i wrote earlier in the year about my conversion from overloaded back-pain-inducing shoulder bags to sensible, ergonomically crafted backpacks (you can read the post here).

my new-found love for the backpack has led to me seeking out sleek stylish designs to complement not just my working wardrobe, but my leisurewear as well, and my current love is this perfectly formed zip-top soho backpack from radley (which sold-out like hotcakes, i’m afraid!). its the perfect size for weekend excursions when i don’t need – or want – to be carrying my laptop around with me, but still need to have some blogging paraphernalia close to hand.

i used to just carry a small notepad around for jotting down notes and ideas when inspiration struck, but i was recently sent a fabulous new device which is revolutionising the way i’m able to keep track of my ‘brainwaves’ (haha) when i’m out and about.

the wacom bamboo spark is a ‘smart notepad’ that turns your handwritten notes into plain text and saves them to the wacom cloud, dropbox or evernote for editing, archiving and accessing on any paired device – cool, huh? when you finish a page of notes, all you do is press the little button in the centre of the folio to save it safely and securely. it doesn’t matter if you’re not connected to a paired device at the time, as the bamboo spark can store up to 100 pages internally. when you later connect to a paired device, your notes will automatically sync to the app.

the slimline folio has a snap-fit mechanism to hold my ipad mini securely (you can also get models that fit smartphones and larger tablets) and can accommodate any a5 paper pad for scrawling on, as long as it has a top spine. you can only use the wacom ballpoint pen, as opposed to your favourite writing instrument, but as it’s only just slightly bigger than a standard ballpoint i didn’t find it an issue to use. the ‘magic’ in the system is the smart pad underneath the paper pad, which mirrors your scrawls as digital strokes by detecting the pen activity and pressure sensitivity on the page.

i can easily jot down a full page of notes in a tube journey home and once home, hit the button to sync with the app and then export as text using handwriting recognition. in fact, i’ve written the bulk of this post using converted notes from my daily commute!

i think there’s something quite romantic about sitting in a café at the weekend with a steaming mug of coffee, jotting down your thoughts and ideas by hand rather than clacking away on your macbook – or god forbid, that teeny tiny ipad keyboard! it just has that air of nostalgia don’t you think, and is such a nice way to differentiate between the working week and your ‘me’ time (which i always consider blogging to be, it never really feels like ‘work’)

what do you think – are you tempted to try the bamboo spark?

my wacom bamboo spark was provided free of charge for the purpose of this review. all thoughts and photography my own.