The substitutions of a stationary addict

/ Lynsey May

There’s something just so horribly satisfying about new stationary; the fresh smell and smooth pages of a new notebook, the perfect potential of an unused pen the comforting colours of desk tidies that promise a clearer workspace. As far as I’m concerned, there’s something far too appealing about stationary altogether – hence the need to ration my visits to stationary and bookshops to avoid massive overspending on items I don’t need.

As addictions go, it’s a pretty harmless one and therefore one I’m generally happy to indulge, so what’s the problem? Well, I started using my favourite kind of pen about four years ago and my favourite notebooks about two and a half years ago – what does that mean for the stationary addict? A burning desire to satisfy the need for new pretty things and no space for said pretty things in her life. The solution? To start buying new mugs instead!

Lynsey hearts skull mugs

I don’t care what mugs I drink out of at work or at other people’s houses, but when I’m writing I get hella fussy (go figure) and in the same way that I need a certain type of music or a certain type of setting, I really like to drink out of a certain type of cup. At the weekend I completed a few rubbish tasks so I rewarded myself with a trip to Paperchase, where I quite successfully refrained from buying too much in the way of stationary (one notebook ok, just one, and only because the cover was so cute) and bought myself a new coffee mug instead.

You know, the more I write about my habits on this blog, the more I realise how many of them I’ve picked up over the years. It tempts me to spend some time trying to break them all for a while, just to see what would happen.

6 thoughts on “The substitutions of a stationary addict”

  1. Maybe you’d explode if you broke them.

    I think they’re just things that work for you and help you get into your writing frame of mind… your music, your coffee cup, your… em… messy desk 🙂

    I am so with you on the stationary thing though. It is my number one favourite thing to buy and for absolutely no reason other than I am inexplicably attracted to it. I think it has something to do with what you said – the possibilities. Which never get explored cos there is never any chance I am dirtying that beautiful hardback notebook with my ugly-ass handwriting.

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  3. Paperchase is a paradise!!! All that lovely paper and ribbon and art things so tactile. I love getting new books to write in (and not writing in them). I love a black Staedler pen myself with a very fine tip – heaven! But there is a person who shall remain nameless, who has a habit of leaving the tops off them…or even worse, chewing the tops out of shape so they don’t fit anymore – why?

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