Inaugural
I am an analog heart awash in technology. An educator and researcher by trade, and a journaler by night. Words and ideas are how I make my living. Writing, for me, is thinking.
This blog shares the joy I find in writing and thinking, and the tools I’m exploring to make “getting work done-did” fun.
The road more-inky
I was formally a paperless grad student and a teacher. I was productive but found little joy in the process. My goal was to write more quickly, on more publications, all the time. 20-hour days and a hamster-wheel of urgent typing eventually led me to burn out.
The draw of the stationery aisle revealed a more inky path.
I shared with a good friend of mine that I was re-thinking how I spend my time. He brought me to a “fancy pen store.” He said I needed to treat myself. We pointed and joked about spending hundreds of dollars on a pen. But then I saw it: my first fountain pen. It was a Pilot Custom 74. Being the clever enabler he is, my good friend bought nothing.
The clerk patiently showed me how to ink it and clean it. He showed me how to write with it without destroying the nib. And he showed me to a bottle of Iroshizuku Kiri-Same. That was the first bottle of ink I finished.
Googling questions about my pen introduced me to the warm and supportive online world pen-loving folk have carved into the interweb. Studyblrs, bullet journals, pen addicts, and amazing Instagram fountain pen lovers have been my road to a healthier way of writing and thinking.
Good things come from fountain pens and quality ink.
Of blogs and pens
Mnmlscholar is my way of sharing what I’m using, what’s working and what isn’t, and of sharing my love for making how I think enjoyable. This blog is a record of my experiences with analog productivity in a digital world.
To start, I think it’s only right that I thank a few of the blogs on stationery, pens, and productivity that inspire me:
Welcome! Join me here and say hi over at my Instagram — which is a microblog with pictures of pens, notes and productivity. I dig good company
