Life as a nib-size nomad

Writing with a balance of broad and narrow nib sizes this week has been instructive. I recognize that I have become a nib-size nomad. I happily jump from EF to M to Zooms and B nibs.

My line-width preferences have ebbed and flowed both over time and depending on the kind of writing I intend to get into.

My first year of serious fountain pen use saw a comfortable home with M line widths. Faber-Castell M nibs were familiar to the 0.5 and 0.7 Pilot G2s I had used for years.

Writing from my first two fountain pens. Both M nibs.

My writing moved from notebooks onto margins. Following suit, my handwriting grew smaller. More compressed under the weight of weighty ideas — or just narrow PDF margins.

Root systems of ink

M line widths left my letters rooted and smashed together. University copy paper encouraged liquid inks to bleed and feather. It was unsightly. More so, my smaller handwriting was now challenging to read.

Instructional writing manifests large and quickly-drawn concept maps. Broad nibs are enjoyable for this kind of writing. Like writing on a whiteboard, but on a pad of paper.

Smaller, deliberate notes welcome narrow nibs. An EF line remains easily readable when used in a 5 mm grid — or a 3.7 mm grid.

Takes all types

Many folks share that they have found a stable home in EF, or M, or BBB nibs. Settling into one line-width isn’t for me. Nomad-life is where my joy lives.

This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.

Toolset

Pens. This week’s standout combo is absolutely the Sailor Pro Gear, inked with Kyo-no-oto Sakuranezumi. The pair stepped up as a pocket carry. Primarily the EF side to ensure Sakuranezumi dried quickly on Stalogy paper. Also frequently used the Z Architect side during on-on-one meetings with my research students. Excellent for large, easily-read concept maps. 1/5 left.

• Platinum 3776 (F) — Empty. A Force to be reckoned with. Just wet enough to write smoothly. Disciplined EF-width line. Sturdy enough to survive trips to and from meetings all week. Rock star combo. Daily driver. Task management, meeting notes, lesson plans, scratch notes.

• Pilot CH 912 (SF) — 1/4. Proved an excellent accent note taker. A smooth, but quick-drying F line. Easily noticeable against the Platinum’s F mid-toned grey. Used over and again for accent notes during meetings. Meeting notes, lesson plans, journaling.

• Lamy Safari (B) — 2/5. Used frequently throughout the week as my work desk pen. The round B nib forgave odd writing angles with quickly scrawling scratch notes. Brane shaded well, even on post-it paper. Meeting notes, scratch notes, lesson plans.

• Franklin-Christoph 45 (B SIG) — 1/2. A journaling combination. Wrote a three-page entry with this pair. Balances small size with a comfortable curved section. One of the few pens I post. Sharp SIG grind is best suited for slower writing. Journaling, lesson plans.

• Visconti Homo Sapiens (EF) — ?? Sat in my pen case for most of the week. Used sparingly, and entirely at home. Turns out I worry about using the Blizzard at work. Writes better and better the longer Caribbean Blue sits in the feed. Journaling, lesson plans.

Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83 (A5). A whirlwind of a week produced twenty pages of notes, spreads, and lesson plans. 2-0. The work bullet journal now sits at page 58.

I started off with a two-page weekly spread. My weekly is the center of attention throughout the work week. My class schedule, daily task lists, and “later” task list keep me focused on what needs doing — and when.

All in Earl Grey to avoid colorful distractions. And because Earl Grey shades like a boss.

Slim and shady

Eight lesson plan outlines follow. Four each for my ancient history and research methods courses. Complete with the metal index tabs from last week to mark which lesson should be taught next.

Of the remaining pages, nine are meeting notes. Two ink colors for easy searching. Quickly-scrawled letters and headings throughout. The Sailor and Pilot proved my most popular meeting notes accent pens.

Organized and sloppily written.

The final two pages are an update to my meeting log and scratch notes for a lesson I taught on plagiarism.

Twenty pages. It’s empowering to feel accomplished at the end of a long week.

Journal. Taroko Breeze (A5). Eight new pages scribbled across three entries. I find myself at page 87 of my journal. After two and a half months. Not bad at all.

The entries were a combination of reflections on my days and thinking through political articles by David Super and Kaliegh Rogers.

The Super article is worth reading. He explores four pathways beyond the United States legislature’s repeated inability to pass functional budgets. A situation Super calls “fiscal chicken.” Interesting.

And two entries ended with Han Shan poems. Wednesday’s, called Number 20, stand as out as particularly snarky.

Wink

Written dry. My daily driver ran empty this week. The Platinum 3776 conveniently dried out during a Friday afternoon meeting. How polite. And surprising considering Ren is a Sith.

And pretty. Ren is also pretty.

Newly inked. Not-a-one. Chalking this week up to the Platinum’s late exit.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. Move along. Nothing to see here. Yet.

Here’s a hint: it ends in -ichi.

Outgoing / trades or sales. No movement this week. The tray of six pens never got posted to my pen group’s trade-sell channel. One of these days …

Fahrney’s updated me that they’ve received the 1911 Sailor Pro Gear Fresca that I returned last week for an exchange. Much respect for their transparency.

Currently reading and listening

Fiction. Tired evenings were spent with Martha Wells’ Exit Strategy in hand. And with calm music in the background. I finished the novella Tuesday.

Exit Strategy is the fourth book in her Murderbot Diaries series. Network Effect — book five — also opened on Tuesday. I’m hooked. The combination of thoughtful writing and Wells’ sarcastic tone sits in a Goldilocks zone for me.

Nonfiction. I also began reading Bob Woodward’s Peril. His penchant for narrativizing events makes for entertaining reading. And stressful, given the political content.

Exploring Woodward’s background led me to a story he wrote for Writer’s Digest back in 1996. He wrote about how taking his time was the key ingredient to his early success. I heard much the same from older professors back when I was in higher education. Statement to the effect: I was only able to write that book because I could sit with my ideas for months and ruminate.

Reminds me that the crush to “get stuff done” is a means, not an end. Or, in Woodward’s words, “getting to the bottom of it” is the point.

Music. I have had the same 11-song album on repeat since Wednesday: Salome Scheidegger’s “Salichan.” The album is a collection of Ghibli tracks played on solo piano.

Beautiful, haunting at times, and heart-warming. Music with heart.

For those who made it to the end, here’s another great Ghibli soundtrack compilation.