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To the calendar enthusiast whose physical impairments prevent them from using analog tools — Most of this article will be irrelevant to you, but the spirit of it is this: to experience the same kind of mind-refreshing reset a hand drawn calendar gives me, you could try a plain text calendar where each date is a Markdown subheading, and events are indented beneath.
I fell in love with the Wonderland222 planner last year after reading about it on Analog Office. It’s a Japanese-inspired, USA-produced gem that I am happy to recommend to anyone looking for a ready-made planner.
Planners, in essence, are calendars in notebook form. Some add room to make task lists, and some add a lot more, like pages for contact information, or goals, or inspirational quotes — but basically, a planner is just a portable calendar in notebook form. —Anna Havron
In September last year I pre-ordered one for AU$81 including shipping. For someone who’s been used to making their own that felt like a real extravagance! But I wanted it (oh, did I want it) so I took the plunge. It’s a 13 month planner and I’ve used five of those months, but the winds have changed. Again (it feels like a good Again, not an ominous one).
Winds in the east, mist coming in . . . Like somethin’ is brewin’ and ’bout to begin. Can’t put me finger on what lies in store, but I [feel] what’s to happen all happened before… —Bert, in Disney’s 1964 Mary Poppins
I’ve switched planners — both analog and digital — part way through the year more times than I can remember, but never with one this pricey. It’s a lovely, lovely planner and I still like it very much yet here I am, feeling that old familiar itch. An itch sparked by one of the partially filled Moleskine Cahier notebooks in my notebook box.
At the front of this old book is an experimental spread I drew up roughly in 2023 to try out some hand-drawn calendars. It is simple, rustic, and unpretentious, and the very essence of uncomplicated freedom I was — and am — drawn to.
The old layout that de-throned a Wonderland222, with my Mum’s handmade quilt in the background. I was into European-style number ones at the time, apparently
When a new idea grabs me, I have the tendency to sweep the table and start afresh. This is why I love the plain text life so much and why I’m drawn to simple analog systems: one can butterfly away with minimal disruption to the flow of things.
My notebook setup (for the next few months at least) consists of two Cahiers and a wad of single-sided scrap paper, all in a Paper Saver notebook. Two ancient leather Quiver pen holders serve nicely to carry an average black ballpoint pen (current model is from Typo, aka Cotton On in Australia), a Uni Kuru Toga self-rotating 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and an eraser pen whose body I wish came in more earthy tones.
The fraying additional ribbon bookmark was cut from the inside shoulder seam of one of my jumpers (sweaters / pullovers). I may get around to neatening the edge one of these days.
The straps of the Quiver pen holders also keep two 80-page Moleskines in place at the front and back of the book. One of the Cahiers contains 6 monthly spreads followed by 26 weekly spreads, and the other is for general note making when I feel like writing in a book. The scrap paper is for throw-away scribblings, studying French vocab and grammar, drawing diagrams to give to other people, and for a pleasant sense of environmental responsibility.
My two favourite Moleskine Cahier colours: black and myrtle green
I view the non-planner Cahier as a type of OBTF (One Big Text File). The premise is the same: add the date, then write whatever you want. I’m making use of the dash plus system, starting every note with a dash and modifying that dash to classify notes as needed.
The Wonderland222 has —
The Moleskine Cahier has —
There’s something about the combination of features in the Cahier that works for me. I have not been able to find a comparable alternative anywhere else and believe me, I’ve looked.
No, I’m not blinded by the Moleskine brand and its associations with creative minds from a bygone era. There really is something special in the 6 mm ruled lines, the rounded corners, the feel of the cover, and those lovely chunky stitches down the middle!
Hand drawn calendar layouts. Please ignore that mysterious phantom TABS artifact that I couldn’t get to disappear before taking the screenshot.
And so this week I’ve lent into the delicious insanity of creating my own planner entirely by hand, right there in a fresh Moleskine Cahier. Drawing up a week or two at a time while watching TV or listening to podcasts means it hasn’t been arduous; more of a soothing activity that helps quieten my brain monkeys in much the same way as knitting or sewing something simple.
Cahiers only have 80 pages (40 sheets) in them, meaning I’ll need two to cover a full year. Perhaps in 6 months I’ll be onto something else, but that’s the beauty of a flexible system! You’re never fenced in.
The structure of monthly and weekly pages echo the approach followed in the Wonderland222, and other A5 vertical left-to-right weekly planners. It’s a simple and effective way to plan the week.
Anne-Laure le Cunff would call this a tiny experiment, because that’s what it is: a happy, curiosity-driven exercise in seeing what happens when I use this kind of analog calendar.
How will I respond to it over time? Will I miss the grid of the Wonderland222? Will seeing my own hand as a foundation for planning focus me more on the work, or be a distraction? Will my gut welcome the hand drawn layouts each morning before my brain has switched into analytical mode, or rebel against them? I can hardly wait to find out!
There will be no failures, no right or wrong, simply data that will tell me something I did not know before. And that data will shape what comes next. Now that I’m aware of shiny object syndrome and have learned how to keep it from changing the overall trajectory of my productivity, exercises like this are a mind-refreshing, fun reset! (Read about the journey)
A human (me) is responsible for all the ideas, colons, em-dashes, Oxford commas, and errors in this article.
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