Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
25 October 26 October 27 October 28 October	First draft of “Unintended Consequences” (working title). Second draft of same.	More or less settled at 3220 words. SO MANY REVISIONS NEEDED!	TWSBI Classic Pelikan Stola III Cross Century II Medalist Retro 51 Tornado	Edelstein Olivine Pelikan Royal Blue Herbin Violet Penseé Skrip Black

I’m going to have to really scramble to get that story onto my literary front if I’m going to make good on a plan, not previously spoken, to offer it as a Hallowe’en treat on the Friday ahead of The Great Day.

Advertisement

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
11 October 12 October 13 October 14 October	Thanksgiving Recovery Day† First draft of “Unintended Consequences” (working title).	Badly overtaxed my shoulders scraping the eavestroughs. 652 typed words.	Pelikan Stola III TWSBI Classic Parker 50 Cross Century II Medalist	Pelikan Royal Blue Edelstein Olivine Edelstein Topaz Herbin Violet Penseé

† I understand that people in the US think this is a month early– that’s how we know it’s a harvest festival. Also, I’ve heard that the people of the republic south of me celebrated Colobus Day on the 11th, although I’ve no idea why they devote a whole day to recognizing a genus of Old World monkeys.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
4 October 5 October 6 October 7 October	First draft of “Unintended Consequences” (working title).	915 typed words	Sheaffer Targa Cross Century II Medalist Pelikan Stola III Parker 50	Herbin Lis de Thé Herbin Violet Penseé Pelikan Royal Blue Edelstein Topaz

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
2 March 3 March 4 March 5 March	Third draft of “Second Impression”. Fourth draft of “Stuckman’s Miracle Men”.	Ground to an unlikely 3456 words, and sent to the publication that inspired its creation. Reshaping based on comments from editors who declined it.†	TWSBI Classic Pelikan P1 Sheaffer Targa Cross Century II	Quink Black Diamine Midnight Edelstein Topaz Herbin Poussière de Lune

†The lesser reason for doing this a rather long time after getting the third draft into what I thought was final shape is pangs of artistic pride. The greater is that I was in a fever to get MOAR STOREES!!1! written, and since in my head this one had a COMPLETED sign hung over its pigeon-hole, the notion of returning to it usually didn’t strike me at any useful time (he pauses, shirtless, toothbrush in frothy maw, and thinks, “Oh, damn. That. Maybe tomorrow…”). I managed to convince myself that the re-edit was actually the thing that was going to follow getting that Lovecraftish thing (“Filter Feeder” currently, but it may change again).

Yes, I do picture my mind as a vast array of pigeon-holes. All oak and brass, well-loved by its owner, but rather dusty and far from state of the art.

 

Whetstone

This week’s film is the start of a new series on Youtube, and I am specifically doing this to boost its bandwidth. The face you see below belongs to someone who hands out plenty of good advice about writing online, and I found this opening episode encouraging in much the same way his Twitter threads are. So, as the kids have no doubt stopped saying now, smash the like and subscribe buttons.

The name of the series also tickles the hell out of me.

Today’s pen: Cross Century II
Today’s ink: Herbin Poussière de Lune

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
10 February 11 February 12 February 13 February	Second draft of “Second Impression”.	1887 typed words.	Cross Century II Pelikan M600 TWSBI Classic Pilot Metropolitan	Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Amazing Amethyst Quink Black Montblanc Racing Green

 

 

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
3 February 4 February 5 February 6 February	First draft of “Second Impression”.	15 manuscript pages.	TWSBI Classic Pilot Metropolitan Cross Century II Parker 51	Quink Black Montblanc Racing Green Herbin Poussière de Lune Skrip black

 

 

Day	What	How Much	Duration	Pen	Ink
11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April	Third draft of  “The Loss of Deep Waters,” followed by more first draft on “A Mistake of Timing.” Pressing on with “A Mistake of Timing”. Struggling against many interruptions which should not be…. The interruption pendulum swings back, hoorah.	Six manuscript pages on the latter Eight pages. Five measly pages. Eleven pages.	55 min. 45 min. 35 min., over an actual 50 min. span. 55 min.	Pelikan New Classic Sheaffer TM Touchdown Valiant Parker Vacumatic Cross Century II	Diamine Steel Blue Jentle blue-black Waterman blue-black (vintage) Quink Black

Friction Fit

I would be comfortable betting that most of the people who look in here are fans of craftsmanship in its general meaning.  With that in mind, here’s a little bit of pornography which is entirely safe for work.  Heck, you could share it with your kids and no prude in the world would say “boo” about it.

Isn’t that astonishing?

Today’s pen: Cross Century II
Today’s ink: Quink Black

Day	What	How Much	Duration	Pen	Ink
28 March 29 March  30 March  31 March	Second draft of  “The Loss of Deep Waters”. First draft of “Exciting New Designer Jeans”. Third Draft of “The Mermaid’s Husband”. Third Draft of “Wilden Klausen” (title amended after consulting German people)	Done at 2,631 words. Two manuscript pages. Down to 7,111 words. Only one darling killed, and a whole month before the deadline!	45 min. 35 min. 45 min. 35 min.	Pelikan New Classic Cross Century II Parker Vacumatic Parker 65	Diamine Steel Blue Quink Black Waterman blue-black (vintage)  Waterman washable blue