Um, yeah.
On this Wednesday I went to Barnes and Noble on my lunch break and wrote! Just some freewriting. Not a big deal. But writing it was.
And this morning I got more comments on my short story from another critique group member. She thought I started off with a good character and setting, but she thought the plot of the story should go in THIS way, when in reality I was going for something completely different in THAT way, which obviously I didn't get across to her at all. And, her suggestions were good, so I might try to marry the two ideas and go BOTH ways. We'll see. The next critique meeting is June 28, which maybe sounds like ages of time to some of you, but for a procrastinator, it's like tomorrow. As in, normally I'd wait till June 27 to write anything. I will ask these WiP Wednesdays to keep me accountable so that doesn't happen.
My other project this week is... finding shiny new pens! So, I was cleaning out my room a couple weeks ago, and I found some beautiful pens I ordered from Levenger over the last several years. One's a ballpoint (with stand)
and one's a rollerball.
I also found a sample pack of rollerball refills, and I was playing with them, and now I love my rollerball! And then I thought, I have a fountain pen that I ordered from them like 7 years ago,
but I couldn't find the ink cartridges even though I swore I've been staring at them on my desk every day for the last year! Doesn't matter. When I wanted them, they were gone. So I ordered a cartridge converter and a 16-pack of colorful ink cartridges. I wanted the cartridge converter because I've amassed a lot of ink bottles over the years.
So finally yesterday the new cartridges and converter came in the mail, and I was trying out the pen, and it doesn't work! Well, it works for like 5 lines. And then it gets scratchy. And then it stops writing altogether. So I have to get the nib wet. And play with the ink. And draw circles all over the notebook trying to get it to work. It's frustrating. Writing longhand shouldn't be frustrating. It should be smooth and flowing and inspiring.
So then I thought maybe I needed a more expensive fountain pen from Levenger, but I got worried because if one of theirs doesn't work, will others? And I read the reviews on the site of their more expensive pens, and about a third of the people had the same problems I did. Not good odds. I'm not going to spend $60 on a pen that makes me frustrated and scream at it.
Now I'm looking at this pen. It's only like $30. People say it writes wonderfully and is durable. I went to a local mall tonight to check it out, and the fountain pen store that I swore was there is gone! (What is it about fountain pen paraphernalia that is there until I want it, then vanishes?) Grr! I guess I will just order the pen online. If it skips at all, I'm sending it back.
Maybe it's dumb, all this effort and money for a pen. But I love pens! And fountain pens seem so romantic. And I have pretty inks. And it will make me smile to have ink-stained fingers. And maybe this is another procrastinating trick on my part, the pen journey, but so what! The end result will be a shiny, new writing instrument, and that's always nice.
Do you have a favorite writing instrument? Do you ever go to great lengths to find a favorite writing instrument? Anyone out there use a fountain pen? What do you recommend?
11 comments:
Oooooh, good for you, going and writing at lunch!! *happydances*
Nice...I love the pens. My favorite thing to write with - - - yep, my laptop!
Good job writing at lunch. Progressis progress, right?
I recommend asking Scott Bailey. He's a pen connoisseur.
Maybe I exaggerated. Here's Scott's most-penny post that I can recall: http://scottgfbailey.blogspot.com/2009/03/mr-shaeffer-and-i.html
Carolyn- Yes, and it was nice to get out of the office. I will definitely do this more often.
Christine- I mostly write with the laptop, too, but my brain comes up with different stuff when writing longhand.
Justus- Heh. Thanks for posting the link. I checked out his pen, which is super nice but maybe more than I want to spend yet. I ordered the Lamy today. I'll let you all know how it works.
I have actually never written with a fountain pen. I think the closest I've come is when I was little my older sister had a calligraphy set, which I was, of course, forbidden to touch, which, of course again, I made sure to play with it every chance I got.
Love that you were writing in Barnes and Noble - that would never work for me because I would want to browse first and then hours would pass and no writing would get done!
I used to tell people how I thought that thier story should go THIS way when they wanted it to go THAT way.
I now realize that people do not usually want plot direction just comment on THIER stories.
Now, I ask questions and make comments but only to help layer the stories of others. I will provide plot direction if asked but few people ask for that kind of help.
I enjoyed the pens and would love to get your comment on my Chapter XVII audio post over on my blog.
Wow, the pen journey actually sounds fun. I buy the ones that come 10 to a package for like, a dollar. And you're right. Longhand writing shouldn't be frustrating, and there's nothing more annoying than sitting down to write and having the pen malfunction. Good luck with the pen journey--and the writing!
Kate- That's funny about your sister's calligraphy pens. I always hated it when my little sister touched my stuff. She once left one of my books outside in the rain! I was mad.
Marty- I haven't had a chance to listen to your chapter, but I'll try. It's turning out to be a busy month.
Elana- Most of my pens are disposable, but I must admit I'm really picky about the darkness of ink, even on a ballpoint. Anyway, my fountain pen came in the mail today! It rocks.
First of all, Yay for you for writing during your lunch break! I don't really have one favorite pen, but I am picky--and fickle--when I sit down to write longhand, I have to use whatever matches my mood. Somethimes it's just a blue bic, other times it's another kind. I don't really like rollerballs. I like ballpoints, medium or wide points, usually blue, but sometimes black.
I just found out from someone that the kid who wrote the Eragon books was facing kind of a writer's block between them. So he wrote either the 2nd one or the 3rd one on parchment paper using a fountain pen! I'm not really a fan of his books, but I thought it was so cool that he really got back to a basic process like that to help get his creative juices going.
If you haven't done so already, try flushing water through the fountain pen: fill the converter with water several times and empty it until the water runs clear.
Good luck,
gary
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