Blog Post: Hello 2025.

 2024 and 2025 Techo Kaigi

It is 13 days in to the a the new year it has been two years since I posted here. Even before that it was very few and far between, Which makes me a little sad when I look at all the things that I have written in that time. Mostly poems, and some novelettes. Which I want to post. Along with some non time sensitive articles. Some of the stuff goes back to 2020 that I want to post.

Despite not post here I have been writing a lot. I turned my morning pages practise in to a time to write. It was and mostly pomes or notes on what I want to write, along with journaling.

However it has been nice writing for my self with no pressure of having to create the post, however it is something I enjoy doing, and I want to start creating again.

I have been posting on my art site which has been good, as well as my photography site. 

The black hole scrolling one youtube and instagram has also very much been a distraction for me writing and creating, which I need to change my mind set and habits to use my time better.

So I thought I would started the new year with a post sharing what planners and journals that I used last year and what I am using this year. (It has taken me a week to write and publish this, the mundane scrolling distracted me.)  

“Techo Kaigi is a Japanese term that means "notebook meeting" or "meeting with oneself". It's a reflective practice that involves reviewing your planners and journals from the past year to improve your planning and journaling for the new year.”

I primary use Hobonichi weeks, four of them in total a long with a moleskine notebook and unbranded  planner. 

The easiest one to quickly go over is my work weeks. I manage a film and photo printing lab and shop, so this is filled with notes on what needs doing, things that need ordering, client jobs that need completing. On the weeks that I was off I stuck in photos. Most of these photos were from 35mm film. This is my little work brain. 

Last year I had the 'Popping Yellow' weeks, this year I have gone for the 'Pistachio' weeks.

Next up is the weeks in 'Stylish Grey' which I used for my tarot readings, astrology signs information and full moon dates and information.

I really enjoyed keeping this little book, the only problem was as it is small planner if I was to do a tarot card reading on the same week as a full moon or when the Star signs changed the space was limited for each one.

This year I have a A6 hobonichi from 2024 for my tarot readings as I will not be following the dates I can use as many pages as I want for each reading. The yearly overview with be used as an index. The monthlys I havent decided yet. I got one of the Midori A6 clear covers so I can cover the date and make it look a little witchy cute. 

My personal planner which was the bow and tie ‘Little Dragons’, where I have todos, appointments, if I orders stuff I would note when I ordered it and when I received, as well some journaling.

Then there was the Colours Navy which I was using as a hobby’s tracker and notes on what I had done for my blogs ( visualmerchandising101.blogspot.com alostphotobook.blogspot.com and mytheotyofthecrows.blogspot.com and of course here )

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Which unfortunately didn't get used as much as I hoped and everything that was in there was also duplicate in my personal planner.

So this year I'm using the Bow and tie ‘Cherrys’ mega.

This will combine how I was using the two weeks from last year in to one. The back pages I aim to to use to keep a log of what I do and when. As well as journaling .

Next up are my journals. An 18 month daily moleskine which I started at the end of 2023 when I started doing the Artists way by Julia Cameron, and I was using it for morning pages and for notes on the tasks. And I'm still using this book now as morning pages and journaling. 

The other book is a planner I got from Snappy snaps and I used it as a memory keeper journal. There is quite a few blank pages in this book as a lot of days I did not have anything to put down.

Ive really been missing using a travelers notebook regularly, so I’m going to use one as my traveler’s company’s notebooks as my memory keeper / scrapbook. 

A big thing in the journaling community is picking a word of the year, or a phrase, this is the first time I’m doing this, my word of 2025 is create. The reason I chose this is I want to create more art, write more and take more photos, to create more contact for my sites(blogs) and for social media. 

So here is wish you a happy healthy 2025.

My 2023 Planners

It's been awhile since I posted anything here or my VM blog. Even on my art and photography blogs to. The past fue years have been a bit messy, I’m hoping that this year will be different and I can be more focussed on every thing.

So lets begin with my planners and journals for this year.

This year I will be using 3 planners. All are Hobonichi weeks mega. I got the mega weeks as at the time I got them the mega ones were the only ones that the journal shop had in stock.

Im not overly one for bright note books but for some reason I was drawn to these three bight colours.

The first on is the Tropical Yellow.

This one is my work planner. It's going to have my to do lists, job due dates meeting notes. I work in a film lab so in the back it's going to have chemical mix's. 

The yearly overview I will be using as a tracker, I'll only be taking two things days that I have a red ball and when spend my lunch time drawing - I have a A4 sketchbook at work that Ive started using, so I can spend my break drawing after I've eat rather then going for walk which then ends up with me buying stuff.  I want to stop drinking red ball and other energy drinks. So seeing this on the yearly spread will be encouraging.

As you can see so far I haven't been that good

On the yearly pages I'm write down when I've changed chemicals and when I need to re-make them, when any jobs are due.

The weekly pages I use to list any orders I need to place, jobs Ive taken in and there dead line things I need to do or done. 

This one I possible won't post too many photos of but it may post some a lot later in the year.

Next up is my personal planner which is the Fresh Green.

This will have todos for my home, things I've done, brought, and  journaling in the back.

The yearly overview will be used as a no spend tracker,  each day high lighting wen I don't buy anything (food and drink dose not count) if I do buy anything then how much.

The monthly overview I mark when I've watered my plants, days off appointments.

I have a tracker in the back for when I water and feed my plants

I'm using the Stalogy Forest dots to mark on my weekly and monthly pages when i have watered plants. 

The weekly pages I list what I need to do and anything that I or we have done

Again possible not one I will be sharing a lot of.

Last year I kept my weeks in side one of my traverlers notebooks, I may do the same thing this year.

The last one is my social media planner in the lagoon blue. 

I have it all tabbed up with the Kokuyo Jibun Tech Index Tabs From the journal shop. I like that these are nice and slim, I have found that as they are made so they can be repositioned easily that on occasions the thin toemoe river paper has court the corner of the tab and I've had pages stuck together.

Let's start at the front.

The yearly is going to be tracker each think that I want to track is on the top & bottom, each habit has a letter to represent it. At the end of each month I aim to count up how many days I spent on a habit and put it at the top.

The monthly views, at the bottom I'm putting goals - no more then 3 as I find that over whelming. On the calendar I'll be putting the post posted, if I've drafted one.

On the weekly pages I have things I need to to for a post, and when it's done, &things I've done. I'm not overly one for decorating my planners but this one I want to. To make it more encouraging to do more. - As of yet I have not done that much but I want to.

In the back pages I've got three sections.  The first one is to mark the stat of the note pages -the tab from the set is my news. The second is my goals, the tab - there wasn't a tab for goals so I'm using life plan.

The third I have a marked for the long reads that I have and am writing. - I may abandon some of these, so here I can write down the current word counts weather I am close to finishing so I can see if it's worth finishing.

The forth and final section is the last 26 pages. Space for me to look reflect on each month and finally the year. So I can see how and what I've done.

So...  These are my 3 planners for the year of 2023, I'm also going to be using sketchbooks and a travelers notebook as a creative journal through out the year as well as I have planners for some other journals / study journals, which I well post about as I start them.

As well as quite a bit of creative writing that I have been doing but have just not typed up and posted.

So happy new year - yes it maybe almost at the end of January, but still happy new year. xxx

Check out my Instagram to see more photos of planners and journals @ myconfusedworld 

The City She Called Home.

Flying over the city that she had once called home, looked like every other city form above. Yet completely different from when she had left all those years ago.

On the ground parts seamed unchanged, preserved in time. While other parts, complete streets and buildings demolished to make way for the changing times.

Like every other city around the would, whole buildings had been built for the sole purpose of purifying the air and water and solar energy. Building with their mirrored windows and sola panels reflected their surroundings, making the city seam endless.

Standing in front of the entrance to a large collection of stylish tower blocks, with shops on the lower levers and flats, offices, gyms on the other 46+ floors.

This was somewhere that had very much changed.

It was here on this plot of land that her life had changed so dramatically. But it was not within any of these buildings that had grown here. It was what was here before. The Prison…

At the age of 25 she had been sentenced for 45 years. 

She had been at a party, a lot of drink, a lot of drugs had been consumed. As the night went on for its almost second day. The police had been called and not long after they had arrived that it all went south every fast.

Ten people died from taking drugs, because she was the only one found with some on her, that was still alive.

She’d been charged with manslaughter, and distributing drugs.

Five years in to what felt like ten, her and three other women had been approached with an offer.

Their sentences would be reduced or they would receive an extreme amount of privileges if they took part in a tril. They all took it, at the time it seamed good. a way out of past lifes.

The four of them and four men form Pentiville prison got taken up to and isolated estate in the middle of Scotland.

One big house, eight prisoners all serving life, two doctors, four nurses and ten guards. 

Why two doctors? Well if they had questioned more, read the pages of paper work they signed blindlessly, they might have found out more, and what they had signed up for.

Drug users to test drugs.

Four months in they all felt good, what ever they were being given had not really taken affect. small rashes and some sickness but they put it down the good food, fresh air and sun, which non of them had had in a long time.

Six months in, things started to change. all of them became so ill they could not get out of bed, at this point they began to lose their hair and the rashes got worse. So the nurses shaved their heads, making them feel less human.

By the 8th month three of thee were dead and two of them had been quarantined in another part of the house.

Fourteen mouths after they had arrived there was only three of them alive.. By know they had started to ask questions about what was happing, they were told that the others had been taken to another location to recover and that what they were doing would befit their county. 

Three months after they were woken by vehicles out side the house. Managing to get to the window they saw the guards loading up vans, and burning files upon files. Just before they left the four nurse were shot!

They had left the three sick people to die, with hardly any food, water or pain killers to ease the pain that they were in. It was nothing like they had felt before. But some how they survived. 

They had managed to make it to a small village where they were taken to hospital. When the doctors there tried to find out any thing about them their names came up with nothing, their lives had been erased.

By the time she was well enough to leave she had found the other two had been moved to other hospitals but know one knew which ones.

Taking this as a chance for a new start, she took the name of one of the dead nurse that she had befriended, pick pocketed money from the the hospital staff locker room, leaving with the cloths of the dead nurse that she had arrived in, the money she had took and a strange tattoo that they had been marked with while they were ill. - each of them a different mark. Their brand to identify them and a number.

She had not seen sense to go back to London, In stead with her new identity, she traveled, changing her name when needed, never wanting or needing to return until now 200 years later…

My Writers Notebook.

"What is a writers notebook?"

A writers notebook is a bit of a lose term as it does not necaceroly have to be a bound notebook, it could be a spread sheet, word document(s), notes on your phone, or ring binder.

It is what ever is more practical for you.

It is a place for you to use to be inspired, and or to use as a practical  tool.

Any one that writes for a web site/ blog, or writes novels or factual books will (possible) have some kind of version.

"What am I using?"

For my work I use travelers notebooks, specifically the original standard size form the Travelers company ( inserts measure 11cm x 21cm approximately 4.33in x 8.25in). I did try to use a standard A5 notebook but I found that is was a just little bit intimidating as some times I had 3/4 of a page empty and every mixed in together. 

But with the TN i can have several insert in one cover each for a different use.

My first two are my Travelers Company, Limited edition Pam Am blue and a Camel.

The Blue has three notebooks.

1. article ideas and creative writing prompts.

These have come from Pintrest and other websites. Other peoples ideas can sometimes help with that creative block.

2. Poetry and song lyrics.

Others peoples work can inspiring. Sometimes an idea for a short read or part of store can be influenced by a pome or lyrics.

3. Soundtrack.

Music creates a mood. It can help recreate a memory. So I keep a book listing songs, artist/band, with a note of any lyrics that speak to me. So when i'v been writing along read a song might fit in/ or inspire a certain moment.  Its the question of 

"If this was a film what song would go here"

The Camel Travelers Notebook has 2 books,

1. article ideas and creative writing prompt. 

Yes another both are incomplete, 

2. A dictionary.

I am dyslexic and my spelling is bad. So I keep my own dictionary, with words that know matter how hard I try I never get right. As well as it works as a thesaurus.

"You Know When You're A Writer... When You Have Filled Enough Notebooks To Write Six Novels 

(But Haven't Finished One)."

www.Writershq.co.uk

This quote definitely sums up the collection of notebooks that sit on a shelf in my book case. There are Moleskine, Leuchtturm, Rymans own brand and other random branded notebooks ,all almost filed with notes of post, or complete hand written  draft posts. Some have been partly typed up and then forgotten about, some completely finished put not posted. (There is probably enough content in them for me to post twice weekly for six months maybe more.)

This then brings me too two other notebooks that I use. A Moleskine notebook that I use to draft out posts, my creative writing work, and any ideas that I have. This book tends to come to work with me

Also there is my Ugly Bug Plans, UglyDori, which I have notebooks for each of the long reads I’ve worked on, and are still working on. If I wan to work on one or more, I’ll take the insert out and put it in to my Travelers company planner so I can work on it during my breaks at work.

And a Leuchtturm pocket notebook (which is the same size as field notes just hard cover and thicker. this lives in the bottom of my bag and gets used for, todo lists shopping lists and any ideas that might come to mind while I’m out.

I am think of adding a A5 Filofax in t to the workings. this is because I have a lot of random notes for post ideas, and posts that I have written, some still in the notebooks and others partly typed up. I’m think this way I can a list of articles and at what state of finished they are. 

I would possible keep a list of things that I tend to forget to do, such as shear the posts on social media, and what platforms,  include images, links, and loads more. this would be a laminated sheet to check off. Some sought of calendar were I can mark when I have posted (not just on here but my art site, photography and visual merchandising, so I can see when I post for what site). This is not going a editorial calendar, as I have tried to use one but it failed. Maybe as this was in a bound book which made me feel pressured to use it. were as if I use a undated print out if don't use it I wont feel bad about it.

I do have a dedicated Filofax and notebook for my Visual Merchandising site. 

In the filofax I have sections for;

1. Post editing notes.

Every factual post on their I want to add more information image. and here i have listed every thing that needs to be done and which page of what notebook (1 or 2) it is in. Photos that I want to include, Where they are saved or if I need to take one.

2. New posts that I want to write. 

3. Shop floor pains. 

these are the floor plans form shops I have worked in and use as a reference of some of the posts.

4. Post list.

This is veery post I have posted and its date.

5. References

I have lists of books I have, PDFs that I’ve downloaded and where they are saved, websites I use and follow, even Twitter and Instagram accounts.

6. Blank Paper.

The notebook has all my scribbled notes and diagrams. Is a messy functional notebook.

This is want I am currently using, I hope you enjoyed having a little nosy. and I will post again soon.