WHAT: First draft of short story “Friendly Island” (working title).

HOW MUCH: 7 pages of manuscript.

HOW LONG: About 45 min.  (damn archaic terminology!).

Today’s pen: Parker Duofold
Today’s ink: Skrip blue-black (’70s disco edition)

WHAT: First draft of short story “Friendly Island” (working title).

HOW MUCH: 8 pages of manuscript.

HOW LONG: About 45 min.

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Targa
Today’s ink: Private Reserve Supershow Blue

WHAT: First draft of short story “Friendly Island” (working title).

HOW MUCH: 7 pages of manuscript, and a great deal of it will likely fall under the heading of “kill your babies” in the next draft.

HOW LONG: About 35 min.

Today’s pen: Pelikan P488
Today’s ink: Diamine Turquoise

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Festive Spring Colours

Something approximating a recognizable spring has come to us at last, so lets have something fun for the Friday Filched Film.

For more on this delightful creature, have a look at this clever cartoon.

Today’s pen: Pelikan New Classic
Today’s ink: Montblanc Racing Green

WHAT:  First draft of “Friendly Island” (working title).

HOW MUCH: 9 manuscript pages (in the small book).

HOW LONG: About 50 min.; I was looking up some naval terminology which I didn’t want to leave until the second draft, so things went more slowly.

Today’s pen: TWSBI Mini
Today’s ink: Pelikan Royal Blue

WHAT:  First draft of “Friendly Island” (working title). “Wish Away” has been put to bed at 4,022 words, although I need to give the conclusion more thought.

HOW MUCH: 9 manuscript pages (in the small book)

HOW LONG: About 40 min. (there was also a handing over of one of the pens I was selling)

Today’s pen:  Sheaffer Imperial Triumph
Today’s ink: Herbin Violet Pensée

Check It Out

So… why was yesterday’s pen combo…

Today’s pen: Pelikan P488
Today’s ink: Diamine Turquoise

…while last Tuesday’s was…

Today’s pen: Waterman Lauréat
Today’s ink: Diamine Turquoise

…hmmm?  Well, there’s a slightly stupid story to tell about that.  If you click on the link for the Lauréat, you’ll see three pictures.  Only two of those pens belong to me.  I got the gun-metal finish some time ago, by the usual route (i.e. a pathetically low-ball bid on eBay), while the blue one had a rather more uplifting story.  You see, a fellow on one of the pen forums was publicly documenting his efforts to lash together a working pen from the components of a couple, and he ended up with “I’ve got a body without a viable section.  Anyone need a good body?”

Silly comedic responses aside, I responded in the affirmative, as I had a section with nothing to live in.  In the end, I got it for nothing, even an offer of covering postage having been declined.  The parts arrived (including the sadly smashed section he’d replaced in the body he liked) and… some time later I unite my section with the new barrel.  Some time passes, this not being a high priority effort, and I get around to taking a picture to add to the site (ibid.), and decide as I do so that it’s about time to actually give the pen an outing.

Now, the lesson we may take that it’s important to give a pen with an obvious item of damage a proper once-over.  Just because all the obvious damage is down by the tail of the barrel, one cannot assume that all the damage is there.  Like, plucking an example out of the air, a very subtle crack at the front of the section.  Not a big deal, but certainly enough for some ink to creep out of and go exploring.  It discovered fingers, but not clothing, so I count it an inexpensive lesson, if one I shouldn’t at this point need.

The aftermath was to leave me with a partially-used cartridge with no place to call home.  Enter the Pelikan Silver Star, the first pen of the right format that fell under my eye.  If I’d have been thinking, I would have used my Sheaffer VFM, which has gone even longer without a run.

Now, as to why I didn’t write this little tale yesterday– I hadn’t touched the fiction-writing since the Wednesday progress report, and I feared a loss of momentum.  In a word: superstition.

Today’s pen: Wality 52
Today’s ink: Noodler’s La Coleur Royale

WHAT: Second draft of short story “Wish Away”.

HOW MUCH: 1,083words.

HOW LONG: About 55 min.

Today’s pen: Pelikan P488
Today’s ink: Diamine Turquoise

…and for those who are wondering at this combination, explanation shall appear tomorrow (along with more explanation about why it didn’t appear today).

The Hemingway Mangle

As I’ve been slightly balked in writing today, let me tell you about something I find stupid.  WordPress’s “Freshly Pressed” is something I look into every day, and one day a short while ago, it led me to someone else’s blog, who was also griping about a tool which allows you to make your writing simple.

Not “easy to do,” but rather “unchallenging,” and not for the writer, but for the reader.  This thing, the “Hemingway App“, by whatever algorithms compose its vitals, gives any bit of writing its fed a once-over and points out chunks which are too hard to read.  It also rates the whole as to what grade level of reading it believes the piece merits.  The idea, of course, is to render one’s writing as terse, dynamic and accessible as that of Hemingway himself.  One is told that anything over a Grade 10 level is too hard for the mass of people.

By way of comparison, The Da Vinci Code rates at Grade 6.

The app declares “aircraft” a tricky and hard-to-grip word.  I should, it says, go with “plane.”

I won’t go on at length (because I hain’t the time) about how much this bugs me; the person who showed it to me does an excellent job of that.  I did give the thing a try, and there’s a certain amount of pride and shame attached.

Pride, as my site generally runs around the Grade 20 level (we do not ask which school system keeps counting as high as 25).  The blog is more accessible, I suppose because of shorter entries, averaging Grade 14.

Shame, because most of my stories don’t go above Grade 12, and some are even approved of by the app’s proofing.  Alas, I am base, common and popular in my fiction!  Although… if I can get popular, I suppose I’ll live with the other two.

Today’s Merry Easter Pen:  Sheaffer Imperial Triumph
Today’s Festive Spring-ish Ink: Herbin Violet Pensée
Today’s Hemingway rating: Grade 9 (take that, Dan Brown)

 

WHAT: Second draft of short story “Wish Away”.

HOW MUCH: 720 words.

HOW LONG: About 45 min. (less words/min than yesterday, but I had to pause an remind myself of the difference between dissociative disorders and visual agnosias).

Today’s pen: TWSBI Mini
Today’s ink: Pelikan Royal Blue