I love the start of the new school year and it has nothing to do with the end of six weeks of kids letting off steam in the loudest ways imaginable and everything to do with this quote from a certain bookstore owner:
"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I new your name and address..."
The quote comes from Joe Fox in my favourite feel-good romcom "You've Got Mail", and captures everything I love about autumn just before the schools go back.
This is the time of year where shops very kindly and very prominently display their stationery for sale. Even better--for "For Sale" read "On Sale"! Readers, I love them for it! Because:
"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I new your name and address..."
The quote comes from Joe Fox in my favourite feel-good romcom "You've Got Mail", and captures everything I love about autumn just before the schools go back.
This is the time of year where shops very kindly and very prominently display their stationery for sale. Even better--for "For Sale" read "On Sale"! Readers, I love them for it! Because:
Stationery is just so deliciously useful. And the stationery that isn't useful is almost always beautiful. Naturally, I love it best when it's both useful and beautiful! My stationery compulsion doesn't stop at pen and paper. Oh no. My stationery habit runs the full gamut. I'm talking way beyond post-its. I'm admitting to bull-dog clips, paperclips and drawing pins. Sticky dots and highlighter tabs. Matching box files, files and folders. Subject dividers and punched plastic wallets. Pen pots and paper trays.
Possibly my stationery habit stems from a need for perfection! If I have the right sized index cards my notes will surely be precise. Precise says: job done with minimum fuss. Precise says: succinct. Something I most certainly am not! But with those perfectly sized index cards maybe I can be--maybe I will be!
I'm going a tad psychoanalyst but I also think brand new stationery--particularly a new notebook with its crisp clean pages, represents possibility!
Possibility when you're writing is incredibly important.
When faced with pristine paper, don't you automatically want to mark it with a few words? Compose something and mark the paper to say you were there?
Speaking of the beauty of notebooks ;) From the first time I saw Agatha Christie's plotting notebooks I have been addicted to keeping one for each book I write.
Possibly my stationery habit stems from a need for perfection! If I have the right sized index cards my notes will surely be precise. Precise says: job done with minimum fuss. Precise says: succinct. Something I most certainly am not! But with those perfectly sized index cards maybe I can be--maybe I will be!
I'm going a tad psychoanalyst but I also think brand new stationery--particularly a new notebook with its crisp clean pages, represents possibility!
Possibility when you're writing is incredibly important.
When faced with pristine paper, don't you automatically want to mark it with a few words? Compose something and mark the paper to say you were there?
Speaking of the beauty of notebooks ;) From the first time I saw Agatha Christie's plotting notebooks I have been addicted to keeping one for each book I write.
Notebooks allow me to jot down bits of dialogue that floats into my head when I'm waiting in traffic or standing in line. Notebooks mean I'm not going to forget the scene that pops into my head in the middle of the night in between bouts of worrying that I'm still awake and need to get up in a couple of hours!
Yep, I love this time of year with its collections of stationery stacked high on shelves and waiting patiently for someone like me to come along and scoop them up! Stationery that matches. Stationery that doesn't. It's all available.
I pinky swear it's not just me who has an over-developed fondness for stationery! Authors all over the globe share my addiction. To prove it, once a month, some of my fellow author friends are going to pop on here and tell you their stationery tales. They'll either do a "What's in your stationery drawer" guest post. Or, they'll do a "From the Notebook" guest spot and show off some of the notes they've made when writing a book.
In the meantime, how about you? Do you have a stationery vice you'd like to share? Or is there someone you'd love to send a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils to? Let me know by leaving a comment :)
Yep, I love this time of year with its collections of stationery stacked high on shelves and waiting patiently for someone like me to come along and scoop them up! Stationery that matches. Stationery that doesn't. It's all available.
I pinky swear it's not just me who has an over-developed fondness for stationery! Authors all over the globe share my addiction. To prove it, once a month, some of my fellow author friends are going to pop on here and tell you their stationery tales. They'll either do a "What's in your stationery drawer" guest post. Or, they'll do a "From the Notebook" guest spot and show off some of the notes they've made when writing a book.
In the meantime, how about you? Do you have a stationery vice you'd like to share? Or is there someone you'd love to send a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils to? Let me know by leaving a comment :)
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