In pursuit of the perfect structure - stationery freaks newsletter

Two stationery freaks grappling with control of life

Hi,

Hope you are doing well today. It’s Rob here posting this edition of the Stationery Freaks newsletter.

We’ve just launched a new episode after a long break - in pursuit of the perfect structure. We’re back and in this episode we talk about the rabbit hole that is the pursuit of the perfect structure.

You can find the new episode here, details of what’s in it are below.

The perfect structure

We talk about how we spend hours crafting perfect structures for podcast episodes, to do lists, meal plans and more - and why we do it, and whether it works.

Helen talks about how she spent an afternoon constructing the perfect template for podcast episodes.

I talk about my “Shipping Forecasts” and how they brought me control - and then I ditched them for ToDoist - and then moved back to a newly revised Shipping Forecast.

We chat about why we do this - and we think it’s down to control - wanting to control what can be crazy lives. And whether it really works!

During our ramble I mention a meal called Toad in the Hole - it’s a dish made of sausages cooked in a batter - for anyone who’s never heard of this classic British recipe!

Collins Ledger - a life audit

I share how I’ve been using a Collins Ledger to keep an audit of my life. It’s a new habit where I capture things that have happened - just facts. It’s not a journal, nor is it future orientated - just an audit

Hobonichi Planners

Helen shares how she is planning, structuring and organising next year’s Hobonichi planner - we’ll do another cast on that before Christmas hopefully.

Videos and pens

I also share how I launched a video about being a stationery freak for my Creative Soul Projects channel - and received loads of nice comments with recommendations on pencils - so I bought a new one.

I listened and I upgraded from my rOtring Tikky pencil to a rOtring 600 and it was a wise move. It’s heavier but it’s got a nice feel and the flow of pencil across the page is much smoother - much better for writing with.

Writing classes

Helen also shares how her writing classes are going well - and how she uses paper for capturing notes - but digital for writing the books. We talk about the finiteness of paper - and how this constraint is a good thing.

Other stuff

We also share some thoughts on people “stealing” the Martha Brook’s advent calendar idea - and how this is a terrible thing.

Helen also mentions some cool printed stickers (always the stickers) that are essentially business cards in sticker form. Very cool. We’re going to get some stationery freaks ones made!

And we also mention our advent calendar series from a couple of year’s ago - still good listening for this festive period.

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You can find our latest episode about the pursuit of the perfect structure here.

Have a lovely rest of the week

Rob and Helen

stationeryfreaks.com