My Post-Grad Back-to-School Supplies

Back to school is funny in grad school, or at least in my limited experience of it. My program (an M.Phil in creative writing) is so different than anything I've done before in school when it comes to structure and expectations, but at the same time, I've been doing this school thing for a long time. I've tried to put a lot of thought into the systems I've used before—what worked and what didn't—and adapt them to the needs of this new school endeavor that requires something different than what I've really encountered before. 

The way my program is set up, we have classes 3 days a week for about nine hours total. The majority of the time required for the degree is outside of classroom hours. We have to generate a fairly significant amount of creative work (though nowhere near the number of assignments that undergrad requires where you have to regularly turn things in to prove you're paying attention), do a pretty overwhelming amount of reading for each class each week, and put in extra curricular time into improving our craft, networking, and being a part of the wider literary world. 

So I've spent the last month adjusting and refining systems, and I'm presenting to you my essential supplies for grad school. In undergrad, I had a whole dedicated planner as well as a Notion System for keeping organized with far more classes, notes, and due dates. This time, I'm taking it blissfully analog and really enjoying that shift. There are some days where I'm tempted to not even take my computer in. 

Moleskin Lined Notebook - Creative Writing Notebook and Class Notes

I coveted Moleskin notebooks as a child, but they were always so expensive, and I could never justify it. I don't quite get what all the hype is about because the pages are exceptionally thin and allow a lot of ghosting, but I will say, they're aesthetically sleek, sturdy, and hold up well to extended use. I bought my first when I took the creative writing elective in my senior year of college. I wanted to take those notes, in the style of a common place book, in something physical that I might reflect on down the line and have a record of all those readings I did. After the class ended, it became a repository for plot outlines, character notes, journaling about the 2 projects I've worked on since that final semester at USC. I'm getting to the end of that notebook, and I think I'll just replace it with that exact same one. I decided that I'm an adult, and if I'm pursuing writing professionally, I owe myself a nice notebook to organize everything. 

Then, when I got to Dublin, I bought another of the exact same lined, classic style notebooks in navy (color choices were limited, but I kind of like how serious it seems) to collect my year of class notes and workshop feedback. I'm just using one notebook for every class, since they're all building towards the same goal, and I really love taking handwritten notes in class now that the material is more existential and simply contributing to our overall enrichment. Without a looming test, there's not the same pressure to type off of slides at a rapid speed, and I love spending the two or three hours in class entirely disconnected and focused on where I am. 

Leuchtturm1917 Notebook - Sort of Planner

Another very popular notebook brand! I've used a couple Leuchtturums in my time since they are pricey but usually cheaper, bigger, and have more pages than Moleskin. I used one for one of my Year Journals a couple years back and just finished my first lined edition as one of my long form journals. For grad school purposes, I just started a new dot-grid journal in an icy blue color I became obsessed with in London on my trip last fall. 

I love a paper planner and have been craving a return to one in my year and a half away from having structure in my life. I played a bit with adding important dates like dentist appointments to Apple Calendar, but mostly, I just drifted. I wanted a system this time around that was more grounded than that but also more flexible than the traditional-style planners I used to make myself with a 2 page spread for every week and monthly overviews. I found towards the end of college that wasted a lot of space. I want to do a whole separate post about how I've set this up, but in short, I'm making the pages a week at a time while I need them and mixing in other spreads like a running list of cafes I've visited or shopping lists or a master sheet of assignment due dates. Anything that's important. I've taken over the index section to write out significant long-term dates to add in as I make weekly pages later. I've found this is preventing a lot of waste and just working better for where my brain is at right now. 

Massive Papier Journal

This is the other essential part of my planning system. Like I said, I'm being a bit precious about the space I use in my planner, but I'm also a massive to-do list girl. Meaning I really like to-do lists and when I write them, they tend to be huge and far more than a human could accomplish in a day or a week. I don't love putting these in my regular planner because the tasks rarely have days and it gets messy. Which is where this spiral bound, oversized notebook that my grandmother gifted me from Papier comes in. The pages and binding are nice, but it's too big for most of my tasks and just has a paper cover, so I don't feel bad using it for incidental things like this. I'll also use it to take notes on freelance assignments or anything I need to work out longhand but don't need to save for the future. But every Friday, I brain dump everything I can think to do in categories like school, Substack, writing, reading, admin, etc and then date the page. The tasks often roll over, and I can easily transfer a couple for each day into the main planner to digest it in manageable chunks. This notebook never leaves the house, but it helps keep me sane. 

MacBook Air

This one seems fairly obvious. My life would cease to function without a laptop. I have a habit of grinding my keyboards into uselessness. It is my life's constant companion. Even though I love note taking analog, I couldn't write without my computer. I'm so glad that senior year I opted to replace my failing Pro with an Air. Even though it sometimes gets overwhelmed by my propensity to open 75 tabs at once, it is so much easier and lighter to carry through the city! Also, it has to have Microsoft Word. I bought a forever subscription and downloaded it. I just can't get behind Google Docs for anything that isn't meant to feel temporary.

iPad with Goodnotes

I've had my iPad a very, very long time, as evident by the handmade stickers that cover the entire back of it. That was a lot of phases ago... I rarely actually use my iPad now that I'm mostly out of my digital art/YouTube phase (though I still dabble in both), but it comes in clutch for school readings! When you get 60 pages of poorly rotated PDFs to read a week for classes, the iPad and an app like Goodnotes is the ultimate solution. While I no longer take notes digitally with the stylus, nothing beats the iPad for knocking out readings while being able to highlight and reference them later. Goodnotes also syncs with my computer, so I can reference the readings and my highlighting off my laptop without having to lug another piece of equipment to school. It's a niche use, but when you have as many readings as I do, it gets really old to squint at a laptop screen. 

Tote Bag 

I have a fleet of tote bags at this point. My most commonly used one is my beloved Books Upstairs tote, which is extremely sturdy, has a flat bottom, and indicates to everyone I have impeccable taste in bookstores. I have some smaller totes that I'll sometimes tuck inside to carry the odd grocery and certain older tote bags that are my rain-day go-tos (looking at you Gracie Abrams I missed you, I'm sorry tote), but I find the tote bags give me the space I need to haul around 20 items I won't ever need and the five that I do. 

I will say, taking the carabiner I'd use to attach my car key and wallet to my pants in Jackson is now fantastic for clipping around the arm loop of the tote bag to keep my wallet and dorm key fob easy to access.

Stretchy Pen Organizer

This is another gift from my grandmother I would've never thought to buy for myself but has become incredibly useful. It's a stretchy elastic band with four loops to hold pens. It slides over a regular sized journal and has become my go-to for taking pens on the go. You really don't need more than 4 pen options, and the full pencil case that I used to carry around added so much weight to my bag. The simplicity is great, and this way, there's always a pen with my notebook. 

Printer

I deeply bruised my hip carrying my new Cannon printer home nearly a mile from the grocery store. Still, the pain was worth it because sometimes you just need things on physical paper. I'd wanted one because I do enjoy doing later-stage edit passes on paper, but all of my professors extolling the virtues of printing made me finally commit to purchasing one. I have one professor who said it was all but required, and I just don't have it in me to deal with uploading documents to some universal system and then hoping it sends to the right printer. 

Cable for Printer

This was a surprise essential to me. Apparently, my thoroughly modern printer cannot connect to the community wifi of my living situation, so I had to go old-school. I found a store nearby that specialized in printer accessories and got a cord long enough that I can print from my bed. Honestly, it works better than the finicky wifi connection situation at home, so I'll call it a win. 

Clear Plastic Envelopes

When you print and are given a lot of paper, you need a way to sort it out! I came to Dublin with one of these clear envelope folders to store all the paperwork I'd need for immigration, but I quickly needed more. For a 99 cent investment, they're pretty perfect. I now have one for my personal work, peer work, important school documents, and school work that I've had marked up and returned to me. I should probably get one for my receipts too, which are currently being stored in a shoebox. But this way, I can grab the appropriate folder on my way out the door without having to put in too much thought. 

Excel Spreadsheets

For not reallllly knowing how to work Excel, I've always been a spreadsheet girlie. I've used one since 2016 to track my reading instead of using Goodreads. I have one to track my writing submissions, and I'm working on creating one to compile data on target literary magazines to work towards being published in. The most important and detailed one I have now, though, is my budget sheet. Now having bank accounts in the US and Ireland, having way more expenses than I was used to living at home, and trying to get a realistic idea of what it costs me to be an adult in the city, I've come to be quite reliant on my multi-page budget sheet, largely inspired by one of my best friends back home. For some reason, we were always together on pay day, so a chunk of our hangout would be talking while she updated her sheet. Now that I don't live with my parents and spend almost nothing, I have one of my own. 

Good Pens, Highlighters, etc.

I finally found the never ending pen store in Dublin. I kept trying to find good pens at the discount store and the grocery store and random book shops I walked into. The answer I needed all along was Easons. When I made that discovery, I spent 32 euro on pens and highlighters and rainbow colored mini paper clips. Here are my top picks that I've used for years when it comes to pens and highlighters. 

For pens, I think the best one depends on your specific needs. My all-time favorites are the Pilot V-5 Hi-Tecpoint 0.5. I was lucky to find a pack this time with 3 black, 1 green, and 1 purple since I was on the hunt for purple pen (I prefer marking up in purple or green as opposed to red). These are so smooth and flowy to write with. They do ghost heavily on thinner paper and can get tiring to write with overtime, though. I like these for class notes or idea jotting. Next up is the Pilot G-2 07, in blue. I also love these in Purple when available. But these are a classic, easy ballpoint. Flowy ink and a chunkier feel that makes them perfect for everyday use. And then I'll always have a couple crappy Bic Round Stics around. You can't go wrong with a pen you have no attachment to, and sometimes, you really need a very dry pen that's not going to smear when you run your hand over what you just wrote. It also ghosts the least on thin paper, which can be a plus. 

For highlighters, I bought one of the Stabilo Boss highlighters for the first time in pastel pink in Edinburgh, and it quickly became my go-to. So I picked up a whole pack of pastel options at the stationary store. Mildliners are always quality options for a skinnier, more pen-like feel and Milkliner makes a good product as well in the pastel world. I find traditional highlighter colors really obnoxious, so you'll really only catch me using a pastel version.