Update: All 30 notebooks have been given away. Recipients will be emailed re:postage/delivery details.

I have an irrational philia for notebooks. Large stacks loom on my desk; blank and anticipant. Sometimes, I feel I don’t have the reserves to fill them, but still, I keep buying them; out of some strain of optimism and faith that my brain will deliver.

When I’m not buying notebooks for my legacies, I’m making or altering them. It’s a very soothing exercise. There is nothing more zen to me than rounding the corners of every single page.

I have 30 notebooks to give away, all of them hand-made/hand-altered. I’ve up-cycled materials where I could (old postcards, scrap paper), and each of them retains some charming imperfection that sets it apart from the sterile bulk pre-fab.

If you’d like one of the notebooks, comment on this post or drop me an email (saaleha[at]gmail[dot]com) with the number of the notebook you’d like and what you’d use it for.

If you’re not the journaling type, use the notebooks for listing stuff like:

• bucket lists
• things that need to be done before your hair grows another centimetre
• new people you’ve met
• good/bad deeds
• recipes
• shopping
• books you’ve read
• big, crazy ideas
• your favourite things
• post-sehri dreams
• in-queue doodles
• travel notes
• life-hacks
• new words
• things you’re grateful for
• people you love
• song lyrics
• pictures you’d like to take
• lessons you’ve learnt
• things you’d write in other notebooks

I always thought I’d be writing books, not designing them.

My first reaction on seeing the announcement was, “Nee vok.”

I have no idea why I was channeling an Afrikaans man at something-past-eleven this morning.

I was so chuffed at making the short-list, that I sketched out no scenarios beyond having my design right up there alongside the freakishly talented (they might be mutants) Fatima Cassim, Yusuf Dajee and Shubnum Khan.

I’m still a bit shell-shocked at the judges’ decision, though I am grateful for this crack at building my design profile.

An ileum-deep thank you goes out to those who included my design in their nominations and to my great friends; whose faith in me is unwavering even when I’m not much of a believer.

For a long time, things have been kind of cluttering up around here; fiction fried up with food, poetry jamming along with n00b executions and bits of carby-blogging in between.

While the idea of having all my stuff in one place seemed sensible at the time, it now feels like chyme; chewed up and sludgey.

So, I’m going back to the old formula:

Food here,

Fiction here,

Poetry here,

while blogging of the old Electric Spaghetti variety will continue right here.

Following on in this spirit of simplification, I’ve decided to take down the Books&Bikya page. It really hasn’t gained as much momentum as I’d have liked (partly due to me not finding enough time to grow the community).

Perhaps the project will see some future resurrection but until then, I do thank you for your support.

I’m certain you will all stay committed to upcycling and de-cluttering.