A journal entry a day keeps the doldrums away
Most weeks, pen meets paper in my personal journal three or four times. I wrote an entry every night this week. Six entries is double my usual personal writing.
I’ve journaled regularly for three years. Over that time, I’ve fallen into a system of structuring my entries.
Journal entries begin with a healthy header, by date. I use a ruler to draw two lines below: one writing normally with a pen, and a second narrower line. I like the aesthetics of having two lines. There’s no functional reason. That’s ok.
I separate topics by color. Some days I only focus on one essay I’ve read or event that took place that day. My entry is done completely in one color on those days.
Other days, I focus on more than one topic or sit down to write more than once. I call a second pen in off the bench for these entries.
Search for topics made easy since they’re organized by color
And then, finally, I end journal entries with a poem that speaks to me. When I flip back through a finished notebook, the poems are usually the most fun to read. They give me insight into how my mood has shifted. And poetry itself is fun.
Such shiny.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. The TWSBI Vac700R (F CSI) stands out as the best ink and pen pairing this week. Aonibi never wrote so well than in this pen. Put simply: it’s a rockstar pairing. I used this pen for everything: journaling, lesson plans, meeting notes, lecture notes (accent), and a card. Down to 1/6.
TWSBI 580-ALR (B) — Empty. B nib brings the darker aspect of Yozakura to the fore. The round B nib is one-dimensional. Too wide for detailed notes. Excellent for journaling. Lecture notes, scratch notes, journaling.
Wing Sung 601 (F) — Empty. This combo hard starts. Resorted to sitting with a napkin or paper towel nearby. Holding the pen nib-down encouraged inkflow to restart; and wasted a bit of Fire on Fire. Marking and journaling.
Pelikan m805 (F Architect) — 1/2. A beautiful combination for shading. My go-to for quick notes and task management. Wet Pelikan feed balanced well with Agate’s light coloring. Also my daily driver for reading notes, lesson plans, and even a journal entry. A little too light for easy reading, though.
Lamy Safari (EF) — 1/2. Rose Schwarz continues to impress. No clogs. No hard starts. A wet combination, more like a M line-width. Worked very well for lesson plans, lecture notes, and journaling. Also: my pocket carry since it’s plastic and can withstand a lot of abuse.
Sailor Pro Gear (F) — 2/3. Most shimmer inks are finicky. Midnight Twinkle is no different. A floss before each writing session staved off clogs and hard starts. Needing to floss the tines so much made this combo inconvenient for task management or quick writing sessions. Journaling. Quickly stopped highlighting important tasks in my weekly with the pair.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Hobonichi A5 Plain Notebook. Ten new pages, from 63 to 73. The usual two-page monthly and weekly spreads. Five more are lesson plans.
Scaffolding students’ attempts at reading diaries from 1000 AD Japan as primary sources evolves differently for each class. Most of my reflective notes at the bottom of this week’s lesson plans recognize that I simply did not get to all of my planned activities. Last year’s students took quickly to these diaries; fish to water. This year is more like cats to water.
Teaching = aiming for a continually moving target
April’s monthly overviews are typically more in-depth than other months. My older students present their year-long research projects in April. I use the monthly spread as a project management page for planning, scheduling, and tracking the “conference week” during which they make their presentations.
Planning during a pandemic has proven ... challenging. And time consuming.
Journal: Unbranded A5 Cosmo Air Light. I did a lot of journaling this week. 19 pages worth of writing across six entries. Four documented ongoing happenings. Two processed essays on politics.
Written dry. Two pens ran dry this week: the TWSBI 580 and the Wing Sung 601. The TWSBI ran out of Yozakura at long last on Wednesday. TWSBI’s hold a lot of ink. This was week five with this particular pairing.
The Wing Sung ate it Friday afternoon while wrapping up a journal entry. Then pen had the decorum to finish the entry itself before running dry, right as I began noting what pen and ink combo I wrote the entry with.
Nib tracks
Newly inked. No new pens were inked this week. I did, however, sharpen a new Blackwing Natural. The core is soft for the pressure I’ve been using while annotating Cervini’s new history. I find a lot of graphite dust on the rough paper the printer used for his book. The Blackwing will go quickly.
And my partner’s DUX sharpener is fantastic. I smile while I sharpen. Stationery should bring such joy. A side note: ramikens make lovely holders for pencil shavings.
Ramikens. Keeping my desk tidy since 2019
The collection
Incoming / new orders. Narwhal’s pens caught my eye this week. In particular, I’m intrigued by their in-house nibs. Many smaller pen companies rely on Jowo’s and Bock’s general reliability; and their abilities to produce nibs at scale.
It would be rewarding to try out a new nib. And fun. It would be fun to try out a new nib. Maybe a grind? My pen group suggested I could have the new nib ground.
Outgoing / trades or sales. My Parker Vacumatic remains packed and ready to head to pen repair camp. I’m still shopping for a repairer.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. Can you hear that? It’s the Rhythm of War.
I finally began Sanderson’s fourth book in his Stormlight Archive series. The world building and cultural traditions Sanderson has built in his world are fascinating. My background in sociology and anthropology kicks in when I sit down to read Stormlight Archive.
My partner and I also finished Name of the Wind. We read a lot together Friday while I recovered from my second vaccination dose.
Penguin of victory
Fantasy is a foreign form of storytelling for my spouse. I’m elated by how deeply they’ve invested in the story. Good on you, Mr. Rothfuss. I wonder if he can finish book three before we finish The Wise Man’s Fear. Pretty please?
Nonfiction. I worked my way through quite a few essays. Two of the more interesting are an essay on the global rise of authoritarianism and another on how parties in the US are choosing their platforms.
I also dug into Cervini’s history of Frank Kameny’s human rights efforts through the 20th century. He has a winding writing style that makes building connections across eras challenging. Dog-earing pages helps me flip back and forth while I annotate. That and an unhealthy amount of book darts.
Music. St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Bluesy, gospel-like and intense. Plus, this man knows how to wear a pair of shoes.
