[Writing] Good Writing Materials
mood: 
thoughtful
music: Kansas - Closet Chronicles
As those who know me are well aware, I'm a bit of a fountain pen devotee. My favorite fountain pen is a Parker Inflection (tranquil blue), though I've come to be a fan of fine-nib pens and the Inflection is a medium-nib. I also am quite fond of my shiny purple Cross ATX (fine nib) fountain pen. And as a backup, I have a deep blue Parker Sonnet.
I have a second zirconium Cross ATX too, which I keep filled with rose-scented red ink, in case I feel oddly Victorian and want to write a letter by hand. J.Herbin makes wonderful inks, though I feel it's a little decadent to use it for my day-to-day writing. But they've been making ink since the 17th century and still make some of the best writing ink out there. (For day-to-day, I still use a bottle of Parker 'Quink' generic blue ink.)
Lately, I've become a devotee also of Clairfontaine papers. Clairefontaine is one of the few notebook companies out there who still make all their own paper, and their paper is some of the brightest, smoothest paper out there. It takes fountain pen ink incredibly well, and you can definitely feel the difference between it and generic 'normal' paper as you write.
Now, I know people who write with just generic ballpoint or gel pens in whatever they can find. I know plenty of people who do all their writing on the computer; this is hardly uncommon in the modern world. But I find I write best with my fountain pens and my notebook, just sitting down with a cup of chai and scribbling away. A few weeks ago, I had this conversation with Amy Thomson; though she does most of her writing on computer, she agrees about the importance of really good writing materials, and was saying she intends to fix up her fountain pens.
I know plenty of people on my friends list are fellow aspiring writers (or even pros!). I've asked one or two of you before about your writing habits, but I'm curious now how many of you find the quality of writing materials makes a difference to you. Is a fountain pen and a good notebook invaluable? Or does just any old spiral-bound and disposable Bic pen work? Is writing by hand passé, and computers are the way to go?
That said, I am very picky about my keyboards. I've pretty much got to have a split keyboard a la the MSFT Natural... alas, those are getting rare, so I've taken to collecting them...
Also, I need a screen with enough real estate to have my work and my reference materials visible at the same time. Firefox' tabbed browsing helps, but sometimes you really need more physical room. I've a 17" NEC here at work which is sharp enough to crank up the resolution so I can have four xterms (two of them long 80x43's) up; the home monitor is a 19" Mitsubishi with even more room than that, which is verra nice.
So, while I don't use a pen, yes, the writing materials are critical to the experience. A laptop just doesn't cut it for serious composition.
I am another computer writer. I can't imagine writing it all out and then typing it in. However, I've got my own writing juju. While I write on the computer, I am a compulsive handwritten note taker. I read and research and the only way I cement it in my brain is to write it down. So I do. I have notebooks (I do tend to like spiral bound notebooks, but always fresh ones) and blue (not any funky color or black) blue ballpoint pens, again fresh...
Every book I've read for non-pleasure purpose (and even some of them) usually has a notebook that goes with it of my notes.
I really do need to write by hand, for creative writing that is... and i'll have to say that the smoother, whiter, brighter the paper, and the smoother the ink really effects my mood. I wrote my thesis by my computer, and I currently do all my work writing by my computer. So i dont tend to be as creative when i write via my computer. i see it as a work tool, sucking my life outta me, where as a bright white blank peice of paper is a doorway for me to be as silly as i need to be.
granted i'm not much of a writing fanatic.... and i only write odd stories in japanese, i agree that the tools your have affects your ability to write.
oddly enought, my cell phone has been the sourse of some rather intersting insights in life... again, only in japanese. it is SO much easier to type messeges in japanese than in english on cellphones :P
And I speak as one whose handwriting is pretty abominable with a ballpoint pen, as my school-teachers were painfully aware. It becomes more readable with a fountain pen, and before email (you youngsters will have to use your imagination here) I used to love writing letters to family and friends with a dipping-pen fitted with an italic nib. I had a variety of bottles of ink in garish colours -- green, brown, violet, orange, sky-blue. This was 25 years ago, when I was a student in London and could easily get hold of such things from an artists' supply store on the Tottenham Court Road.
I use the rather more staid Parker 'Quink' permanent black ink these days, and a cheap fountain pen that I picked up at a bookstore in Cambridge, but despite the fact I paid less than $15 for the pen, it's comfortable to hold and the nib is smooth. And I guess that's all that really matters.
I know the feeling. About eighteen months ago, I had to take a written exam for the first time in more than twenty years. I honestly didn't know whether I could still write by hand for three straight hours!
In the end, the time flew past (it was an exam, after all), but boy, did my hand hurt when those three hours were up.
So I prefer typing. I also type so much faster than I write, so I actually get most things down, rather than skipping words, as I'm wont to do with paper & pen.
I agree, though, a nice pen on good paper makes all the difference.
I use a plain notebook and usually an ordinary uniball Signo RT. I like pens that have ink that run smoothly. Ordinary ballpoint pens don't usually have their ink running smoothly. I like to use the Uniball or Pilot G2. Their ink usually flow quite smoothly when I write.
Anyway....XD Merry Christmas dear.