School Supplies: Guilty Pleasure or Creative Inspiration?
Back-to-school time brings one of my favorite things into the limelight - School Supplies. I loved them when I was a kid. I loved them when I was a teacher. And, even though I don't head back to school anymore, every fall I still love school supply season just as much as I always have.
I have one daughter who is still in high school, and though high schoolers don't need crayons and scissors and glue, I'm glad they need notebooks, folders, and planners because that means I still get to enjoy real back-to-school shopping for a few more years. High schoolers are of course more than capable of shopping for their own school supplies, but even so, I eagerly volunteer to accompany my daughter as she peruses the back-to-school aisles of our favorite stores comparing prices, colors, and designs. And while she chooses what she needs, I drool over all the things I want - bright-colored sticky notes in different shapes and sizes, cool accordion-style file folder pouches, and plastic packages full of pencils. Oh how I love the pencils! Those long, colorful, real-wood pencils with the brand new erasers that haven't erased even the faintest pencil mark.
Some people might think the purchasing I do of the unnecessary school supplies I drool over sounds like a guilty pleasure, which I guess is technically true since I usually don't really need any of the things I buy. (I mean, you should see my office.) But for me, I find that all these brand new, full-of-potential pencils, fancy file folders, and slick sticky notes somehow feed my creative soul. The sticky notes make me want to mark up my current work-in-progress with all kinds of revisions and notes to myself. The accordion-style file folder pouches make me want to organize new ideas I have for future projects. And those pencils are just begging me to sharpen them up with the electric pencil sharpener in my office so that I can fill up a new spiral notebook with the details I have for that new character who's been stumbling around in my brain just waiting for me to give them life.
Wishing everyone a year full of creative inspiration!
Nancy
I have one daughter who is still in high school, and though high schoolers don't need crayons and scissors and glue, I'm glad they need notebooks, folders, and planners because that means I still get to enjoy real back-to-school shopping for a few more years. High schoolers are of course more than capable of shopping for their own school supplies, but even so, I eagerly volunteer to accompany my daughter as she peruses the back-to-school aisles of our favorite stores comparing prices, colors, and designs. And while she chooses what she needs, I drool over all the things I want - bright-colored sticky notes in different shapes and sizes, cool accordion-style file folder pouches, and plastic packages full of pencils. Oh how I love the pencils! Those long, colorful, real-wood pencils with the brand new erasers that haven't erased even the faintest pencil mark.
Some people might think the purchasing I do of the unnecessary school supplies I drool over sounds like a guilty pleasure, which I guess is technically true since I usually don't really need any of the things I buy. (I mean, you should see my office.) But for me, I find that all these brand new, full-of-potential pencils, fancy file folders, and slick sticky notes somehow feed my creative soul. The sticky notes make me want to mark up my current work-in-progress with all kinds of revisions and notes to myself. The accordion-style file folder pouches make me want to organize new ideas I have for future projects. And those pencils are just begging me to sharpen them up with the electric pencil sharpener in my office so that I can fill up a new spiral notebook with the details I have for that new character who's been stumbling around in my brain just waiting for me to give them life.
So, guilty pleasure? Maybe.
Creative inspiration? Definitely!
Happy Back-to-School Season to All!
Wishing everyone a year full of creative inspiration!
Nancy
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!
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