December Brings Crafts and Surprises!
Hello, Dear Reader. In a previous subscriber email, I promised to give an update on my November crafting class. Working with my hands turned out to be a pleasant break from the mental work of writing—making small gifts, such as the notebook and pen, personalized bookmark, and tea-and-chocolate packet pictured here.
What I didn’t expect was an unexpected stumble upon a new word rife with meaning and a new way to meet my goals in 2023. That word is bujo which is short for bulleted journal. What’s neat about a bujo is that notes are quickly jotted in bullet format rather than written out long sentences. But the magic, as detailed by Ryder Carroll, the originator of the system, is that the journal is page-numbered and indexed for ease of retrieval. Also, there’s room to add color and graphics if the journal keeper feels creative.
A bujo can be targeted, such as documenting the books you’ve read, and that’s where I plan to start my bujo journey. If you’re like me, you read a book and move on to the next with little thought. That’s a bujo I want for 2023, a place to index and track every book I read during the year. Here’s a link to the YouTube video that convinced me this would be fun and worthwhile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJEJXUz_HJg
To get started, I’d go for a simpler format than the YouTuber above. This is a likely template I found online:
And there’s another type of bujo I’m planning for early 2023—an editing bujo to keep track of the edits needed to revise the first draft of my latest Dream Stalker book in January when I retake Jim Jackson’s revision class.
Not too much to say yet about Dream Stalker: The Prisoner except this: A broken promise to her sister sets Salem witch and dream-walker Lily Scott on a collision course with a killer and the supernatural force that has stalked her since she was twelve.
In addition, here’s a peek preview of the book two cover.
I’d love to hear if you’re planning a 2023 journal—bujo or otherwise—to track your 2023 goals. Happy December!
Can’t wait to hear more about Bujo and how it works for you, Nancy. I can definitely see how it would be an enormous improvement over my own “system” of handwriting things in different notebooks. 🙂
I absolutely LOVE the cover for your upcoming novel, it stands out in a really beautiful eye-catching way.
And I also LOVE your beaded bookmarks. As a recipient of one of them, I can attest that it’s very special.
Gee, Nancy, you are so full of creativity and it’s inspiring!
Thanks for your kindness, Irene! Looking forward to our next Zoom chat!
I love the cover, Nancy. Also, the bujo for keeping track of my reading is a great idea. Thank you.
Thanks, Susan. Glad you like the cover. And I’m going to have a special section for reading group books 🙂
Always journaling! Bought myself a hand-made one as my “dross” journal because I wanted to remind myself that even my gripes, complaints, and general disgruntles are worthy of recording. Another one is for historical fiction how-tos and novel notes. There are few more others hanging about…glad to see you have one that works for you. Eager, eager for Lily Scott 2. Ann
Thanks, Ann. I’m hoping this new type will reduce notes I can’t find that I KNOW I took. 🙂
Thanks, Peggy! See you this weekend!
Love the new cover!