My ADHD brain in blog form.
Posted in Book Blogger
This is an informative post for those who enjoy my book review posts.
This year, I decided to start a reading journal. As part of that, I’ve redone my book rating system so I can rate books more evenly. I still intend to share book reviews, but only those where I have a lot to say, good or bad.
I created a decision flowchart to help me with this new system in the beginning.
NOTE: This post closes out my 2025 end-of-year and 2026 start-of-year series, and I’m looking forward to a break. I will likely post once a week at most through the end of February.
To start, allow me to review last year’s wish list — you can also check out my earlier wish lists: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021.
I received my commission from Stanford Pen Studio — pen porn post coming soon — and my two Intwana models — Chameleon and Seahorse. I also got my Tailored Pen Co. commission. And, as you almost certainly know, I finally got a Drewnem Pisane pen.
Posted in Fountain Pens, Ink, Paper, and Stationery
Wow, this is the 5th anniversary of this post! You’re welcome to check out my previous years’ answers: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022
I’ve changed the questions quite a bit since I first started, mainly to make this series last longer, because I enjoy it. I was originally inspired by a YouTube video from one of my favorite beauty YouTubers.
Answer from 2025: I’d like to keep to under 30 pen acquisitions this year. With ink, I’d like to not buy any bottles without trying a sample first, or at least seeing a swatch in person when it’s not possible to get a sample. Well… you already know I didn’t succeed with the first goal. I didn’t do much better with inks. But, I did better than in previous years, so that’s a plus.
A year ago, to the day, Jim and I said goodbye to my familiar, Bumbledore. He was the best cat and most amazing familiar anyone could have ever asked for. You can learn more about him — including his backstory and our relationship — in the posts I shared about him.
I still miss him terribly and have several different tributes to him. However, this new pen from Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) is definitely the most impressive, and tied for most important.
I seriously debated skipping this post this year, but I wanted to review the information for myself, so I decided to go ahead and feed the content monster, too. I also purposely left hard purchase numbers from my pen collection stats so that this post isn’t just a repeat of existing information. If you don’t want to read this whole post, the TLDR is that I only met one of my goals for 2025, so most of them will be recycled for this year. I give myself grace, though, because it was such a difficult year.
This year I’m starting with what I think is the most interesting part of this post, reviewing my goals for 2025.
I added two unexpected pens right at the end of 2025: a Tamenuri Studio pen as my Christmas present from Jim, and the TWSBI Obsidian since I’m collecting that series. With those two, and with the Retro 51 x Pen Addict “Pen” arriving, I ended the year with 38 pen acquisitions. Oops.
I just met this goal for my fountain pen purchases, assuming I consider vintage a separate category — which I do. I can’t really include ballpoint and rollerball pens in this, since I haven’t purchased any from small/indie companies. Of my 30 fountain pen purchases, 14 were from small/indie businesses, 14 were from mainstream manufacturers, and 2 were vintage (although also, technically, from mainstream manufacturers) that were purchased from independent resellers (loophole, anyone?). That puts my mainstream manufacturer purchases at 46.67%.
Posted in Fountain Pens
The day this post goes live — January 9, 2026 — marks 10 years since I bought my first fountain pen. That’s a significant milestone, and a bit hard for me to process.
Granted, as I’ve said before, I didn’t dive headfirst down the rabbit hole. 2016 only saw me buy two pens, although I got a third as a gift. But, that first pen is what got the ball rolling.
And what was that momentous — although I didn’t know it then — purchase? A red-nibbed Platinum Preppy with a 03 nib bought at Bertram’s Inkwell for a whopping $4.22.
Posted in Random Reflections
In my final look back at 2025, I’m looking at my blog performance and favorite posts again. You know that I love data, so this type of post is a lot of fun for me. If you enjoy data, too, take a look at the Data tag for posts you may have missed.
My yearly reminder: I’m aware that the stats I have available to me are almost certainly tainted by bots, VPNs, etc. But, they’re still fun to look through. I know there are some other data nerds out there, so this post goes out to you.
Posted in Book Blogger
We survived 2025, here’s hoping 2026 is better.
Anyway, another year gone means another reading challenge complete. I’m surprised at how much I managed to read around all of my crochet. I certainly didn’t come close to last year’s numbers, but I did still read more than expected.
I continued my manual tracking for 2025 — despite Goodreads tracking my reading accurately this year — and have even decided to start a reading journal. Let me know if you have any interest in hearing more about that.
