Most Americans traditionally celebrate Labor Day as their symbolic end of summer, though I see things a little differently. I most enjoy the spring as it moves into summer, and typically feel an end come to that part of the year around the 4th of July- slightly after the summer solstice. And when it comes to vacation, I like to spend my time visiting quiet places, or places during the off season. Crowded beaches & amusement parks haven’t been my thing since I was a pre-teenager. This weekend will be the slight exception to my rule, as I head to upstate New York to camp out at The Great Rhythm Revival. I haven’t camped in 14 years so this will be quite the experience! Can you give me a hand in doing a “no rain dance” please? Though I’m sure it will be wonderful no matter what.
Photo courtesy of Abraham Alain Schechter “Webbie on Cousins Island, Maine”
We recently received this email: “Would be nice if your website offered more information. The links show graph or lined paper. How many squares per inch? Wide ruled or college ruled? Maybe a glossary for potential new customers who are searching for quality paper, but do not understand what L+M means.” 
I asked a blogger friend if this level of detail was important. She felt it was. “When I do journal reviews which had lined paper, I would include the ruling width,” she said. “To people that write big or small, that’s important. I’m not a fan of graph paper, so I’m not sure why people would want to know the dimensions of the squares but if it helps, by all means include it! I say in circumstances like this, more is better.”
What is your opinion? What product specs do you find most valuable for notebooks and journals?
BTW – “L+M” means means “Lined with Margin.” The thumbnail photo next to the caption was supposed to illustrate this, but obviously it didn’t for this person. We’ll change the website to make title clearer.
I teach a personal growth workshop entitled, Mandala:: An Artful Meditation, where I share my process for mandala creation. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “whole” but my personal interpretation of the word is as a round design consisting of repeated concentric patterns that radiate from the center outward. I have many examples which can be found here. In the workshop, we create using simple art supplies such as crayons, markers & colored pencils and my favorite paper to use in the class are the square watercolor pads from Clairefontaine. They are a 300g cold pressed paper with a slight texture that works well with dry as well as wet media. Round mandalas just seem to fit so well into the square format.
Would you like to win one of 25 Rhodia Weekly Notebooks in academic form? (Academic planners run August 10 to July 11) Winners get their choice of small or large, orange or black. Simply fill out the form below for your chance to win – one entry per person please. The contest will remain open until Tuesday, September 7th (midnight EST) and the winners will be announced here on the blog on Thursday, September 9th. Continue reading »
On my recent trek to Loretto, PA for the Summer Rhythm Renewal retreat, I took one of Matthew Adams’s Transformative Writing workshops. Typically a 12 hour program that he teaches in and around Pittsburgh, we were given a 90 minute sampling at the Renewal of what the full course has to offer. I found Matt immediately likable and what impressed me the most in his class & speaking with him afterward, was that his style of teaching encourages you to open up to new possibilities with your writing through your own self discoveries.
I asked Matt if he would write a post for us on Transformative Writing- this being the first of two parts:
Transformative Writing : Part 1
“Every day, every moment we’re alive, is something of a rebirth in which we are, before our very eyes, being made. And in that delicate, turbulent space between our essential, shape-able selves and the world we encounter lies everyone we’ve ever been and are, even in that moment, in the process of becoming. Maybe this is why something in me revolts with certain forms of art that present the conceit of a “finished” product—published writing, photography, drawing—or at least, certain forms of art that I, in my limited understanding of what I’ve traditionally called “finished” art, engage in. Continue reading »
