On writing

[fleetfootmike]

The bout of insane creativity continues - that's 5 sets of lyrics in 10 days. (See previous LJ entries if you don't believe me)

Part of it is definitely down to having the Moleskine, and carrying it with me everywhere - being able to scribble down ideas, snippets whenever I can is really helping. I'm also sure that the quality of said little notebook helps - it's nice having something that looks and feels good to work in. And telynor is dead right about a fountain pen too. :) Having picked up a black Lamy Safari at Rymans yesterday, I've discovered two things:

• it makes me write slower and neater, because
• writing becomes a joy, above and beyond just a means of getting words down on paper. I find myself writing things down more!
  

I haven't owned a fountain pen since senior school (barring a few calligraphy pens at university), and I'd forgotten how tactile and pleasant the act of laying ink down on paper with a nib is compared to using a biro or even a gel or fibre tip.

Comments

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Hasn't worked for Jared. Fountain pens are a requirement at his school, but you've never seen so many cartridge malfunctions in one set of hands. The boy was constantly covered in ink. *sigh* We gave up after 3 fountains and asked permission to send him with a rollerball until the urge to fiddle leaves him... I had to buy a pack of 5 new shirts 3 weeks into term - it was that bad :-}

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I was blighted with some poor teachers, which may have wrecked my use of fountain pens for life.

But I have seen disposable fountain pens--nothing to come apart in the way a cartridge pen does.

[rickbooth.livejournal.com]

In theory boys at our school are required to use fountain pens, and some teachers enforce it. We don't in maths, because frankly ink-covered boys and desks don't appeal to us all that much.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

The good Doctor Booth has just pointed me (and you, probably) at http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/Pilot_V4_Disposable_Fountain_Pen.html

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. I'm so old that, when I was in my fifth or sixth year of school, "fountain pen" and "cartridge pen" were different beasts, and the cartridge style was considered a barely-acceptable substitute. (Or, does 'cartridge' in this context refer to the inner reservoir of a "loadable" fountain pen?)

All the desks had holes in the top where a standard-sized ink bottle could be inserted. The horror! :-)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Er, yes, you mean they don't now? We also had "dip in" pens with a holder for the nib at the end of the wooden body, we weren't allowed to use our own fountain pens until about 13 years old.

(I'm not sure what a 'loadable' pen is. Is that the type which has a rubber ink chamber inside and you use a leaver to squash it and then suck the ink in through the nib? I think of the 'cartridge' ones as having disposable cartridges which you buy ready-filled and just fit into the barel of the pen.)

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

Your image of "loadable" is what I was trying to convey; I don't know if there's a technical name.