Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
6 December 7 December 8 December 9 December	Opening a campaign which will culminate in a Kickstarter campaign… and ideally somewhat thereafter a short story collection.	The journey of ten thousand stadia begins with a few hesitant and uncertain steps. And what could be sweat or tears. Hard to tell.	Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel Pelikan 140 OMAS Arte Italiana Parker 65	Skrip Jet Black Pelikan Blue-black  Krishna Pakeezah Quink Permanent Turquoise

If anyone out there is shouting “What the hell are you thinking?!” they may rest assured that I can’t hear them over the screeching of my own internal critics. Updates as they develop… which given the careful approach to this unknown country I’m adopting, will probably not begin until Mid-January.

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Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
29 November 30 November 1 December 2 December	“Hobb’s Landing”. Birthday Off! ‡ Fixing stuff from the previous day. ³ Just too damn tired.	Squeezing words from a stone. A mighty lounge! [Another Homer Simpson noise of remembered trauma] Get more sleep, dummy.	Pelikan 140 Ditto† Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel Parker 65	Pelikan Blue-black  ” † Skrip Jet Black¤ Quink Permanent Turquoise¤

† It’s my birthday and I’ll use the same pen as the previous day if I want to.
‡ I have never taken my birthday off prior to this year. I recommend it, to be honest, if it doesn’t make life too miserable for co-workers. There is, however, still a price to be paid…
³ Never be The Indispensable Man. I’m not, really, anymore but I’m still not easily replaced despite writing and polishing instruction manuals for the past couple of years.
¤ The Skrip is NOS, just opened on the day of pen-filling, but isn’t quite contemporary to the pen; it’s got the red label from the last days of the dip-well bottles. The Quink, on the other hand, is possibly slightly older than the pen but definitely from the same rough era of manufacturing and also unopened until I got my mitts on it. I don’t know how this happens.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
30 November 1 December 2 December 3 December	Second draft of “Hobb’s Landing”. Getting some of the power attendant to my new place as a director for the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guide made available. Flogging the thing below.	But not a lot because… Banks, man– too much. All over the place	TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR TWSBI Vac 700 Parker 51 Pilot Vanishing Point	Herbin Stormy Grey TWSBI Blue-black Montblanc Racing Green Namiki Blue

SO, the big news for this week, which I lift entire from my other enterprise:

I’ll mention that the image on the cover… does not represent my contribution, I will say… although “Wilden Klausen” does involve wearing a costume for a seasonal tradition.

I should also mention that the profits for this collection are going to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which given the situation of the world over the last… dozen or two months, at least… seems like a service which could definitely use some funding. Since I’m not in the US, I will mention for those who wish to give directly that there is a Canadian version of the same thing.

Here is a link to pre-order; it will be released on 20 December. 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
23 November 24 November 25 November 26 November	Edits for “Palmer’s Folly” Second draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	Appearing in NewMyths.com on 15 December (!!!)† STILL, MORE, AGAIN, yes.	Parker 51 Pilot Vanishing Point Pelikan M600 TWSBI Vac 700	Montblanc Racing Green Namiki Blue Krishna Pakeezah TWSBI Blue-black

† Rest assured that I will be slathering links around the place when the next issue goes live. Yes, another story of mine is getting publication. It actually sold quite some time ago, but I thought it best to keep it sub rosa it was about to come to full ripeness.

And I nearly stuck with that, too.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
16 November 17 November 18 November 19 November	Second draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	Um…†	TWSBI Vac 700 Pelikan M600 Parker 75 Sheaffer Taranis	TWSBI Blue-black Krishna Pakeezah Edelstein Olivine Herbin Violette Pensée

† This is a tricky question, given that I’m usually changing from hand-written to compu-typed in the second draft, but this time it’s all the latter. This means that I wasn’t keeping track of the amount of change happening, and since it’s add-remove-replace-add-move the quantitative difference from beginning to end it almost meaningless.

But I got some work done, for a change.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
9 November 10 November 11 November 12 November	Preparing and launching submissions. Contemplation of sacrifice and the wretched yet often unavoidable foolishness of armed conflict. Background work on my site.	With negative returns, another couple. In keeping with the day.	Parker 75 Pelikan M600 Pilot Vanishing Point Sheaffer Taranis	Edelstein Olivine Krishna Pakeezah Namiki Blue Herbin Violette Pensée

I had thought to get some writing done yesterday, but I put all my creative into getting pictures of pens and ink bottles all prettied up for the site, of which the only visible effect is the functional link to Namiki inks above.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
2 November 3 November 4 November 5 November	Yet more damnable trivia Preparing and launching submissions	Heaps. Three of them.	Pelikan P1 Sheaffer Valiant Tuckaway Parker 75 TWSBI Classic	Diamine Bilberry Diamine Evergreen Edelstein Olivine Jentle blue-black

 

Why, yes, I am slightly concerned that this is that Writers’ Block we hear so much about. But it’s also just as likely to be a confluence of stress of personal and international sorts, and since the US election seems to be going both in a hopeful direction and without open insurrection, easier breathing should be just on the horizon.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
26 October 27 October 28 October 29 October	Winter tires. A headache. Other damnable trivia	Peril averted! Not quite enough to justify leaving work A veritable mountain.	Waterman Crusader TWSBI Classic Pelikan P1 Sheaffer Valiant Tuckaway	Namiki Blue Jentle blue-black Diamine Bilberry Diamine Evergreen

 

A very small stone on that mountain was paperwork associated with joining the board of directors of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.

Which seemed like a brilliant idea right up until the point the voting closed.

No, no, I’m just being dramatic for funnies. It will be an interesting and useful experience, and as far as I can discover not one of my predecessors disappeared mysteriously or met with foul play while serving. It’ll be fine.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
19 October 20 October 21 October 22 October	Not a sausage.	As much nothing as one man is capable of.	Sheaffer Sovereign II OMAS Arte Italiana Pelikan P1 Waterman Crusader	Herbin Poussière de Lune Edelstein Olivine Diamine Bilberry Namiki Blue†

What’s this? No progress on anything?

No. I’m in a stressed state, as are we all, and I thought I would give my brain a little time off. The little Twitter items are still happening, and being collected at my other establishment, and of course there’s bits of stories developing like yeast colonies all over my brain… at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what they are, and not actual yeast colonies.

†STILL no sample on the site yet, and it may go another week yet.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
12 October 13 October 14 October 15 October	A nuclear family Thanksgiving Reworking “Disruptions on the Line” for a specific market. Second draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	One tasty Boneless Turkey Breast Roll, plus sides. Done and submitted. Printed, slathered with notes and revisions, awaiting in-machine amendments.	Pelikan P1 Waterman Crusader TWSBI Classic Sheaffer Sovereign II	Diamine Bilberry Namiki Blue† Jentle blue-black Herbin Poussière de Lune

†No sample on the site yet; have I whined about how busy I am?