A travel-friendly academic conference pen loadout

Academic conferences, and professional conferences in general — are adventurous writing experiences.

Reading and writing in planes. Writing rapidly at tables. Writing on my lap. Journaling thoughtfully on what I learned during the day’s workshops and lectures. My currently inked this week attends to all of these conference-going writing needs.

I need a currently inked that can write comfortably, quickly and reliably. With an ink palette that can easily be scanned for information.

Round nibs are my answer. Reliable, enjoyable ink flows at generous writing angles. Five of this week’s six nib options house round, unground tipping.

And five shading-heavy inks. There shall be no boring.

Grey/Black

Pilot Custom 74 Forest Green (EF). Dominant Industry Downpour. The Custom 74 is a powerhouse writer. The pen’s average width is comfortable for short writing sessions. The EF nib is great for detailed notetaking and task management. The latter of which involves small lists and progress tracking. Downpour’s mid-toned grey shades, even in Pilot’s hairline EF line widths. Fun and useful all around. Also: lesson plan outlines, meeting notes, reading notes, and commonplace notes.

Blue/Teal

Sailor Pro Gear Slate Blue (MF). Kyo-no-oto Aonibi. Aonibi flows moderately wet in this MF nib. As a pair, the Sailor offers muted cobalt accent notes. The MF lines easily stand out against the Pilot EF’s scratchings. And the round nib continues writing, even at the odd vertical angles that “notebooks in my lap” limit me to. Meeting notes, workshop and lecture notes, reading notes, and commonplace notes.

TWSBI Vac700R Iris (F CSI, by Pen Realm). Kyo-no-oto Hisoku. An after-workshop accent writer. Hisoku runs dryly in the Vac’s feed. The result is wispy teal lines that easily serve as accent notes during slow-moving writing tasks like workshop-based meetings, reading notes, and marking papers. The Vac’s large size keeps the pen comfortable in-hand during medium and long form writing like journaling and commonplace reflecting.

Earth Tones

Lamy Safari Terra Red (B). J. Herbin Vert Empire. This Lamy B nib and feed make for a wet writing experience following my recent thorough cleaning of this pen’s feed. Vert Empire now shades prominently throughout my writing. An enjoyable go-to pairing for longform writing, journaling, teaching reflections, workshop notes, lecture notes and letters. Empire’s demure hue also suits meeting notes. Boss.

Sailor 1911L Tangerine (Z). KOBE Arima Amber. Loud, proud and Zoom-ground. This pen-and-ink combo is a wonderful pocket carry. The Z nib accommodates both kinds of this week’s writing. The EF lines available while reverse writing are excellent for ensuring scratch notes dry quickly in my pocket notebook. And the wide Z lines add subtle flair to Amber’s otherwise amazing shading. Journaling, reading notes, paper marking, commonplace notes, meeting notes, lecture notes and workshop notes.

Wild Cards

Able Snail Classic Large Powder Blue (B). Kyo-no-oto Sakuranezumi. I frequently seek out excuses to write with this combo. A measure of currently inked success. Sakuranezumi is a dry ink that narrows the Snail’s B lines to a M-width. The round nib is forgiving, which allows me to write in my lap, at a workshop table, and at a desk — all without trouble. For detailed, small-sized longform writing: journaling, paper marking, edit notes, meeting notes, workshop notes, lecture notes, lesson plan outlines, and commonplace notes.

All in the family

And all in a fun, vintage color way pen scheme.