Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
7 October 8 October 9 October 10 October	Stuff over on the other site, in pursuit of #inktober.	I’ve got a comfortable buffer, hoorah.	Lamy 27 Pelikan M30 Pelikan 140 Pelikan New Classic	Lamy black Diamine Marine Jentle blue-black Diamine Bilberry

 

Awesome

There’s a word that’s had its value undercut. Awe, after all, runs in the same groove as religious joy and existential dread… indeed, sometimes combining the two.

No, I’m not quite sure what to make of the ending either.

Today’s pen: Pelikan M30
Today’s ink: Diamine Marine

Who Says Germans are Dour?

Oh, you know the stereotype; cool, efficient, probably wearing a black turtleneck.

Stereotypes, man. I should be wearing a lot more flannel, according to international concepts of my nation.

Now, the usual Thursday entry, which will display what an atypical week this has been in more ways than one. It’s not just the impending Pelikan Hub that has kept me from my usual industry– there’s been a lot of stupid demands on my time this week, and they rendered me dull or incapable of using my free time as I would wish. This was, by the way, AFTER choices of ink were made– that degree of dull unoriginality happens without any outside influence, and with a huge array of bottles from several brands all laid out in front of me.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
16 September 17 September 18 September 19 September	First draft of “Whistling Through the Graveyard”. Third draft of “Disruptions on the Line” (nee “Underground Follies”).	5 manuscript pages. About 10 minutes of mildly-focused attention.	Pelikan New Classic Pelikan M30 Pelikan Signum Pelikan M600	Diamine Bilberry Diamine Marine Pelikan Violet Diamine Evergreen

 

Plenty for Everyone!

While this particular example is both funny and speaks to a personal inclination, I’m not a fan of the type.

They make plenty of them! It’s not even a fountain pen! LEARN TO SHARE!

Today’s pen, which you may use it you ask nicely (and I’ll just hold onto the cap): Pelikan M30
Today’s ink, available by the bucketful: Diamine Marine

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
29 October 30 October 31 October 1 November	Second draft of “Palmer’s Folly”	2,019 typed words.	Pelikan P1 Parker 75 Pelikan M30 Sheaffer Pop	Herbin Bleu Nuit Diamine Oxford Blue Diamine Bilberry Skrip Black

A merry NaNoWriMo to all those who intent to expose themselves to that particular source of stress this year. I will pursue my usual policy of continuing to write through the month at my own pace, but to those who think they can manage a novel in four weeks, I offer a hearty bonne chance!

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
15 October 16 October 17 October 18 October	First draft of “Johnson’s Folly.” Second draft, now “Palmer’s Folly”	18 manuscript pages. 846 typed words.	Pelikan 120 Pelikan M30 Pelikan 25 Pelikan P1	Pelikan Brilliant Brown Diamine Bilberry Waterman Florida Blue Herbin Bleu Nuit

Birthday Fun Extension

I mentioned Buster Keaton’s birthday was yesterday.  Well, here’s what someone with more resources than I produced to mark it:

Today’s pen: Pelikan M30
Today’s ink: Diamine Bilberry

This Week’s Pens	Inks	How Much Novel Progress
Sheaffer Targa Pelikan M30 Parker Duofold TWSBI Classic	Skrip Black Diamine Evergreen Herbin Bleu Nuit Diamine Oxford Blue	2125 words typed (long weekend)

Also, here’s a thing that happened this week:

Which is encouraging in two contradictory ways.  The first is obvious enough– oh boy, halfway done!

But… am I, really?  Remember, the gauge is based on an estimate of the word count based on a comparison of previous projects’ first draft page counts to final word counts.  “Estimate” can be accurate, or not.  So, let me run something by you.  When I finished the most recent bout of typing, I closed my manuscript and held a ruler up to it.  When gently compressed, it is a stack of paper roughly 3 cm tall.  The sticky-note which indicates where I left off is about 1 cm from the top.

…so I may be more in the order of 33% finished.  Which is great in terms of what the final word count may be; possibly as much as 100,000, a much more genre-appropriate weight (in as much as this thing fits a genre– closest to horror, although… have I mentioned this?… there is a tendril extending into the camp of detective fiction).  Wonderful!  Fantastic!

Those who know my capacity for dashing cold water on my own head will already have noticed the other hand presented by this second encouragement, though– I have been speaking of an estimated finishing date sometime in the first half of February.

Estimated.

It begins to look as if I’m in for a longer haul….

This Week’s Pens	Inks	How Much Novel Progress
Pelikan M30 OMAS Arte Italiana TWSBI Classic Sheaffer Targa	Diamine Evergreen Diamine Bilberry Diamine Oxford Blue Skrip Black	2,297 words typed

This Week’s Pens	Inks	How Much Novel Progress
Parker Duofold TWSBI Classic Mabie, Todd & Co Blackbird Pelikan M30	Herbin Bleu Nuit Diamine Oxford Blue Herbin Lie de Thé Diamine Evergreen	2,021 words typed

I notice a couple of things.  Yesterday was the start of NaNoWriMo, and tomorrow is the anniversary of my first word on paper for this novel.  There’s a connection, of course, because I arbitrarily set the start of the latter to co-incide with the former, and then buggered up my own timing slightly.  I continue to be pleased that I said NawNoHeyNo to the prospect of trying to finish in a month, because that expectation would have me feeling like a colossal failure by now.

The other thing I notice is that my word count for the week is low, thanks to the Hallowe’en thing I did over on my other front.  Not colossal failure, but it’s not helping the cause; I believe I’ll be doing some extra work tonight and tomorrow to advance things.  All the same, very nearly half-done the current draft, so the nebulous early- to mid-February finish line remains in place.