Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
4 April 5 April 6 April 7 April	Faffing about with my projected self-publishing foolishness.	Nothing conclusive, of course.	Pelikan 140 Montblanc 32 Waterman Master PenBBS 487	Herbin Bleu Calanque Montblanc Racing Green Diamine Honey Burst TWSBI Royal Purple

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Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
28 March 29 March 30 March 31 March	Final draft of “Golden Hour”. A little relaxation.	A final pass for stupid typos, and submitted. 28th was the deadline!. Brain needs rest.	Pelikan M600 Waterman Master Montblanc 32 Sheaffer Imperial Triumph	Diamine Syrah Diamine Honey Burst Montblanc Racing Green Pelikan blue-black

Filthy Peasants!

A useful thing for writers and GMs to consider when they’re world-building– even pre-industrial cultures are extremely complex.

Also, I’m absolutely tickled by the thought that historically-valuable documents with a bearing on events hundreds of years ago were crammed into doors. I’ve found an old newspaper in a 90-year-old house, which is about as close as I can get to the sensation of this kind of discovery in my part of the world.

Today’s pen: Waterman Master
Today’s ink: Diamine Honey Burst

An Impediment to Worldbuilding

While I haven’t been doing as much of it as I would like, I still call myself a writer. And as a member of that self-torturing happy breed, I spend a lot of time weaving whole new worlds out of the cobwebs and bits of moss that lurk in my head. One of the tricks to worldbuilding is coming up with something which doesn’t knock someone’s disbelief off the hook, because then it will get all fractious and start asking uncomfortable questions.

With that in mind, here’s an interesting explanation of why you can’t have suns of a particular colour if you’re writing a world with extant physics:

I’ll freely admit this was not a thing I had known until this week. So, there’s me learning new things and (hopefully) staving off dementia for another few days.

Today’s pen: Waterman 52
Today’s ink: Diamine Evergreen

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
13 September 14 September 15 September 16 September	Re-reading “The Lurking Fear” to make notes for a story I mean to write. Also trying to get some updating done on my website.†	Nearly done, and getting some useful new insights. Part of a page.	Parker 75 Waterman 52 Sheaffer Valiant TD Pilot Elite 95S	Herbin Vert de Gris Diamine Evergreen Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Bilberry

†”Trying” faces more than usual hurdles:

The host is being pestered. If you have a pressing pen question, my slow frequency of updates means that this Wayback Machine capture from January isn’t missing too much.

Negligent? Tuckered Out!

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
28 June 29 June 30 June	First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”.	Six manuscript pages (and probably three more to done).	Waterman Executive Platinum Curidas Lamy 27	Edelstein Olivine Platinum blue-black Diamine Writer’s Blood

Yeah… I kind of missed the film last week, didn’t I? A sign of how damn tired I am from The Regular Job’s demands, which over the past two weeks have been enhanced by a self-inflicted demand to make sure the people who are looking after my usual duties have an easy go of things.

I am, at least, taking a good long break– I don’t put rump to office chair again until 19 July. I also don’t have a lot of projects in mind for the vacation period other than writing and some personal pen-work, which is good, because that mass of killingly-hot air which has been afflicting the north-west coast of the continent will arrive here… sometime tomorrow.

Although it will have shed some heat along the way, for which I am extremely grateful.

Here’s two films because there wasn’t one last week: One jolly interesting and one quietly amusing.

I don’t expect to be making up any entertainment deficits when I return, because I know my limitations. See you in three weeks, everyone, unless I melt in the interim.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June	First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”. The second jab. First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”.	Three manuscript pages. A tiny poke, and a period of normal immune response. Four manuscript pages.	Pilot Vanishing Point Lamy 27 Platinum Curidas Waterman Executive	Namiki Black Diamine Writer’s Blood Platinum blue-black Edelstein Olivine

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June	Clothes shopping.† First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”. School supply shopping.†	One shirt for me, several for son. Seven manuscript Pages. A perfectly serviceable sketchbook	Waterman Executive†† Sheaffer Imperial Triumph Pilot Vanishing Point Pelikan th.INK	Edelstein Olivine TWSBI Royal Purple Namiki Black Herbin Vert de Gris

†My son is, given his first vaccination status, going back to school for the first time since May 2020. He’s grown a LOT in the intervening time, and he’s also filled up his sketchbook, because it likes making visual art.

††The Wing Sung 618 is being set aside for amendment– there’s an interruption in the ink channel of the feed that requires force-filling of the collector. Unsatisfactory, in an otherwise darned good pen.

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.