Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
1 February 2 February 3 February 4 February	Third draft of “Hobb’s Landing”. Responding to an acceptance of “Wanting Depth”.	Less than I could have wished. Exultant squealing, recurrent giddiness– the usual.	Parker 180 Wing Sung 601 Pilot Elite 95S (still just a picture) Sheaffer Valiant TD	Herbin Poussière de Lune Pelikan Violet Namiki Blue TWSBI Blue-black

I know I promised a story last week, but I’ve run out of time today. Tomorrow? Possibly?

Also, as usual, details regarding publication will appear closer to the date of (although I understand that it’s mere weeks away!).

 

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Fun Guy (after some news)

Oops. I didn’t look in yesterday. Let me first repair the oversight.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
25 January 26 January 27 January 28 January 29 January	Nothing Phone-based game Reading a bit Third draft of “Hobb’s Landing” Updating and foolishness.	As much as I could find. A full damn hour. Some pages. Three New Paragraphs! What you see here.	Pilot Elite 95S (just a picture) PenBBS 487 Wing Sung 601 Parker 180 Sheaffer Valiant TD	Namiki Blue Herbin Lis de Thé Pelikan Violet Herbin Poussière de Lune TWSBI Blue-black

I think I’ve cleared my blockage. Next week will prove that one way or another. There’s a story attached to Monday’s pen, which I’ll try to touch on next week.

And now, because I love weird things that make people question their place in the universe, here’s a common mushroom singing.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
14 September 15 September 16 September 17 September	First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	739 words typed.	Pelikan M30 Wing Sung 601 Sheaffer “TM” Triumph Conklin Cresent Filler	TWSBI Blue-black Herbin Bleu Calanque Montblanc Racing Green Diamine Oxford Blue

The progress is still painfully slow, but I am nearing the end… of the first draft. I’ve just realized I need to get some themes better inflated now that I’m approaching the endpoint, so the second draft isn’t going to be quick and easy, either. Probably. I’m bracing for it.

And while I complain about the speed of production, the fact that this first draft is going straight into a machine provides me with a small comfort– it’s now twenty pages long, which by my standards is a fairly lengthy number.

Again, Farewell

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
7 September 8 September 9 September 10 September	Submissions Mild public lamentations (below)	Extra work for several editors. Probably not as much as appropriate.	Sheaffer “TM” Triumph Conklin Cresent Filler Pelikan M30 Lamy 2000	Diamine Evergreen Diamine Oxford Blue TWSBI Blue-black Montblanc Racing Green

The Long Weekend was indeed very long for us. We got to watch a well-loved family member slowly expire. In the current climate of pandemic, our loss is bearable and small, but we feel it.

Hercule Grey, 2004 – 2020. The late Doctor Awkward Puss.

He was in his seventeenth year, so his passing was not entirely shocking. It was, in a way, a good death, because it was timely. We’ve lost too many to sudden tumors that manifested when they were relatively young. Old Doc just sort of stopped, like a clock that wound down, at an age where such a thing might be expected.

There was a small element of relief in it, too. For the past couple of years, he’d been a scrawny old man– my wife described him as “a furry bag of feathers”, and while he got plenty of rewarding cuddles from the newer members of the flock, he (and we adult humans) were perpetually concerned that the boisterous play of the young ones might do him an injury.

We have some pictures of him taken in what turned out to be the last two weeks of his life, which I will not be sharing. I have never forgiven the tabloid industry as a whole for the cadaverous LAST PICTURES OF DAVID NIVEN! which hung off the ends of grocery story tills, and I’m not going to share similarly gaunt images of one who should be remembered by the world at large in a different light. I will remember him in his appropriately sleek form, before his powers waned.

One of the last good pictures of Hercule, in which he is supported by Bram and Kees. Bram may be even more affected by his death than my wife.

A couple of post-scripts:

• the name:
  • Hercule not after Poirot, but after Cyrano de Bergerac. As a kitten, he had a rather pronounced beak
  • Grey slightly after the fiendish probe-jabbers from Zeta Reticulum with their similarly-shaped eyes, but more so because my wife found his nature and presentation put her in mind of Joel Grey.
• I am of course aware that this post (planned for this slot since Sunday) is going up on the same day as the announcement of the death of Diana Rigg. I could wish it were otherwise, but I’m sticking to the plan because I need to release the pressure. I will remember her mainly from her time in The Avengers, not because I insist a woman must be young and beautiful to be worth imagining, but because I watched The Avengers a whole lot during the first decade of my life. Emma Peel, competent and formidable, is firmly encoded in my core recollections.

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
31 August 1 September 2 September 3 September	First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	827 words typed.	Lamy 2000 Pelikan M30 Sheaffer “TM” Triumph Wing Sung 601	Diamine Evergreen TWSBI Blue-black Montblanc Racing Green Herbin Bleu Calanque

I should probably also mention that there was no writing at all yesterday, as my wife was in the hospital to have a hernia de-herniated. She is fine, and as I like to point out when this sort of thing happens, the entire cost of the day was the gas burnt in a total of less than twenty minutes driving.

Well, OK, there was the pain-killer prescription, but between work insurance and the province’s Hey You Don’t Make So Much Let’s Help You Out drug benefit, a week’s worth of Tylenol 3 cost $7.96.

Salty Viking Talk

As one who is wrestling to absorb a foreign language, a frustration I sometimes feel is the lack of ways to express anger in other than my own language. Since I live in Canada, I have access to Tabernac! from the other side of the country, but I’ve never used it unironically (and I suspect it’s probably somewhat toothless in Quebec these days, too). The only good cuss I’ve got in Dutch is mierenneuker, but it’s not a general-use curse unless you deal with accountants a lot.

Having said that… let’s see how burly Norsemen would have shouted invective at each other while they were viking about.

I was once tempted to call someone a fokker, but realized that accusing him of breeding animals would mystify rather than offend.

Today’s pen: Sheaffer “TM” Triumph
Today’s ink: Montblanc Racing Green

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
24 August 25 August 26 August 27 August	First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	656 words typed.	TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR Lamy 2000 Parker 45 Pelikan M30	Pelikan Violet Diamine Evergreen Quink Turquoise (vintage) TWSBI Blue-black

I think another problem I’m having, vis a vis output, is that I’m not doing my usual first draft routine of long-handing it. The difference in which parts of the brain are engaged in the physical act of scribbling versus key-tapping does seem to incline toward the former for an easy flow of creativity. At least for me.

What makes this worrisome is that I’ve just got news of an anthology opening for submissions that this story would rest in very nicely. I must, to slightly bowdlerize Chuck Wendig, art harder.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
17 August 18 August 19 August 20 August	First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	731 words typed.	Pelikan M30 Parker 45 Sheaffer “TM” Triumph Lamy 2000	TWSBI Blue-black Quink Turquoise (vintage) Montblanc Racing Green† Diamine Evergreen†

Not huge accomplishment, but a flow. I’m starting to wonder if shaving my beard off (in the interests of better mask/head interface) has mystically affected my writing powers.

†It hadn’t occurred to me that I was putting these inks into the same rotation when I filled the Lamy. Having now written some things beside stuff from yesterday, I’m more convinced than ever that people who are lamenting Montblanc’s discontinuation of that ink should take comfort from the Diamine offering. At least in fine points, it’s difficult to tell the difference until your nose is on the paper.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
10 August 11 August 12 August 13 August	First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”. Yesterday’s entry	1128 words typed. Go see for yourself.	Pelikan M600 Sheaffer “TM” Triumph TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR Parker 45	TWSBI Blue-black Montblanc Racing Green Pelikan Violet Quink Turquoise (vintage)

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
3 August 4 August 5 August 6 August	Relaxing on Generic Stat Holiday. First draft of “Hobb’s Landing”.	As much as I could. 771 words typed.	Parker Duofold TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR Sheaffer “TM” Triumph Pelikan M600	Quink Black Pelikan Violet Montblanc Racing Green TWSBI Blue-black

That’s looking a little better, especially in a shortened week like this.