Novelicious.com | The Women's Fiction Blog for Readers and Writers

Five of the Best... Pens and Pencils

Like many (all?) authors, I’m more than a little obsessed by writing implements. Despite mainly using a computer, I still need the right pens and pencils for scribbling in notebooks, keeping my journal, doodling, brainstorming and making endless lists. This selection ranges from the cheap and cheerful to outright luxury.

1. I adore writing with a very sharp pencil and the best way to enjoy this without having to repeatedly sharpen is to use a propelling pencil. The Faber-Castell 1345 mechanical pencil has a rubber grip, a 0.5 refillable lead, and comes in a choice of four bright colours. Also, at £4.14 each from CultPens it will be annoying rather than catastrophic if you lose one.

 

2. Apparently the ‘finest pencil ever made’ and a favourite of Steinbeck, the Blackwing was discontinued in 1998 but is back by popular demand. I don’t know about you, but I want one just for the cool name… Blackwing pencils are available from Pedlars at £2.50 for one or £24.95 for a case of twelve.  

3. Just as I love a well-sharpened pencil, pen nibs have to be fine (0.5 maximum, please). These fine-tipped gel pens from Muji come in lovely colours and are affordable at £1 each (refills are 75p).

4. I used to use a fountain pen at school but somewhere along the line I got out of the habit. However, I still like to gaze at them as the beautiful objects they are. This Caran D’Ache Caelograph pen is firmly in the ‘admire from afar’ category as it costs £3,500. It has a night-blue Chinese lacquer barrel decorated with silver particles and a solid-gold, platinum plated nib. It also features a mechanism that  allows you to see the position of the stars and constellations at any given time, on any date. Essential, I'm sure you'll agree. Available from Websters Pen Shop.

5. Highlighers are incredily useful but, even if they weren’t, I’d be recommending you buy a pack of these Panda highlighters anyway. I mean, they’re adorable, and they only cost £3 for the set. You’re welcome. Panda pens from Paperchase. 

Five Great Ways to Store Your Writerly Bits and Bobs

Last year my dream came true and I got my very own home office. It's a fancy cabin behind the house and every time I make the commute through the garden, I thank my lucky stars. Unfortunately, all my money went on the building, so I've kitted out the inside with my old desk and chair, a Billy bookcase (from IKEA) and a set of shelves from Freecycle. But a girl can dream, and as soon as my cash flow allows I'm going to get myself at least one of these beautiful storage solutions. My lovely office deserves it! I'm sure yours does, too...

1. A wooden set of drawers from Cox & Cox. These aren’t available until early July but you can sign up for a stock alert email (probably a good idea if you have your heart set on them). There are six shallow drawers, each with a slot so that you can label them. They cost £65 and will bring battered, rustic charm to your desk space.  

2. In my view, you can never have too many drawers and these red metal ones from IKEA are cheerful and practical. Plus, they only cost £25.

Five Marvelous Correspondence Sets

I adore the ease of email and despair at the rising cost of postage (60p for a first class stamp!), but my heart still yearns for the days when I regularly sent and received proper letters through the post. Of course, I type so often (and handwrite so rarely) that whenever I do put pen to paper the resulting scrawl is an offence to the eyes. Which is where beautiful stationery comes in… With these sets, at least something about my missives will be attractive.

1. Postcards from Penguin; 100 book jackets in one box. Even if you don't have time to write a letter, you must have time to dash off a quick postcard. The set includes 100 different designs including the classic orange Penguin covers for The Great Gatsby and My Man Jeeves. £9.59 from Amazon.

 

2. Shaped like nesting dolls, these note cards come in five different sizes and designs. They are cheerful, pretty and a little bit different; perfect! Masha And Friends: £9.60 from MappaMundi.

Five Lovely Laptop Bags

The main selling point of a laptop or netbook is its portability, right? However, even the most well-designed machine is fairly delicate so you need something practical and protective to carry it about in. If it looks good, too, so much the better. Okay, so I don't tend to leave the house much and my beloved netbook is mainly used in bed (with my special bed desk thing. Yes, really. Shush.) But I'm sure you all tote your laptops to coffee shops, work, and friend's houses, and this selection is for you.

1. This neoprene case has an airmail and map design that is cute and retro without veering into sick-bag territory. Currently on offer at £22.94 from NotOnTheHighStreet.

2. I'm not usually one for fashion labels but I might make an exception for this Ted Baker laptop sleeve. The gorgeous typewriter image is really effective on the smart black case. It fits up to a 13 inch laptop and costs £30 from The Contemporary Home.

Five Desk Tidies

I think I got my first desk tidy when I was still in primary school. It was one of those cheap plastic tubular ones, but I was already deeply entrenched in my stationery addiction so I adored it. It had a little space for paperclips and compartments for storing my pens separately to my pencils. Everything, in short, my little control-freak heart desired. Fast forward over twenty-five years (man, I am old) and nothing has changed.... Yes, you could use a mug to hold your pencils, but why pass up the opportunity to buy dedicated stationery storage?

1. This pen holder loses marks for just being one big container (no compartments, no drawers, no exciting pull-out tray), but I like the humour of the design and the nice material (rubberwood). Plus, you can distract yourself from irksome tasks by pretending that it's an ordinary pencil sharpener and that you've shrunk (or, alternatively, that you stole it from a giant). £10 from Tesco.

Five Pretty Notebooks

Like every writer I know I have an addiction to stationery and I cannot - simply cannot - resist the lure of a pretty notebook. It's more than their aesthetic loveliness, of course; it's the promise that they hold. 'Take me home,' they whisper, 'fill my pages with thoughts and dreams and I will fulfill them all'. Or is that just me? Ah-hem.

1.This raspberry wrap journal looks utterly strokable. The cover is soft (real) leather and inside are 198 plain cream pages. There is a leather tie closure and it costs £22 from Oh So Cherished.

2. Esmie notebooks. Esmie stands for ‘Elegant Stationery Made In England’, which seems pretty apt. These notebooks are handstitched and glued to a hardback cover and covered with Japanese-style silk screened paper. The prices start at £11.95 for the smallest size and are available from The Paperie.

3. Daisy blue journals by Paper High. These pleasingly-chunky notebooks are Fair Trade and made with khadda paper pages (acid-free, made from recycled cotton). Extra large is 21cm by 13.5cm and costs £17.95, the smaller size (15.5cm by 11cm) is £11.95. 

4. I'm a huge fan of Liberty (my best friend and I refer to the shop in London as 'the mothership') so this Liberty floral notebook is something of a no-brainer. It's A5, has a ribbon tie closure and costs just £10 from John Lewis. 

5. I own several Paper Blanks notebooks (including this one, actually); they're good quality, the paper inside is a nice weight and texture, and I adore the little magnetic closures. This one is a useful size (18 x 23cm) and has a stitched binding that allows the book to lie completely flat when open. The Tiffany Magnolia design on the front cover has an embossed, glossy finish and is truly beautiful. You can get it for £19.99 from Artyfect.  

Win! Rachael Taylor Kindle Case from Will & Glory

How pretty are these Rachael Taylor Kindle and Kindle Fire cases? We love them. We love them so much that we've roped the kind folk at Will & Glory into giving one away to one of you lot!

To enter all you have to do is choose the Kindle case you would like to win from the selection on the Product Page and tell us which in the comments below. That's it!

The competition is open until next Friday afternoon and is open to entrants living in the UK and Ireland.

Good Luck!

Five Cracking Kindle Covers

As a die-hard book addict (as objects, not just what's inside them), I wasn't at all sure when e-readers first appeared on the market. Then, I was bought a Kindle as a gift and fell in love; my very own portable library. It's no wonder the gadgets have taken the world by storm but, in my humble opinion, they do feel a bit odd in the hand. That is, until you pop them into a nice cover. 

1. This Kindle Fire cover is handmade in England from recycled leather and it’s a beautiful shade of peacock green. I adore the ‘satchel’ styling; the blue pocket on the front and the buckle fastening (which has a press stud to make it easy to use). £29.99 from Waterstones.

 

2. Run For Cover case for the Kindle Touch featuring Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The case is made from PVC, and is lightly padded to keep your Kindle safe and costs just £14.99 from TruffleShuffle. 

 

 

3. Pretty floral cover by Nica in a fresh mint green. Made from coated canvas with a faux suede inner. £25 from John Lewis.

 

4. Staying with the floral theme, how about this fabric case? Handmade to order using Cath Kidston Provence Rose fabric, the case is lightly padded and is flexible enough for you to bend the front cover back if required. It's available in different sizes to fit the various Kindle models and in either a coral pink or grey colourway. £36.50 from NotOnTheHighStreet.

 

 

 

5. For people who want their e-readers to look and feel as much like a book as possible, Klevercase have developed a beautiful range of covers. They use material that looks like cloth and leather (although it isn't) and bookbinding paper to make Kindle cases that look like real hardback books. They have an interior made from 'moulded TPU' and, as your Kindle fits snugly in this, there's no need for a closure on the cover (which would spoil the illusion of a 'real' book). The cases are handmade to order in England and there are lots of styles available including Dracula (a cloth-look blue book), Einstein's Theory of Relativity (tooled, leather-look), Peter Pan, and a James Bond range. Pictured above is Emma by Jane Austen, priced £24.99 from Klevercase.

Five Beautiful Bookends

If you're stuffing books into every available space, bookends can seem like something of a luxury. After all, you could use a pile of books to hold a line of books up, thereby increasing your book-storing capacity. Despite this, there's something undeniably wonderful about an object whose sole purpose in life is to hold books upright. They give me hope for the human race, you know?

1. We've featured owl bookends before (these lovely linen ones) but I couldn't resist these cast-resin owls. Adorable, no? Yes, I've got a 'thing' for owls... I can't help myself. They're £21.99 from The Contemporary Home on NotOnTheHighStreet.

 

 

 

2. I love typography and the colour red so this glossy metal sign by Goodwin + Goodwin hits the spot. Francophiles might like the mint green 'Fin' version, too. £19.95 (each) or £34.95 (a pair) from NotOnTheHighStreet.

 

 

3. How about a forest of books? These 'spring' bookends blend fairytale nostalgia with modern design. The bookends are made from laser cut metal by Design Atelier Article, and are available for £34.95 from MyDeco.

 

 

 

4. Oh, pretty! The Turquesa bookends have a matt turquoise painted finish and an illustrated bee motif. These bad boys will lend instant class to your bookshelf. Pass the sherry... £39 from OKA.

 

 

5. These petrified wood bookends from Anthropologie win the prize for being the most expensive bookends in the round up, but they're also a piece of geological history and really, really beautiful. As they're natural products, no pair will be exactly alike. If you have an Anthropologie shop nearby I'd recommend choosing them in 'real life' so that you can pick your personal favourite. If you like the idea of holding up your books with attractive rocks but can't quite stretch to the £128 price tag, have a peek at this 'one of a kind' pair of agate bookends in natural grey. £51.99 from Crystal Age. 

Stationery Spot - Win a Medium Leather Bound Diary from The Scribble House

Those kindy folk at The Scribble House are offering one of you guys a medium leather diary from their gorgeous range.

The diary, which comes in a variety of colours, has a week-to-view with the week on the left and then a page for notes on the right.  It also has a month-to-view section at the front and has several maps including the London tube map.  The paper is cream and is gilt edged.  The date is embossed in gold. Gorgeous!

Enter to win this diary (which retails at between £46 and £49) by leaving us a comment and telling us which date of 2013 you're most looking forward to and why.

Competition is open until Wednesday 7th November and is for UK based entrants.

The Scribble House are also offering Novelicious readers a 10% discount on all of their products until this Friday (2nd November). The code is SCRIBB10-2012

Stationery Spot - Owl Bookends by The Literary Gift Company

I use bookcases but might have to find a place for a bookshelf so I can buy these linen and faux leather owl bookends. Too cute.

They cost £16.95 from the fabulous The Literary Gift Company.

Stationery Spot - KTWO To-Do Notes

If you're anything like me you need to get organised with your writing. I've recently been reluctant to make 'to-do' lists because I always forget about them and the yellow post-its I use somehow end up stuck to the dog's back leg or my dinner. But this gorgeous KTWO To-Do notebook could persuade me to really try at the whole 'to-do' thing again. You can tear out the pages and it has a nice handy loop for your pen. Organisation on the go.

Alternatively you could use this as just a note book or ideas journal.

It's from John Lewis and costs £7.99

Stationery Spot - Vintage Floral Laptop Sleeve

I'm on the hunt for a new laptop case (currently using a dubious smelling Adidas rucksack from the year 2000) but the ones I've seen around recently have been ultra modern or super business-y and just not my cup of tea. Then I happened upon this padded velvet one and it is soft and lovely and looks a bit like a cushion. Do you like it?

It's from Graham and Green and costs £25.  

Stationery Spot: Mini Blue Cats & Butterflies Notebook

I am in love with this notebook.

The expression on the big cat's face is all, "You're going to write a book are you? Are you? Yes. I'll believe it when I see it. Now get me some cream. Miaow, etc."

There's also a ribbon marker and I do love a good ribbon marker.

This notebook is 12.99 and available with lined or plain paper.