Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
17 September 18 September 19 September 20 September	Second draft of “Kick a Cat…”	2815 typed words	Parker 75 Pilot L-150MS Sheaffer Imperial Triumph TWSBI Classic	Diamine Oxford Blue Herbin Vert Empire Jentle blue-black Diamine Marine Blue

Those who were paying attention for about four hours yesterday will have seen a gestational version of this post– apparently somebody hit POST rather than SAVE yesterday. I will put this down to mental exhaustion– the rowers are all present on their benches now, but the guy in the jerkin keeps banging away on his drum.

Tonight is going to be full of powerful mental activity: choosing and inking pens for tomorrow’s Pelikan Hub! The New Classic is definitely coming along. I think one of the P1s will, too, and some of the less-known (at least around here) cheap moderns– I know the local hubmaster is bringing a plentiful selection of Souveräns for other attendees to ogle, and my thing has always been breadth of collection rather than depth.  Still, I’ll likely bring my own M600 along, because it would be mean to not take it to a party meant for it.

I may also bring some not-Pelikans, too, just to keep accusations of favouritism down a little.

Advertisement

Feeling Very Confined

I’m alone at The Regular Job today, which is a constraint on my spirit. A compression, even.   And since this…

…gives a sense of the work-load but suggests there’s others helping, I’m going to go with an educational film this week, about working in confinement.

 

Back to work, then. Row, row, row…

Today’s frantic pen: Pilot L-150MS
Today’s hectic ink: Herbin Vert Empire

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
3 September 4 September 5 September 6 September	Third Draft of “A Legion of Candles.” Third Draft of “The Third Frame.” First draft of “Kick a Cat…”	The grinding, faceting and polishing of a gem of deathless prose! Um… ditto. 13 manuscript pages.	Pelikan New Classic Parker Moderne Sheaffer Imperial Triumph Pilot L-150MS	Pelikan Black Herbin Lie de Thé Jentle blue-black Herbin Vert Empire

I hope you all enjoyed Labour Day. I marked it by labouring to keep the Lego glaciers of my son’s making from engulfing the living room, which kept me from the Choose Your Own project.

If you missed it in the sidebar– there’s a new story on the writing site, the genesis of which I explain in this post.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
27 August 28 August 29 August 30 August	First draft of “The Third Frame.” First draft of “Kick a Cat…” Second raft of “The Third Frame.”	Fourteen manuscript pages. Seven manuscript pages. 1106 typed words	Sheaffer Imperial Triumph Pilot L-150MS TWSBI Classic Pelikan New Classic	Jentle blue-black Herbin Vert Empire Diamine Marine Blue Pelikan Black

The little bit of “Kick a Cat…” was actually done on Tuesday, in interstice produced by a dental appointment keeping me from The Regular Job in the morning, and I was not inclined to step into the office until just before Mr. Slate yanks on the birdasaurus’s tail to indicate the end of lunch. But why lose a day of writing, even though I’m away from the current project? A stop at a dollar store on my way to a post-dental lunch produced a notebook with shockingly good paper (seriously, it’s somewhere between Rhodia and Tomoe River), and I used my lunch stop to write publicly like a damned hipster.

French onion soup, a chicken breast pretending to be a burger by hiding under bacon, and a pen that’s a little too fine for the job at hand; how I enjoyed some free time on Tuesday.

Day	What	How Much	Duration	Pen	Ink
14 December 15 December 16 December 17 December	First draft of a silly little seasonal flash item, and more or less the second draft, too. Third draft of the previous, because my readers are wonderful, willing people. First draft of “All the Old Familiar Faces”. Some non-fiction stuff that was demanding my attention, and preparation for a new roll-out of fiction.	944 words typed. Two problematic paragraphs. Six pages. Three pages.	55 min. 50 min. 40 min. 25 min	Lamy 2000 Sheaffer Sentinel Pelikan M600 Pilot L-150MS	Herbin Poussiére de Lune Jentle blue-black Herbin Vert Empire Pelikan Brilliant Brown

Day	What	How Much	Duration	Pen	Ink
7 December 8 December 9 December 10 December	First draft of “All the Old Familiar Faces.” The same. “. …and some cries of “why won’t they all just leave me alone?”  Oh, for the quiet of The Overlook.	Seven manuscript pages. Six pages. Six pages. Three pages.	55 min. 50 min. 40 min. 25 min	Lamy 2000 Pilot L-150MS Pelikan M600 Parker 75	Herbin Poussiére de Lune Pelikan Brilliant Brown Herbin Vert Empire Herbin Bleu Nuit

My Shoes are too Tight

This week’s Friday Found Film explains why so many men are embarrassed to get up and dance.  Look what we have to live up to:

The other lesson to take from this– those olden-timey folk did, in fact, know how to shake it.

Today’s pen: Pilot L-150MS
Today’s ink: Pelikan Brilliant Brown

Spine-Tingling Romance!

Valentine’s day tomorrow?  Well, that calls for a thematic film:

…and I just saved you from having to go to the theatre and watch 50 Shades of Grey.  Ain’t I a sweetie?

Today’s charming pen: Pilot L-150MS
Today’s cute ink: Herbin Bleu Myosotis

Day	What	How Much	Duration	Pen	Ink
9 February 10 February 11 February 12 February	Choose Your Own Unspeakable Doom	Eight manuscript pages. Five pages. Six pages. Seven pages	55 min. 25 min. 40 min. 40 min.	Pilot L-150MS Sheaffer 300 Fuliwen 2024 Parker “51”	Herbin Bleu Myosotis Pelikan Violet Diamine Sargasso Jentle blue-black