Once a month, I find myself in the car, driving south, and listening to a pile of podcasts. (I make a pile, but I tend to only get through 2-3 of them.) In listening last week, I heard a What Should I Read Next episode that was perfect for me… suggestions for someone who loves Station Eleven and dystopian literature. I took note of all three recommendations, and I’m listening to one in the car now. I’m somehow so distracted these days though that I have played sections over and over. I keep restarting the audio because I know I haven’t been listening. And I want to listen. I can already tell this book, Good Morning, Midnight, is special, so much so that I also checked the book out at the library. I’ve never read and listened to the same book concurrently, but the idea has potential. So many times I hear a quote when listening and wish I could just make a note. Being able to pull the book seems like a solid plan.

There are so many things, day to day, that I want to tell you, and I so rarely manage to pull all of those things into an episode of the Creativity Matters Podcast because stories, once started, take on an arc, a trajectory, a path. That arc may be sweeping and broad, far-reaching and far-ranging, but as it travels its path, there are many other things left in the margins. So, I thought I’d try a kitchen sink approach. Spilltide. (I still love that made-up word and what it represents.)

These are things making my mental list this week… small things… things I would mention in person, were we to catch up for coffee. 

1. #bodymarbling – I had never heard of this, but an amazing body-marbled hand and arm photo caught my eye at Instagram, and I went looking. So very cool! (Get a sense of it at Instagram.)
2. Enneagram – Perpetually dissatisfied with (and unsure of) my results on the 16 personalities test, I am thinking about the Enneagram again. I followed a breadcrumb from a group discussion and found a recommended online test. Intrigued after taking it, I joined a group, reserved a few books, and have a few podcasts I want to try. After retaking the (same) test and coming up with the same number, I started listening to a podcast specifically about that number and was so moved that I had to stop listening.  I hope to listen all the way through soon. As I watch people talk about their types (any system), I think a lot about whether or not people use their “type” as a way of excusing or a way of understanding.
3. Sea Lemon DIY journals – I am not planning on converting or making or redoing journals (at least not right now), but videos like DIY Dollar Store Bullet Journals by Sea Lemon are always interesting to watch. These kinds of makeovers are not really my thing, but I was amazed watching her replace a spiral, and I really got hooked when she turned a classic spiral notebook into multiple (4) field-note size blank journals. (She has a separate video for that, and check this video for inspiration about adding simple hard covers to your composition books.)
4. Habit tracking – I am always fascinated by seeing how people track and what systems they use. As we approach a new month, I have been thinking about how I will track in September and what changes I might make. I spotted this 5 Types of Habit Trackers video (from Planning with Kay) this week and really enjoyed seeing her “Calendex” layouts. I often feel like I can’t fit my monthly habit tracker on one giant page or spread… and this video shows you how to track multiple months even on a two-page spread. (There is magic afoot.) I really loved seeing her awesome number-strip stickers, too! 
5. Minimalism – I am at war with myself, but I believe there is a minimalist in me beneath all the clutter. I’m not sure if I can dig it out, and I’m pretty sure that my “creative” tendencies have a lot to do with the endless clutter and “what if” saving. (Really, there were dozens of things I thought I might turn all those empty glass bottles into.) My “disaster is coming” tendencies may also be a contributing factor. I have “straightened” a haphazard pile of papers that were stuffed at all angles onto an overcrowded bookshelf over the last decade… but haven’t thrown them out. I used to print my show notes each week, and once I was done with them, I would stuff them onto this crowded shelf. I know they should just be tossed. (But “what if” I really don’t have a digital copy?) 
6. Pens – It’s endless, and despite my comments about minimalism, when life gets overwhelming, I often find myself contemplating and researching pens. (I can waste a lot of time online considering pens!) This time around, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what might somehow magically make “this” or “that” skill really work. (I know, the pen isn’t the magic key. But maybe a certain thickness of pen is important to a task.) In my wandering, I took note, for the first time, of midliners. I’ve been seeing people in the planning community using them and referencing them, but they never clicked in before as relevant (at all) for me. Suddenly, my interest is piqued. On the flip side, I’ve been wondering if a basic set of colored Flairs might also be part of the answer for me. I think there may be a combo in the wings. Maybe. As I look around at all the rogue pens in my office, however, I know that there are many I need to explore in new ways. #usewhatyouhave
7. Making videos – it keeps coming up.
8. Inktober is coming – Sktchy is running an Inktober class with Jake Parker and others as the guest artists. It looks like a really good lineup. I know there are tons of classes out there, and I rarely go the class route. But I am a big fan of the Sktchy community–and I do Inktober. This does seem like a class to consider if you are planning to do Inktober this year and fall on the side of portrait drawing (rather than other kinds of inking). One of the artists is a favorite Sktchy artist of mine, and she’s amazing with ballpoint pen!
9. Shadow banning – who knew! I ended up reading a lot about shadow banning and about ways in which Instagram tracks your activity and what raises flags. My (semi-serious) takeaway… be careful to not like more than 200 posts an hour. I know that Instagram has new “time spent” tracking, too. (I haven’t seen it in action yet.) Are you a scroller?
10. There were ten things on this list. This was also supposed to be an email, not a blog post. Second thoughts.