Choosing beggars and temporary journals
My writing this week resumed a more normal pattern, both in my writing for work and my personal reflecting. Writing regularly brought a welcome routine back into how I spend my time. And a new challenge.
The era of my Musubi journal is coming to a close. A new journal is still en route – and delayed by over a month. The desk cries out for a new temporary journal from the books already sitting on my shelf.
Possible new recruits
The temporary journal needs to be about an A5 with few pages. I’d like to finish the journal quickly. I’ve landed on two strong contenders. An early standout is a Midori A6, which would fold out to an A5 if I write in it horizontally. I also have an A5 Clairefontaine with pre-printed gridded pages. A fresh A5 notebook may still have too many pages in it to work as a temporary notebook.
There is also a new dotted Taroko Breeze awaiting use as a bullet journal. A full-sized journal means I’d need to postpone using my new journal longer. Beggars can’t be choosers.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. The standout combination this week is Cat at Midnight in my Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black. The pairing gives a pencil-like feedback that I just adore, while remaining dark enough to substitute as a daily driver. To you, SPG, we raise our glasses.
Sailor Pro Gear Slate — Full. Love the unsaturated color combo. Writes well. Lady Rose teases fun shading but doesn’t deliver. I didn’t reach for this combo often. Reading notes (once), meeting notes (also once).
TWSBI 580-ALR — 4/5. Excellent, wet nib brings out the touch of sheen in Verdigris. I reached for this combo over and over during meetings, discussion classes, reading annotations, and a few manuscript writing sessions.
Kaweco Sport Mint — 1/2. My intended pocket carry didn’t see much love this week. The F nib is more like an EF. Brings out the purple-tinged shading in Summer Storm. Scratch notes, annotations.
Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black — 1/2. Jumped in off the bench to serve as my daily driver Thursday and Friday. Task management, scratch notes, discussion notes.
Nakaya Neostandard — 2/5. The Frodo of my weekly journaling. The B limits its usefulness for work tasks. A B is wonderful for journaling, however. Two letters to friends, lesson plans, and journaling.
Monteverde Giant Sequoia — 2/5. A well-balanced large pen. Perfect for longer writing sessions. The Samwise to my Frodo. Letter, lesson plans, reading notes.
Visconti Homo Sapiens — ??. This pen brings out the best qualities of dry inks like Moonlight. I kept reaching for this pairing, especially during virtual meetings and while planning lessons. Lesson plans, meeting notes, journaling.
Faber-Castell Ondoro — 1/5. The combination was a bit dry, which made the pen a wonderful choice for manuscript editing — which happens on printer paper. Lesson plans, manuscript editing, one letter, and journaling.
TWSBI Vac700R — Feed. Cat at Dusk is a beautiful blue-grey on a wet feed. Want to see how it plays with a truly wet feed like a Pelikan or Visconti. Accent color in notes and some journaling.
Pilot Custom Heritage 912 — Empty. The built-in ink agitator brought out the best of Gris Orage. Dark, with a little fun. There’s a metaphor in here somewhere. Daily driver.
Notebooks. Nine new pages in the work bullet journal. We’re now at page 216. A two-page weekly spread, four lesson plans, two discussion note pages, and a meeting. Fairly straightforward.
I deeply enjoy scratching out lecture notes and sequencing reading notes. With next week set aside to plan an upcoming unit on “just resistance” in the Ancient Greek world, I will have plenty of opportunities for both kinds of notes shortly.
Musubi Journal. I am nearing the end of this beautiful journal. I wrote another nine pages, mostly reflecting on readings and the ongoing riotous events in the US. I have only 18 pages left; 14 available for new writing.
The final four pages are set aside for a highlights index. I use the index to mark where salient ideas, important events, and poems are within the book. I dig a searchable notebook.
Felt is made of fancy
A new book is on the way. It’s delayed a month, so far, amidst the combination of the UK’s COVID woes and Brexit shipping debacles. Waiting on a notebook is a small price to pay to keep folks who work in shipping safer. Plus, now I get to experiment with notebooks I wouldn’t normally use for journaling.
I’m excited to have preprinted lines on pages again. Musubi’s lined guide, while effective, becomes a chore when you need to move it three or four times each journaling session. I mostly write when journaling. I didn’t use the flexibility that blank pages offer. Lesson learned.
Written dry. One pen ran dry this week: the Pilot 912. Two others are nearing their ends: The Faber-Castell Ondoro and TWSBI Vac.
My first daily driver coughed up on Thursday morning. I was surprised at how much I liked a shimmer ink for my daily driver. Gris Orage played surprisingly well with such a narrow F nib. Would try again.
Newly inked. None.
The Collection
Incoming / new orders. No new additions to my collection this week.
Outgoing / trades or sales. I sold and shipped my Gunmetal Faber-Castell Loom. One of my local pen group’s members added the neat little pen to their collection. I’m glad I kept the box. Now they get a true new pen experience as they open the box a d walk through all the included paraphernalia. One more Loom to go.
I also loaned my All-Black Lamy Safari to my good friend. He is on the hunt for a new workhorse pen and has yet to try Lamy’s nibs. I’m always happy to penable my friends. My guess: he’ll step up to a Lamy 2000 in time.
Currently listening
Thom Yorke’s Anima has been on repeat for the past few days. It’s dark, with loads of presence.
