(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
It's a new year, and I have some stationery-specific goals for my 2025. Mostly they involve wrangling the stash, which has grown unruly. This year I will have been writing for The Pen Addict almost every week for nine years--that's a lot of stationery! And while I've done small purges here and there (CHAOS!), I need a big one. In 2026 I'll be moving again. Not super far this time--just to a place closer to my new day job, so I'm not spending so many hours of my day commuting. And there's no better way to face the seriousness of one's collection than having to pack it all up and carry it somewhere. So...it is time.
I've been really inspired by Brad's Pen Addict 100 project and the philosophy behind his collection refinement. Every time I read his updates, I thought to myself, "I really need to do this." It probably won't be 100 pens for me. I'm a Pen Addict, but I'm not THE Pen Addict. I feel like 50 is enough pens. But I've also deleted and retyped that sentence a few times, so who knows. Maybe I DO need 100.
I don't actually know how many fountain pens I own at the moment. So that's obviously step one: Inventory. While taking inventory, I can do the first weeding session. There are plenty of pens I already know I can let go of--past review models that I liked but don't feel strong attachment to. And weeded review models will of course go to Brad for future CHAOS giveaways.
I have a feeling a lot of the pens I keep will be for sentimental reasons as much as practical ones. There are some pens I don't use often, but they were meaningful gifts--those would be hard to let go of. But there are also a handful of limited edition pens that I bought out of FOMO that I feel ready to pass along. I've always been more of a user than a collector, and I'm excited to take the penventory back to the ones I love to use most.
I also need to do this with ink. I have more ink than I think I could use in my lifetime. I don't buy it often anymore--maybe one or two bottles a year, but it still piles up! Lots of ink will be entered into CHAOS.
What's that? Notebooks? Oh, hell no. Nobody touches my paper. I will move them myself, if I have to carry them on my own back.
I'm excited to get started on this project, and I'm bringing you all with me for the ride. You'll be my accountabili-buddies. I'm hoping to get the inventory and first round of weeding done by the end of the month.
Happy New Year, all! I hope the best for all of you in 2025.
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