This Post is About Pens

I recently reblogged "My Fav Porn Site" which was a link to jetpens.

I wasn't joking.

I've lost a bunch of my good pens, and was finally spurred to action when trying to take notes at my desk and the pens here are all skipping--including my 7 Year Pen. Ha! I know pens have no concept of time but it hasn't even been two years, pen! Half the time I can't get any ink on the page anymore with it. I am generally displeased with ballpoints because they seem to be 40% ink and 60% weird waxy stuff that means you can't write over the blank patches.

I either need a cat to blame for the loss of pens, or adopt a black hole. It's always the good pens, too. I'm drowning in a sea of freebies from law school emblazoned with brands that mean nothing anymore, but rarely do I find my trusty gel pens and rollerballs. I've resorted to using a felt tipped creature for my note taking. It offers a strange, feathery resistance. Writing with it is what petting an alien must be like.

I needed more pens, but no local store stocks my beloved 0.5 mm rollerballs. Sure, I can find the 0.7 mm versions, but I could drown small cities in that much ink and certainly swallow up the defining loops that differentiate an "ing" from an "ly."

I resorted to jetpens, who last put into my hands an awesome power: 0.38 mm point Signos. Dare I use it? I was Icarus, flying too close to the sun, wielding the might of my minuscule scrawl. I'm still not sure if I love them or fear them.

I've used all sorts of pens, and I've found that quality has relatively little to do with cost--if anything, good, more expensive pens tend to thwart me. I think if you charge $20 or more for a pen, you should have it tested by lefties with a funny grip. If you want to know what pen works, ask a left-handed person, especially if they hold their pen oddly.* I've noticed that most pen bloggers are also left-handed, many of whom also have strange coping techniques. I'm working on a better grip which occasionally feels pointless, because honestly, I don't use pens that much, for all that I'm stationary obsessed. I don't write for other people's benefit because I worry my cursive is too small and my printed text feels childish. I know other writers write first drafts long-form and I used to primarily write this way when I was in school, but I prefer to type. Transcribing what I've written often does lead to a round of editing (which is a bonus other writers rely on) but I can write so much more when I'm typing. Last time I wrote by hand it took me several hours to get out 1,000 words, which I can do in an hour at the computer.

Sometimes this is good, sometimes bad: there's few feelings quite like having a scene in your head and trying to follow the chain of events to the conclusion before it leaves you ("okay, you're having an argument and six lines in, character X has a witty rejoinder. ...Uhm, how did that line go that led to that rejoinder, again?") But I also think I write too much and meander around and would really like to become a more concise writer again. Did writing long form help?

If I want to write long form shouldn't I actually put the time in to learn to write properly?

Maybe!

So thanks, jetpens, for stocking cheapo fountain pens for me to try and make a terrible mistake with.

*If you're interested, the overall consensus is the Uni-ball Jetstream. Which, coincidentally, is one of my favorites, but I prefer the Signo Micro. It's also the overall best pen for everybody, apparently.