Potter Gift

Unique and Imaginative; Not Just for Illustrators and Sketch Artists

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Blogging for Books.)

Q&A a Day for Creatives: A 4-Year Journal is the latest in a series of guided journals produced by Potter Style, a "lifestyle gift" imprint of The Crown Publishing Group. Other specialized titles are aimed at moms, teenagers, book lovers, college students, and list-makers.

My first foray into Potter Style's Q&A a Day journals was the show more Q&A a Day: 5-Year Journal, which features 365 writing prompts - one for each day of the year, with enough space to record five years worth of entries. It's a pretty rad idea, but the design of the book makes it difficult to use. At nearly 1 1/4″ thick and 6 1/4″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide, it’s a little smaller than a mass market paperback - but just as thick. Since my hand starts dropping off the end of the page about halfway down, I find it terribly difficult to write in. Plus the lines are tiny! I used it for about a month before personal issues proved too much of a distraction; looking back, I'm not surprised to see that many of my entries are borderline illegible thanks to the ill-devised layout.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/16696425551/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/20848682542/

So I was kind of psyched when I saw the oversized, rectangular cover of Q&A a Day for Creatives. The book is significantly larger than its predecessor - 9 1/2" wide by 7 1/2" tall (those measurements are for the cover; subtract 1/4" off each the width and height for the pages) - and MUCH easier to use. The soft cover also makes it easier to open and lay flat for comfortable use.

Each page features a prompt, along with four 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" squares to sketch your entry. While the book's obviously aimed at illustrators and sketch artists (and possibly even painters; e.g., "Draw a human skeleton without looking at reference images."), anyone with an interest in the visual arts can bend the rules to play along.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/20671528889/

Can't draw or paint? No worries! Scrapbook the heck out of this sucker! Treat it like a Pinterest board. If you're into graphic art, complete the prompt using Photoshop and print out and paste in your answer. When Potter asks you "What was the happiest purchase you made in the past few weeks?," attach a picture of your rescue dog wearing that shiny new ladybug outfit your bought her - or just include a clipping of the catalog listing. Some of the prompts are even open to written answers, traditional journal styley.

That said, I'd caution against cutting and pasting in every answer: all that additional paper will add up, eventually making the journal too thick to close or even easily flip through or store away. (I've had similar problems with various dog and cat memory books I've purchased over the years.)

Just to give you an idea of what you'll be asked to draw, here's a random sampling of ten prompts:
- "What does your hair look like today?" (June 25)
- "Draw yourself drawing. What are you drawing in the drawing of you drawing?" (October 10)
- "This page is full of bugs!" (March 28)
- "A four-parter! Over the course of the next four years, fill each panel with the life of a tree, from acorn to sapling, and onward to maturity." (March 19)
- "Dream up a creative way to combine two animals into one. A frog and a goat? A seal and a blowfish?" (December 3)
- "Draw a key. What does it open?" (April 9)
- "What monster lives under your bed?" (August 16)
- "Draw a tiny desert island. Who is on it?" (October 4)
- "How would you illustrate a smell that you love?" (May 20)
- "What's the one item you're most embarrassed you own?" (March 7)

I really love these guided journals; they're an excellent choice for people who want to keep a daily journal, but don't have a whole lot of time or discipline to maintain the habit. The short, specific entries help keep you focused and motivated, and the four-year span offers a fun way of comparing your answers over a longer period of time.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/09/11/q-and-a-a-day-for-creatives-by-potter-style... show less

Lovely little book! Not only is the binding and design stylish and clever, but the book itself is quite handy and a great look at the different types of knots, which ties and collar types work best with them, and even some additional accessory advice towards the end. I used it yesterday to experiment with a few different knots in preparation for an upcoming presentation and came up with great results.

Also, a note to the women: don't let ties intimidate you. You can rock them too, I promise show more (I just did today). I actually got this book as a birthday gift from my best friend who is well aware of my affinity for menswear. Bottom line, style is about what you like and what makes you feel comfortable and confident, regardless about what society tells you you should or shouldn't wear. Lady or gentleman, fashion can be for anyone. show less

This charming journal completely missed my radar when it was released last November. Not surprising, really. Who would know from the title listed online that it was inspired by Jane Austen?

The actual cover is more helpful; it has a subtitle, 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, that was unfortunately omitted in the online listings. Bingo! Janeites will also recognize her silhouette in the cover design, but the uninitiated will be clueless. Honestly, Jane-a-Day could be for any famous Jane, like: show more Jane Eyre, Jane Marple or Calamity Jane! Regardless of this miss by publisher Potter Style, who have brought us a slew of beautiful Austen ephemera like: Jane Austen Puzzle: 500-Piece Puzzle, Jane Austen Mini Journal and Jane Austen Notecards, this is a gem that Janeites should be made aware of.

This classy new 5 year diary has a lot of pluses in its favor to make up for the title flub. Here is the publishers blurb from the back:

"Let the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen guide you throughout the next five years. Each journal page features a memorable quote from the iconic author’s oeuvre that can be revisited each year. Created to help you make a time capsule of your thoughts, simply turn to today’s date and take a few moments to comment on the quote. When you finish the year, move on to the next section. As the years go by, you’ll notice how your commentary evolves."

Of course the best thing, besides the opulent binding, gold leaf on the edges and the prayer book size (how apt), is the selection of quotes. The unnamed editor who selected them from Jane Austen’s novels and letters did a superb job. Even this die-hard Janeite was pleased to discover a few that have not been featured in every Jane Austen quote book since time began. Here are a few of my favorites:

“She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man.” – Pride and Prejudice
“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” – Pride and Prejudice
“Women are the only correspondents to be depended on.” – Sanditon
“Where youth and diffidence are united, it requires uncommon steadiness of reason to resist the attraction of being called the most charming girl in the world.” – Northanger Abbey
“There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time.” – Personal Correspondence
“His cold politeness, his ceremonious grace, were worse than anything.” – Persuasion
“There are people who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.” – Emma
“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.” – Mansfield Park

For those book lovers (like me) who would never think of defacing a book by writing in it, this journal may sit on your Jane Austen book shelf looking pretty forever. If you are a doodler and want to keep track of your annual reaction to Jane Austen’s pithy quotes and quips throughout the years, I can think of no finer way than including Austen in your life every day for the next five years!

Laurel Ann, Austenprose show less

An Awesome Idea Marred by Lackluster Execution

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Blogging for Books.)

When I was younger, I kept a diary and wrote in it fastidiously, especially during my tumultuous teenage years. College was predictably hectic and I soon fell out of the habit, never to return - but not for lack of effort. As an adult, I've tried to resurrect my journaling several times, with little luck; mostly I don't have the time, or don't know what show more to write about. Also it doesn't help that my handwriting sucks, thanks to the ubiquity of computers. (My third grade teacher would be horrified!) So when I spotted Q&A a Day on Blogging for Books, I thought I might give it a try.

It's a cool idea that seems to surmount many of the obstacles I've encountered when journaling as an adult. Laid out kind of like a day planner, the book features a question or prompt for each day, with enough spaces to cycle through five years. Due to both the pointedness of each question, and the limited space provided per response, each question should take only a minute or two to answer. Maybe five if you really want to think on it. With such a small time commitment per day, it should be easy for even the most harried among us to keep up.

The questions run the gamut, from "How could today have been better?" to "What can't you forget?"

Here are a few of my favorites:

"If this day was an animal, which animal would it be?"

"How do you describe home?"

"How can you help?"

"Who are you fooling?"

"What advice would you give to a second-grader?"

While the idea gets a full five stars from me, the execution leaves something to be desired. The book is impractically tiny. At nearly 1 1/4" thick and 6 1/4" tall x 4 1/4" wide, it's a little smaller than a mass market paperback (though just as thick), when I expected something closer in size to a trade paperback.

To wit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/16696425551/

You know how, when you reach the end of a page in a notebook, your hand starts dangling off the bottom of the page? And this makes it increasingly difficult to write, let alone write legibly? And the problem only gets worse the thicker the notebook - and thus the higher the drop off? Q&A a Day has that, and then some: since the book's so ridiculously small, my palm starts dangling just halfway down. Not good.

And the lines! They're so tiny! I did a side-by-side comparison with my current wide-ruled notebook, and the lines in Q&A a Day look to be half the size. According to the internets, wide ruled paper has 8.7 mm spacing compared to 7.1 mm for college ruled - making the lines in Q&A a Day significantly thinner than even college ruled. People with manual dexterity issues (or big and bubbly handwriting) need not apply.

I predict that I'll use this journal anyway, because the idea is aces; but each morning, as I answer the question of the day, I shall silently curse the book's designer for ruining an otherwise awesome journal.

On the positive side, Q&A a Day is a handsome, attractive book. The cover has an earthy, cardboard feel that I really like, and the cover design is pretty swanky too. I just wish it was a few inches larger on either side. Someone make this happen please? show less