleria. I enjoyed this location, as you felt like you were in the middle of the action with a lot of amenities around you. The hotel was a comfortable setup, with a large roomy lobby area complete with bar, coffee kiosk, and restaurant space. I appreciated this, as I feel like a pen show is more than shopping, but a time to connect with other hobbyists and get to know one another.

The actual pen show space encompassed two rooms. The first ballroom was fairly small. At first I was disappointed because I thought that was the only show space. But then I noticed a hallway off to the right, which took me to a larger space, which was packed with tables and customers. Despite its larger space, it still felt cramped at times with little walking room. But I was able to move around and see what I wanted to see after three or four trips around the space.

My shopping focus on this trip was to focus on unique items that I couldn’t find locally. Dromgoole’s Stationery out of Houston held a large presence in the back of the ballroom, and showcased a variety of stationery goods, from inks and paper, to Plotter products, to Superior Labor notebook covers (way out of my price range, but still fun to dream about), and bags. I found a Mont Blanc ink that I had been eyeing online for a while, the Enzo Ferrari purple special edition ink. I also found a bolt-action rollerball pen from Tactile Turn Pen Company, an independent pen company in Texas, and a Bento Bag from Rickshaw Bagworks, from which I received a free Retro 51 Tornado rollerball pen.

Rickshaw Bento Bag

My free Retro 51 Tornado: The MET - Louis C. Tiffany Favrile Parrots Rollerball

Tactile Turn Bolt-Action pen and Enzo Ferrari purple ink

Enzo Ferrari purple ink

Last, but not least, I took one of my pens to the nibmeister Matthew Chen to get a custom Kodachi grind. Grinding a nib is a technique that modifies a fountain pen nib into a custom shape that allows unique pen strokes when writing. Chen worked closely with established nibmeisters to hone his craft and offer services at various pen shows. He has worked on several of my pens, and does a fantastic job every time. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait until March to see him again. Now that I’m settled with my collection, I now want to focus more on modifying my collection with custom nibs instead of buying new pens.

I was slightly disappointed at the lack of workshops at the show. Many pen shows, including the Arkansas Pen Show, hold various workshops on art, pens, calligraphy, journaling, sketching, and other adjacent activities related to pens and stationery. This show only had four workshops, and the topics didn’t seem too interesting. Even though much of my time was filled up with activities outside of the show with family and friends, I wish I could have attended a class that allowed me to explore my own artistic or journaling practice in new ways.

In my own journey with the hobby, I find myself longing for more opportunities to use what I have in new ways instead of just buying new items. I want opportunities to connect and create, not just shop. Though shopping is fun, I also like prudence. I have moved on from the experimental journey in my collecting and am moving into using what I already have in new ways. I hope pen shows in the future find opportunities to allow people to create and socialize instead of just consume. I think balance is needed to create a comfortable and enriching experience that allows artists and writers to gather and create together using tools they love.

Overall, though, it was a fantastic time, and it was worth the endless Interstate 30 drugery through the north Texas terrain. It was a great experience, and I look forward to the next Arkansas Pen Show in March. I’m learning and growing in this hobby, and seeing how these tools can be used to express myself and connect with others.

Catch me if I fall

Planner Season

My 2026 Planner Deep Dive

The stationery community has officially entered planner season, a time where companies announce their new releases for the next year. Planner season keeps creeping earlier and earlier. But I’m ok with September, because it reminds me of the start of a new school year. And since I work in higher education, albeit in an administrative office that doesn’t interact with students that much, it’s nice to plan something new that coincides with students coming back.

Planner season, like everything else in life now, can quickly get out of control with overconsumption, but with prudence you can still enjoy the excitement. I think for many, it harkens back to getting new school supplies at the start of a new school year and receiving a new planner from the school (remember the scratchy Millennium 2000 planners?).

In 2022, I discovered Hobonichi planners, a popular Japanese system with Tomoe River paper (formally made by Tomoegawa, and now made by Sanzen. That’s a whole different rabbit hole). Every year, Hobonichi releases new planners and accessories designed by independent artist. It’s a new season that celebrates new artist collaborations every year.

I liked the Hobonichi system because it was the perfect balance of flexibility and structure. I have always loved the idea of bullet journaling, but it felt too impractical for my needs. I don’t want to create a full spread on a blank sheet of paper every single week. But I also don’t want something that forces me into a detailed structure that doesn’t allow me to make the planner my own. The Hobonichi Cousin A5 addressed both of these issues. It gave me the space to experiment and discover what I want to look like without building it from scratch.

The Hobonichi is divided its three sections: monthly, weekly, and daily spreads. I’ve always gravitated to monthly spreads when planning out my weeks and months. I didn’t have much use for the weekly spreads, but the daily pages allowed me to mark meetings at specific times of the day along with to-do lists. Because of the roomy A5 size, the daily pages gave me a space to experiment with doodles and abstract artwork.

My makeshift missal in my Hobonichi Cousin

The daily pages also inspired me to create a personal missal-type book. On each Sunday page and Holy Days of Obligation, I would write out the verse chapters for each Mass reading, along with the responsorial Psalm, Alleluia, and Gospel verse. I loved this layout, and it inspired me to create my own missal (which I’ve never finished, but I’ll attempt it again someday).

My to-do list spread in my Hobonichi. Not all of my pages looked like this. I think I was stressed and was trying to disassociate

The next year I used the same system, but I was getting burned out and tired of the three-section system. In 2024, I switched to Plotter monthly and weekly inserts because I wanted a simpler system. It worked for what I wanted at the time, but after two years I realized I missed the complete book system that a bound planner provides. I didn’t like removing sections from the binder to make room for the current and future dates. I also wanted a vertical weekly system, because I wanted to start time-blocking to visualize my work tasks throughout the week. So in 2025 I switched from Plotter to Jubin Techo. I started using highlighters to block out my time throughout the week, and it’s been helpful. However, I’m not a fan of the paper. If you’re not a stationery freak like me, it should be fine for you.

My 2023 Hobonichi Cousin

My Jubin Techo

This year I almost went back to Hobonichi, because I wanted to use monthly and daily pages again. I also wanted to integrate vertical weekly spreads again as I did in the Jubin Techo. Of course, tariff prices have affected Japanese planners, which has made me think twice about what I really need.

I almost placed an order online, but at the last minute I checked Vanness Pens, my local stationery store, and found the Midori Hibino. The Hibino is a compact A6 planner with monthly and daily pages that span two pages. It doesn’t have the weekly spread, but the daily page layout has a timeline for appointments and time blocking. I wasn’t sure about the A6 size, so I waited until I visited the store to look through the planner. I was relieved that it wasn’t too small, and was compact enough to slip in my bag. I mostly use A5 for planning and journaling, but I thought about the times in the Hobonichi when I had a lot of free space in my daily pages, which was great for doodles but not much else. I didn’t want to journal in it (although you could) because my journal entires take up multiple A5 pages. I decided to take a chance on the Hibino and the A6 size.

Midori Hibino

My makeshift missal

It’s early to get a new planner, but I’m glad I got it now because it gives me time to think about my needs for my planning layouts. The Sunday layouts made me think of my missal-type layouts in the Hobonichi, so I started filling out the Sunday pages with Mass readings. Marking the liturgical season is also important to me, so I took a green marker and marked the right side of the page with the appropriate liturgical color.

I’m still deciding how I want to fill out the weekday sections, but I’m giving myself time to let that come to fruition. So far I want to incorporate these specific areas:

• Tasks

• Time-Blocking

• Rosary Intentions/ Reflections

Hibino monthly pages

I don’t want to overload it and put myself in a box, so these three elements are sufficient for me right now. As the year winds down, this is a good time to figure out what I need to track, what snags I need to untangle this year, how my processes can change, and what’s important to me. But humans aren’t processors like chips in a machine. I don’t want my planner to reflect a machine that checks tasks on a list. I don’t like getting bogged down into habit tracking. I want a holistic system that reflects my authenticity. That means some pages may have written notes. Some may have Bible verses. Some may have deep reflections and prayers. They’re not supposed to fit into grid-like structures that operating systems gave us. I still have some of my Grandfather’s old planners and notebooks from the 70s. He has random math problems and numbers strewn throughout some of his notebooks. I enjoy seeing these random indiscriminate pencil markings much more than I would seeing typed text on a screen in serif font. It shows his humanity in his own hand in a way that computers can’t. And that’s what I want my planners to do.

My grandfather’s 1972 logbook. He didn’t work for GE, but he received free swag. I can reuse this planner in 2028

My grandfather worked for the Arkansas State Forestry and received this awesome Smokey the Bear planner for 1978. 2023 was a repeating calendar

I'm Writing a Novel

My spiritual director has been hounding me for years to dedicate more time to writing and take it seriously. Like all writers, I knew that was necessary, but found reasons to distract myself from that reality because writing is hard, even when you’re somewhat good at it. She reminded me that at the end, God will ask how we used the gifts he’s given us. Ouch. I’ve met with her for almost 10 years, so she knows me pretty well. She helped me discern that writing is more than just a hobby. I need to treat it as a vocation. And I need to step out of my comfort zone and focus on something that’s been gnawing at me for years.

Nonfiction is my comfort zone, despite the stories that have flooded my head for years. I relate deeply to von Balthasar’s concept of treating your life as a Theodrama, because in the end, we are all somewhat actors in a play with an unmoved mover who spoke the universe into existence. And novels are a reflection of real events. So what’s my excuse now? Well, my own perfectionism, I guess. That’s an easy trick for the enemy (which is a mishmash of my own natural inclinations, the fallen world, and spiritual forces) to hit me with. So I’m going to disregard that and keep going. Also, writing a fictional story with an engrossing plot line and story arc has felt daunting to me. But now that I’m starting the process, it’s flowing quite naturally. I’m sure I’ll hit some snags and dry spells, but for now I’ll keep writing.

Pantsing and Plotting

I learned two types of novel writers: pantsers and plotters. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants without knowing where the story is going. Plotters plot out every detail before writing. I’ve always been more of a pantser (my thesis chair tried to get me to write out an outline of my thesis because it went all over the place). But this time I’m incorporating more a balanced approach. I’m letting the writing guide the story as I write it, while also taking time to plotting out the structure as the story matures and moves. The story arc has changed and morphed from its original beginning in my head, but as it changes I make notes of areas I need to expand on, characters I need to introduce, and plot lines that need to be introduced. With this workflow in mind, I thought I would share some of the tools I use to accomplish this. I’m only about 3,000 words in, but this experimentation stage has allowed me to see what foundational elements work for me.

Digital Process: Scrivener 

Thankfully we live in the golden age of writing programs that allow us to avoid Microsoft Word and other traditional word processors. These programs value simplicity and writer-focused needs over a traditional word processing structure that values an all-or-nothing approach that makes you fit into their specific rules. I don’t have to expound on Word too much, because we all know (or at least those born before 1995) the struggle of using it.

For the actual writing part, I’m using Scrivener. I had a copy of this program years ago and tried to use it for my thesis, but it didn’t click with my particular situation for heavy essay format heavily influenced by technical writing. I instead needed a program that incorporated structured documentation. Scrivener felt too unstructured and unorganized for my use case. But for writing a novel? Fantastic. It allows me to have specific sections for character layouts, chapters, scenes, notes, research, and other areas that allow me to plot out and write my story.

It combines plotting and writing into one seamless system, with enough wiggle room for organized chaos. Scrivener is a digital version of a desk setup: you have your notecards on one side, your notes on the other side, and other pertinent information on another side. Then in the middle of your desk is the actual book itself. Putting chapter sections into individual folders is also a killer feature that makes it worth it over Microsoft Word. Have you ever tried to create a new section in a Word document? Even after years of advanced Word use, it still takes too long to organize sections and pages. Good luck moving sections into new chapters.

Scrivener also has a typewriter feature for focused writing. This has been useful for me when I don’t want to see all my options and notes available.

Once you’ve finished your draft, or if you want to export specific sections, you can compile your novel together in a manuscript format. We’ll see how that goes when I eventually get there. Who knows how long that will take…

Analog Process: A5 Three-Ring Binder and Notecards

Of course I can’t have a fully digital process. As I’ve harped on multiple times on this Substack, I have to balance my digital tools with analog tools. But I don’t want my analog tools to distract me from the actual writing part of the process, because it’s easy to use my tools as distraction.

My analog structure almost mirrors the digital structure in Scrivener, but I use analog tools for plotting and planning the story arc and characters. This structure has allowed me to switch contexts between plotting and writing. When I need to turn away from writing, I turn to my notebook and notecards.

I am using an A5 three-ring binder (ironically called a Plotter) for notes, character descriptions, and setting descriptions. I started out using note cards, and may go back to using those as I come up with more ideas, but for now A5 paper has been a good size for me. A binder system works well for easily moving sections and ideas back and forth more so than a traditional fixed notebook.

Once I have my ideas and notes written down on paper, I convert them into their respective folders in Scrivener. I then have everything I need contained as I write my story.

Overall I’m happy with this setup and plan to use it as I move through this process. I’m sure it will change. But I’m hoping it will keep me motivated to keep placing words onto paper. Stay tuned!

Part 2: Sacred Space Notebook

A few years ago I purchased an A6 notebook cover from Little Mountain Bindery, a small business in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that makes custom notebook covers and offers book rebinding services. As a fellow Arkansan, I felt compelled to support this local stationery business. Since I mostly use A5 covers, I thought I’d try a different size this time. For Americans who don’t understand random paper size callouts, here’s a quick overview:

A4 is the popular standard sized document, sized slightly longer and skinnier than our 8.5x11 standard sized document. If you fold an A4 in half on the long edge, you get A5, which is used predominantly for notebooks and planners. A6, as you can guess, is half the size of A5. Since I had a few A5 covers, I decided to go for the A6 cover for pocket notebooks. I tend to use pocket notebooks for jotting down notes and keeping any other scribbles that don’t require large amounts of writing. Many users today find them a useful means to stave off doomscrolling.

I also find myself gravitating toward smaller notebooks for Mass. They’re compact enough to slip in and out during times in the service when I want to jot down a quick reflection from the homily, or a prayer that comes to me that I want to reflect on more deeply. Since Mass is an interactive experience, I don’t have many opportunities to sit and reflect for too long, so a small form factor is most useful for me in those situations. For a long time I used this A6 brown trifold cover for my Mass notes, and then put it aside for a while. However, I decided to push it to its limit to see how I could make this simple notebook cover a reflection of my interactivity in Mass. I didn’t just want to create a place for words, but a sacred space that incorporated reflection, images, and scripture passages. I’m still figuring out what works best for me, but I’m pleased so far with what I’ve created.

This A6 journal is similar to the Traveler’s Notebook system I discussed in Part 1 of this series on personal operating systems. It’s a brown leather cover with cords to place three pocket A6 notebooks. This design, however, incorporates a trifold cover instead of the bifold of the Traveler’s. The first part of my Mass cover is my reflection journal. This is my go-to for journaling and reflecting on anything that pops into my mind. This practice helps me focus on the present moment and not let my mind wander too much during the homily or other quiet moments in the Mass. The second cord holds a handmade pocket iconostasis made by DoorNumber9 on Etsy. The iconostasis is a small sewn book that shows all 12 Great Feasts of the Church. Each scene can be flipped through in a book form or expanded in an accordion style.

It’s such a clever way to meditate on the major stories outlined in the New Testament in a visual way. I’ve written some about the philosophy of Iconography in past articles and how meld them into my spiritual life. The iconostasis fits perfectly in this A6 cover, and I love the ability to create a compact notebook shrine that’s easy to take with me. It’s another tool for me to disconnect with my phone and focus on the constraints of the objects in front of me, with the visual interactivity to keep me engaged in a unique way.

The third cord holds a Field Notes pocket notebook for traditional rote prayers and chaplets. I used to keep this in my Plotter I wrote about in a previous article. But I decided to move it over to this cover since it fits well in this A6 cover. This size is perfect for chaplets that I don’t know from memory, such as the St. Michael chaplet. Housing prayers in a simple pocket notebook keeps these items more organized than digital means, or even in a pre-made book, as it allows me to curate my own on prayers that are meaningful to me.

So to recap, this cover houses three main components:

• personal reflection

• iconostasis for visual prayer and meditation

• commonplace pocket notebook for traditional rote prayers and chaplets

These three components housed in one cover provides a unique experience that allows me to slow down and engage in practices that actively help me grow as a person. I hope this inspires you to reflect on how you can create your own personal physical system.

Part 1: Traveler's Notebook System

To start off this series, I want to give an overview of the Traveler’s Notebook system, a simple leather cover with strings that allow you to insert multiple slim notebooks. Many companies have their own version of this system. The “official” Traveler’s Notebook system was created by the Japanese company Midori in 2006. This system gained popularity fast in the stationery world due to its sleek and open-ended customizability. It takes time to get used to if you are used to traditional square notebooks. The full-size version is a more rectangular A5-slim size. Midori designed these covers in the Japanese wabi-sabi design philosophy, which focuses on simplicity, nature, imperfection, and impermanence.

Ninety percent of my journaling happens through notebook covers now. As much as I love the traditional hardbound notebook, I love the ability to customize a full system to my own. It also comes with the added benefit of making my own notebooks. It makes it a little cheaper in the long run (if you don’t continue buying covers…).

The main con to this, however, is that you have to try find a reason to use multiple slim notebooks at the same time if you want to commit to something like this. But that’s part of the fun of the system. It’s also easy to get overwhelmed. To me, it’s a mixture of both. But over the years, I’ve experimented with different notebook ideas enough to know what I’ll use and won’t use.

Even though I love the idea of these notebook covers, it took me a while to get comfortable with the slim format. When I first acquired a full-size Traveler’s Notebook, I mostly used it as a junk journal and commonplace book for song lyrics and quotes. It was easy to travel with and jot down lyrics to songs that spoke to me at specific times. I eventually learned how to make my own pocket folders using card stock. This allowed me to store various items such as prayer cards in my Traveler’s Notebook system. This is when it started to click: I could customize this system in a way that reflects my personality in more ways than a simple notebook could. I enjoyed the idea of physically containing objects that are important to me in a way that I haven’t experienced in a long time due to digital curation and storage via computers and smartphones. It was like a neatly organized binder on the first day of school.

my first Traveler’s Notebook

Even though it was slowly clicking, I was still reticent to journal in this system due to its size. I think a lot of the problem had to do with the type of paper I was using. I mostly used the blank paper inserts, which were great for junk journaling and random lyrics, but a bit uncontrollable for my writing.

Freedom Overspill

Later on I moved to the limited edition Hotel series. As a long lover of hotels, I felt drawn to the design style and retro stickers. I’m glad I got it when I did, because they now sell for ridiculous amounts of money on eBay.

For a long time I used this cover to junk journal with my granddad’s old user manuals. I now use this cover as my main wallet, complete with a wallet insert, card holder that I use for holy cards, and graph paper insert for journaling. The graph paper insert helped me feel comfortable with the slim rectangular format.

Why I Journal by Hand

I use a journal insert because it helps my brain slow down and focus on what I need to think deeply about. Typing doesn’t allow my thoughts to flow to deeper places as writing by hand does. They skim the surface to quickly arrive to their destination. I use a keyboard to bang out emails as swiftly and concise as possible. It’s a good tool, but not the best route to discover the intricacies of myself as a human being. Not everyone feels this way, of course, but it’s a good practice for me to switch contexts and slow down. I don’t want to rapidly bang out my thoughts in the same way I bang out an email or text message.

Watercoloring

Recently I found a blue Traveler’s Notebook that I use for watercoloring. I wanted to get back to traditional sketching and painting, and this was an easy system to bring along.I also bring a watercolor pen and small pan of paints in a kit.

Encountering the Real World

In the Traveler’s Notebook system, mixing my wallet and journal together provides a compact solution for my essentials. It’s a good way for me to compartmentalize my life in a way that doesn’t require the use of a screen. I want to ensure I don’t fall into the trap of only living life digitally or not at all. But I also want to ensure I don’t over consume the physical objects that lure me in life. As with everything, I must maintain a delicate balance.

Lately it seems like a tide is shifting for us who are fatigued by social media and the internet in general. With the rise of AI slop, never-ending social media discourse, the internet feels synthetic now. This synthetic world accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and has only increased with AI. Facebook feels distorted. YouTube feels shallow (although it’s been great for long-form podcasts recently). And Instagram is overstimulating with content and pressure to buy. I avoid TikTok because I don’t like its addicting nature. Notebook systems like Traveler’s keep me away from this synthetic space. It puts me in my own little space that I can partially control.

My Personal Operating Systems

No matter how entrenched I become in my digital workflow, I will always need to include analog tools in my life. Right now, I’m drafting this article in my new Lochby B5 folio. I love the act of physically compartmentalizing my workflow and experimenting with analog structures that reflect what’s important to me and what I want to learn.

My original intent for this article was to focus on notebook covers, but as I progressed, I felt a new theme emerge: I love tinkering with organization systems, both analog and digital. I’m a technical writer, so I nerd out at discovering processes, procedures, tools, user contexts, and information flow.

At first I thought this idea may just be a way for me to justify my notebook obsession. But I think there’s more to this picture. I organize my life in both analog and digital means. I am continually trying to tinker with my digital workflows and systems to make my life more efficient, creative, and focused. But I can never go all-in because it becomes a sea of distractions and wasted time. We’re hitting an attention and focus crisis point in our society, and I am trying to navigate these rough waters as much as anyone else. In 2025, I find myself wanting to balance my use of both analog and digital organization systems.

The Analog Operating System

I don’t think I’m the only person asking how to maintain balance from this digital rat race we find ourselves in. Many companies now are creating notebook cover systems for people like me who still need to organize their thoughts with pen and paper. I’ve been experimenting with these systems, trying to push the boundaries of creatively using notebooks for planning, brainstorming, praying, pontificating, and drawing. A new trend on the internet is emerging, called the “notebook ecosystem,” where people show how their notebooks holistically fit into their lives. Internet trends and their popular SEO keywords can become cringey at times, but I was intrigued by this terminology. In my article on how I used my Plotter notebook as a spiritual everyday carry item, I discuss how this notebook system enhances my spiritual life and prepares me for my monthly spiritual direction meetings. I want to continue focuses on this topic and see where my experiments take me.

After a bit of ruminating, I thought about the idea of notebook covers becoming analog operating systems. Similar to a computer operating system, notebook systems allow you to create and organize data and information.

Of course, computer operating systems perform much more complex tasks at fast speeds. But for me, the speed can be detrimental at times. I find myself using analog objects when I need to focus and do deep thinking. The process, and how I go about it is just as important as the final result. If I’m not careful, I can easily find myself going from start to finish without focusing on the process, or filling the process time with distractions.

The Digital Operating System: From text to Pictures to Text Again

The front-facing element of the operating system is the user interface, which relies heavily upon metaphors to help users perform tasks. The directory structure, once directed by the user in a text-based command-line interface, now uses a metaphorical paper filing system with folders and files. And now mobile operating systems are becoming even more rudimentary, where you rarely even interact with a directory or filing system. Everything you need are in contained in apps.

I have used this metaphorical graphic system for decades now, with a few adventures inside DOS here and there. As a technical writer interested in information architecture and how people interact with systems, I find myself wondering what systems work best for me now, as a 36-year-old millennial who was exposed to paper, books, handwriting, command-line interfaces, Windows 95, Mac OS, iOS, and film cameras.

This poses an interesting question for my workflow: Lately I find myself gravitating toward text-based interfaces again, and use the physical object itself rather than its digital metaphor. I don’t want a complex GUI. I want the computer to be the computer and the paper to be paper. That may be from the mental overhead of the amount of graphics I see and interact with on a daily basis. I’m tired of seeing thousands of images a day. I’m tired of deciphering what’s in the callout box. I’m tired of parsing through thousands of results to find what I’m looking for.

And I think this is where AI is slowing weaving its way into my workflow. It provides a simple interface that allows me to ask questions, retrieve answers, and move on to another part of the process without spending time parsing through pages of search results and web pages. Of course you have to discern its answers to parse through sources, like everything else in research. But the ability to use a simple text-based interface makes me think that we’re moving away from complex graphical interfaces and toward the simple command-line interfaces of before. Using a computer in this way frees me up to get my face out of the screen and into the physical world and interact with its objects.

Investigating Why

So this is where I am right now in my life. I spend too much time on social media and the mental overhead of my digital use is making me tired. So I retreat to my notebooks and stationery, where I enjoy the slow process of physically using tools to enhance my life, perform tasks, and just be human. In this process, I’m discovering the use of AI in helping me with my digital workflow. I also find myself gravitating toward smaller online social groups for more meaningful discourse. I want to ask myself how to maintain balance in this complicated world that is not slowing down.

I want to take the next several weeks to investigate my analog and digital workflows and discover how I can better tailor these systems to live a life that God has called me to live.

Throughout this process, I want to focus on a few specific questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?

• What principles are important in my life?

• How does the medium I use affect this process?

Stay tuned for more. In my next post, I’ll focus on a specific notebook system I’m using.

My Spiritual EDC Notebook System

https://youtu.be/Ha9x069KXoM

In the midst of the confusing cyber world we live in, many people have turned to pocket notebook systems to keep them from social media doomscrolling. The irony, of course, is that the internet has been good to the analog community, fueling desire for pretty notebooks and stationery. But I think a lot of good can come from turning people back to pocket notebooks and pens. If the internet can inspire people to have hobbies away from the internet and learn to use social media moderately, then it’s a win for me.

A few years ago I discovered Plotter, the Japanese ring bound system that has a ton of customizable options. It’s like the old Filofaxes but much smaller. You can’t go into this thinking you can stuff every aspect of your life into it like a Filofax. You have to consciously decide what you need in this present moment in your notebook. That may stress people out. It certainly stressed me out at the beginning. Paper in, paper out.

You have to think about this notebook in a systematic approach. It’s not just a stack of paper glued together in a book. It’s a notebook cover that allows you to implement different sections, folders, and dividers for specific reasons. It’s like in school when your teachers made you have three-ring binders (are those required anymore?) with specific section dividers. But in a Plotter system, you have to determine what those sections are used for. And it took me a while to figure out what sections of my life would be important for me to divide. Maybe that’s why analog systems are popular today—it’s a physical manifestation of what you think is important in life.

Plotter provides accessories, such as paper pads, folders, pouches, and section dividers, to help you create your own flexible system. Unfortunately, the covers are expensive. But if you didn’t want to throw down the money for one of theirs, the accessories are reasonable enough to purchase for an alternative cover. My specific cover is called the “bible size,” which is what we called “personal size” in the west.

But I don’t want to focus so much on what I’m using but how I’m using it. I don’t want this to turn into some type of popular influencer content where I’m trying to sell an expensive notebook system. What fascinates me is not the brand but the systematic approach to journaling and how analog tools can help us discover what’s important to us in ways digital systems can’t. It took me a long time to discover what my system looks like, but it’s slowly coming to fruition to reflect who I am in my mid-30s.

My spiritual EDC system

I use my Bible-size Plotter for personal and spiritual reflection. It’s nice to have a physical manifestation of components in my life that help me focus throughout the day. Due to its size, I call this my “Spiritual EDC (every day carry) System.”

The first part of my system is a zipper pouch, which holds holy cards, a Padre Pio coin (randomly given to me by someone at Starbucks after a conversation. He didn’t know Padre Pio was my confirmation saint), and a green scapular, because I need all the help I can get for my conversion. The back of the zipper pouch holds my business cards and a Field Notes pocket notebook with specific chaplet prayers that I can’t remember.

After the pouch, the planner is the first section of the notebook. Right before the planning pages is a note I wrote on the components of the First Saturday Devotion from Our Lady of Fatima. I decided to start this devotion a few months ago, and is what I ground myself with throughout the year. Having this note at the beginning of the planner section reflects that truth about my goal.

The monthly planner section doesn’t include any work-related tasks or meetings, just personal and spiritual items to pay attention to.

The cool thing about a flexible binder system is you can move pages around as needed. Some users like to place individual note pages between the monthly spread pages. I need to spreads clean, though to see the full month. So any notes for the month go behind the current monthly spread. For this area, I have a note page with questions that my spiritual director gives me to reflect on before our monthly meetings.

The next section contains brainstorming notes that pertain to my business and a personal to-do list. Right now, I mostly have sections on my business plan and online store layouts.

Last, I use the Project Manager folders as an archive of sorts. The first folder holds swatches from my inks. It’s a nice reference to have to quickly see which inks I have and what would go well with my pens. The other Project Manager folder holds small journal entries I’ve written at Mass and the Adoration Chapel. It’s important to have space to quickly write out prayers and thoughts on my heart. I like placing them in the folder in the back because it’s not easily seen the first time you open the notebook.

Overall I’m pleased with the system, even if it is a bit small. I think you could create something much less expensive with more room. But if you have the means, the Plotter is an excellent system to help organize your life. My goal is not to pressure you to buy a Plotter, but to investigate your own needs and create your own external analog system that reflects who you are, what’s important to you, and what you need to accomplish. We can all do this on our phones, but I’ve never been able to fully replicate the ease of jotting thoughts down on paper.

I’d love to hear what you use if you have an analog system.

Silence, Desolation, and Typewriters

I have been horrible at keeping silence lately. It’s probably one of the reasons why I slipped down into the desolate hole I’ve been swimming in this summer. But I know God is swimming there with me in the murky water. And I’ll come out stronger after this trial. Struggling with silence doesn’t necessarily mean I talk a lot. As I began struggling, I bombarded my senses with Google searches, determined to find a solution to my problems. But all I found was more desolation and worst-case scenarios.

Looking back, I know I should have paid attention to what was in front of me (making doctor appointments) and waited in silence in the meantime, letting God give me strength and wisdom. But like the stubborn person I am, I wanted to use my own will to hack my way into a healthy future. But that mindset always leads to a crash. God didn’t cause the crash to happen, but he allowed me to learn a difficult lesson.

My experience is one drop in an ocean of overstimulated internet users determined to doom-scroll their way to a hopeless future. But that’s not how we’re wired. Before the Web 2.0 phenomenon, we lived with more boundaries. I’m only going back to Web 2.0, because life was still vastly different when the internet was ported through a 56k modem. As someone born in 1989, I feel like I uniquely have one foot planted in the old ways and another foot in the new. I remember the natural boundaries set by limitations of our technology.

Our bodies and souls long for silence. We think we can find peace and consolation in the noise, as I did, but God is nowhere to be found in that space. Most of the time, the noise you hear is filled with anger, anxiety, and fear. It’s full of opinions that most of the time don’t apply to you. And if they do, you shouldn’t pay attention to them most of the time. The external stimulus can then overstimulate your soul to where it’s constantly agitated, continually questioning who you are, what you need to do, why you’re in the situation you’re in, and on and on and on. Once you get to that point, your ability to hear the voice of Love itself diminishes.

“In order to hear the voice of God, one has to have silence in one’s soul to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God. One can speak little and be constantly breaking silence.” -St. Faustina

The noise in your soul will then affect your thoughts and actions in life, as it becomes more difficult to discern what choices you need to make in the present moment.

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.” -St. John Paul II

Popular typewriter YouTuber Joe Van Cleave ended his recent video with the observation that we now have an abundance of tools to create and write, but now we are struggling with the lack of mental space to sit down and produce. As a writer in the 21st-century, I agree with his statement. The issue is not finding ways to produce, but creating boundaries to free up space in our minds to write what is on our heart. Being a writer, even when you know deep in your heart that it’s a vocation that you bear responsibly to carry out, is a difficult job that taxes your mind and body. You write because there’s no means of escape for the thoughts in your soul. It’s embedded in you and must come out. But you have to recognize the truth of yourself before you can write. And it’s much easier to distract yourself from than confront that truth. The tools we use to write are also the tools we use to distract ourselves from the uncomfortable truths inside of us. We have the enormous responsibility of disciplining ourselves against the enormity of information and distractions that bombard us in a way no other generation has had to deal with before.

This is part of the reason why I love typewriters and pen and paper. You have no means of escape to confront what is in front of you. You must write. You must look into yourself to discover how you fill up the page. Because the page must be filled. And you can edit later. But you can’t edit on command like you can with modern technology. You must contemplate what you want to say, and have the courage to pound it onto the page, knowing it’s staying there. Then you can contemplate your words again and ask yourself how it can be edited. And you can’t click to the next tab, because no digital metaphors of entertainment exist in these tools. Of course you can look at your phone, but as you do, the tools are still there staring at you, waiting for you to complete your task. This discipline strengthens your ability to be a writer.

So what do we do about this? How do we create boundaries to fulfill our calls? After this season, I will have to ask myself some hard questions about how I use tools in my daily life. I have prided myself on asking myself these questions for the past several years, especially during the pandemic, but I am human like everyone else and can slip into the portal of endless noise that rattles my soul. My soul and mind faltered. Pride comes before the fall. But I am overcoming even stronger than before.

Faith and Contemplation in the 2020s

In Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Benedict XVI’s) book, Introduction to Christianity, written in 1968, he pointedly asks an important question that has stuck with me this year. Even though 1968 was 56 years ago, his question seems even more relevant today.

“What is the meaning and significance of the Christian profession, ‘I believe’ today, in the context of our present attitude to reality as a whole?” (Ratzinger, 47).

This question seems timely for our society today, and it encompasses a framework I think about as a Catholic in the 2020’s. I live in a saturated world filled with curated algorithms, comment boxes, and short-form video—a world so vastly different than my childhood not too long ago in the 1990s and early 2000s. I also live in a world where deconstructing faith and religion seem to be the norm. I’m not oblivious enough to not know that I’m a bit of an anomaly, a Catholic convert who attempts to practice their faith in the 21st century in an old traditional religion.

Oh, I also live in the Bible Belt where our Catholic diocese is so small that it’s considered a mission diocese. How did I end up in this spot? It’s a grand mystery for sure, but I’ll say that I’m partly where I am today due to contemplation, a practice that allows us to think long and deeply about life and what we do. Creativity brought me to this spot. Allowing myself space to create art allows me to move into the deeper spaces and contemplate what is true and what is false in the world. I think deeply in the same way people think deeply about deconstructing their religious experiences. It’s not bad to contemplate why you believe what you do, whether you currently believe or not.  The point is to be honest with yourself and open your heart to what could be. It is not about what originates from inside, but from how you respond and ruminate over external messages:

“It becomes evident that belief is not the result of lonely meditation in which the ‘I,’ freed from all ties and reflecting alone on the truth, thinks something out of itself; on the contrary, it is the result of a dialogue, the expression of a hearing, receiving, and answering that guides man through the changes of ‘I’ and ‘you’ to the ‘we’ of those who all believe in the same way” (Ratzinger, 90).

I’m viewing all of this the lens of my Catholic faith, which was not an easy decision when I was first introduced to the religion. It’s not like God struck me with a stained glass window and I suddenly believed everything all at once. It was a gradual introduction into specific concepts that I had to slowly open my heart to. That’s the key to all of this. How do I open my heart? Discernment is all about deep reflection and judgments of the heart.

So going back to Ratzinger’s question: what does it mean for me to say, “I believe” in 2024? This blog will explore this question. This blog is a reflection of my theodrama, a term coined by Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. The theodrama is a metaphor that pictures God as a playwright and we as actors in his grand story. This blog is a reflection of my little scenes in his grand story. I will post fortnight (bi-weekly) reflections about discernment, my creative musings, and how the daily vocation of an artist and writer tries to unravel the mystery of belief in the 21st century. You can anticipate posts about philosophy, theology, and the random creative tangents I have. One week may be about fountain pen inks, and another may be about photography and typewriters. But all these reflections play a part in my little role in this grand scheme.

The Book of Kells and Visual Prayer

Recently I’ve become fascinated by the Book of Kells—a visual interpretation of the four Gospels based on the Latin Vulgate translation by St. Jerome. The book was created by Irish monks in Iona around the year 800. When the Vikings raided the area, the monks moved to Kells and brought the manuscript with them. The Vikings would later raid Iona, but amazingly the book was kept in tact and safe. Finally, in 1661, the book was sent to Trinity College in Dublin, where it still remains to this day. 

The book itself is a gorgeous compilation of bold, illuminated imagery along with small, intricate details. The celtic knots are easily seen throughout these intricate details, showcasing how God can easily plant himself within the confines of unique cultures and show himself in a way that everyone can understand. 

Page from the Book of Kells

Researching this book makes me think about how images affect our understanding of the world around us and our faith. In our modern, highly literate age, we search for hard truth about situations. In the western culture, the battles line are drawn using well-crafted rhetorical arguments with a firm knowledge of grammar and sentence structure. While our world is becoming increasingly multimodal with through social media, memes, images, colors, and design, our instinct is to seek as much detail as possible through the written and spoken argument. 

And mostly that is a good thing. Written and spoken arguments are the best way to show others who we are and what is important to us. However...when it comes to our faith, I think it's easy to put too much importance on that type of expression.

For example, when it comes to figuring out what God wants us to do with our lives, it's easy to desire God to give us an answer in a well-crafted written or audible argument with beautiful grammar, bells, and angels. When God doesn’t do that, it seems like He isn’t paying attention to us. The more likely scenario, however, is that we aren’t paying attention to Him. God can show the goodness of His truth in a myriad of ways besides words and sentences. He can speak to us through His creation, in colors, shapes, movements, smells, sounds, and textures. God speaks to us through the rational and the abstract.

Another example of visual prayer is the gorgeous iconography that is showcased throughout the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. These churches have emphasized the importance of praying and listening to God through visual media for thousands of years. They believe that icons are windows into the mystery of heaven, which further emphasize the mysterious nature of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes the greatest form of peace is just sitting in silence and being in awe of the mysteries of God. Sometimes the best thing we can do is stare at a picture of the gospel messages and see where we fit in those pictures. Without words. Without speaking. One of the greastest penance’s a priest gave me after confession was to sit in front of a picture of the Divine Mercy image of Jesus. That’s it. Sit and stare at a picture of Jesus. 

Icon depicting Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem

The Book of Kells and Eastern Iconography remind us that the gospels are not only imperative to read and hear, but also see through shapes, colors, and visual metaphors. Language is the best means of producing a message to the world, but sometimes people will not truly understand the meaning of purpose to your words without further elements such as the visual art form.  

Marshall McLuhan

I can’t think of a better example to begin the blogging process of design, media theory, and theology with than Marshall McLuhan. He is renowned for his contribution to media theory in the 20th century, and is best known for the iconic phrase, “the medium is the message.”

Essentially, McLuhan argues that the medium in which content and ideas are delivered on frames one’s perception over the actual message itself. For example, when we read an article in the newspaper, we are more influenced by the structure of the newspaper itself than the content of the article. While I don’t completely agree with the extremity of that notion, I do wholeheartedly agree that the medium in which we consume content plays a huge role in the way we perceive and understand a message being delivered. Design, good and bad, influences the way we view the world. 

Another fascinating contribution was his prediction of what we now know as the internet. In the 1960s, he predicted that traditional print culture would be replaced by a “global village” that relied on “electronic interdependence” and would turn humanity from an individualistic culture to a global tribal system. Looking to how our world has changed so much over the past few decades, it’s interesting to sit and read his predictions. And I think it takes a while to answer whether his predictions are correct or not. 

Not only was he an influential media scholar, but he was also a devout Catholic convert! While studying at Cambridge, he stumbled onto the writings of GK Chesterton (a great choice). He later wrote that if it wasn’t for Chesterton’s writings, he probably would have still been agnostic.

It makes me wonder how his faith transition influenced his perception of media theory and design. The Mass is full of imagery that has all kinds of special meaning, even in the smallest details. In a way I can see how the term, “the medium is the message” can fit into the rhythm of the Mass. While faith and belief manifest in a number of ways individually, it is, Catholics believe, the structure of the Mass that brings us to the source and summit of our faith.

It has taken generations to compile an intricate system of design, from the movements of the priests, deacons, and parishioners, to the words that are spoken at every moment, to the type of music sung at each point,  to the images that are presented at specific points in the sanctuary. Those elements together form what we believe to be the “magnum opus” of our faith. While reading scripture is important, it is only one element to the vast sensory experience that brings us to calvary. Surely, that experience had some influence to McLuhan’s thought process. 

Hello, World! A New Season and Site is Born.

Welcome to my new site! In case you're new to my world, my name is Lydia. I am a recent graduate with a Master's degree in Technical Writing. Since graduating, I've noticed I have many sites, portfolios, and blogs sprawled about the internet sphere, and a greater number of ideas sprawled throughout my brain.  In college, I majored in technical writing, took classes in art, photography, and design, and also converted to the Catholic Church. Due to that, I have sites that pertain to writing, photography, and a big blog site dedicated to whatever suites my fancy. Now that I've had time to look back at my mish-mash of content, thoughts, papers, photos, and drawings, I figured it would be a good idea to place everything i've done in one concise, organized site. 

So...what about the blog? 

I've dedicated a lot of time over the years discussing my life as a college Catholic convert over on my page tiberswimmer.wordpress.com. It's been fun to practice the rhythm of blogging. Because it was first go at blogging, there really wasn't a consistent theme throughout my posts.  I will still write on the blog from time to time, but I want to begin blogging about a particular theme. This blog will investigate all of my ideas about everything I'm fascinated about:

-tech writing (specifically, information design, information flow, usability design, writing in general),
-graphic design (color theory, contrast, typefaces, etc.)
-photography
-theology

But wait, there's more!

Not only will I be discussing about these topics and my observations of them in my daily life, but I'm going to find investigate how these topics are all connected to each other. How does the structure of scripture affect how we perceive it? How do people perceive certain aspects of design in churches?  This is what I will be discussing. I want to look at how art, design, and writing affect what I see around me every day. I hope you stay along for the ride.