It’s been a slow start

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Isn’t it supposed to be the other way round … big spurt in early January followed by sputtering attempts until mid February when all enthusiasm peters out? In complete contrast to the normal course of events, this year’s resolution has taken a while to get some momentum.

The idea behind Making Things Nice was to tackle little projects that would take an assortment of things … tasks …events …. up a notch.

Up a notch aesthetically.

Up a notch organisationally.

Up a notch any-ally that would be useful and enjoyable.

I also hoped it might be a way of managing the instability of the transition, that move from city routine to the a new life back in the country; small wins along the way to keep any doubts and angst at bay. That was the plan.

Time to solve a problem

Projects need planning.  Planning needs space.  Thinking space and physical space, drawing space and mind mapping space, storing space and doing space.

I did try downsizing the planning space, but that didn’t work. I’m a butcher’s paper girl. I pace and swirl, sigh and connect, scribble and muse.

The dance moves are a little tighter now.

Attempt One

I tried a small A5 notebook, one of those art notebooks that have no lines and lovely solid paper. I’ve used them before. They were a great size for pottery notes. Perhaps, I thought to myself, they might work for planning and musing on ideas.

They didn’t.  Surprisingly, I thought maybe it was too big for my now very unsettled lifestyle.

Attempt Two

I tried SNote on my phone. This would enable me to take, and look up, notes wherever I am.

It might have worked. I’ll never know. The very next software upgrade resulted in SNote demanding to play with other things on my phone. There was no justifiable reason for such intrusion. When I refused, it refused, so I disabled and dumped it.

Attempt Three

I have had success in the past with small spiral-bound notebooks. I’d sit on the bus and furiously scribble ideas on how to tackle particular problems at work. The writing wasn’t particularly neat, but it worked beautifully.

Thinking about it a bit further … perhaps the small art books were the wrong style … perhaps trying to blend the blankness of the butcher’s paper with the portable nature of the A5 spiral wasn’t the answer.

That leaves two possibilities – blank pages on a larger scale, or the smaller spiral with lines?

I popped to the shops and bought both.

Is it working?

Time will tell.

So far, the blank pages of the A4 art book display bits and pieces cut from here and there, each page is/will be a vision board for an idea.

In contrast, the lined paper encourages a more businesslike approach.

Perhaps … working across the two …