Marie at 1 Write Way

I’ve been musing a bit about writing instruments.  In pre-personal computer days (which I’m old enough to remember well and with nostalgia), I fancied pencils, usually the hard #5 which left such a spidery script that the lead faded in time.  When pens came in more varied constructions from the usual ballpoint, I was in bliss.  So many pens to choose from!  But as soon as I found a “favorite” rollerball or gel ink, I could rarely find the pen again and would buy so many others, trying to find one that would give me the same pleasure in writing.  Even when I had my first typewriter (an electric Smith Corona), the pen was my constant.  The typewriter was for the final drafts of my work:  the loud clacking of the keys and my poor typing skills did not provide for a productive stream-of-consciousness rump on the SC.  

Then came the PC and my writing life was changed forever and, generally, for the better.  Now my typing can keep up with my thinking and I can crank out reams of nonsense if I want (like I did for the National Novel Writing Month 2007).  But I do need to use a pen or pencil much of the time still, and, believe it or not, I still struggle to find the perfect writing implement.  

I’ve been a fan of Levenger for a long  time.  I love their Circa notebooks and all the Circa accessories.  Their pens are beautiful works of art.  I love the True Writer Demonstrator series, even though the pens are a bit large for my small hands.  But the quality of the ink–well, I’ve bought cheaper pens that had better ink flow and quality.  

I have tried fountain pens, both Waterman and Levenger, but again, I have serious issues with bleed-throughs, skips, and blots.  I have a Waterman fountain pen that I still use occasionally, but not for every day writing.

I have extra fine point Sharpies in every color imaginable.  They’re great for labeling packages and signing handmade greeting cards.  But for note-taking during a business meeting?  Well, there I prefer the standard black ink.  So, I suppose I could use a black extra fine point Sharpie, but then I would not be “going green.”  I had hoped, with my relatively new purchase of True Writer Demonstrator Pen (in “Always Greener”) that I would be minimizing my impact on the environment by using refillable pens.  Well, I guess I will, for as long as I use it.  And when I’ve used up all the ink refills, maybe I’ll just hang my True Writers on my wall as a kind homage to the writing life and buy a big box of extra fine point Sharpies!