One of the issues that seems to be most common when it comes to fountain pens is answering the following question: “What can I do to use my pens more?”
For me, I try to find every opportunity I can use them, even to the point where I just draw incessant squiggly lines. Not really the most practical there. Work doesn’t afford me very many opportunities. I do try to take notes at meetings where I can, though of late, even this has dwindled. I can outline a lot of things I need to write-up, such as project plans, which seems to be a good direction, but it can be seen as doubling the amount of work in the end. In truth, with the current state of things at work, I just need to accept that it’s not the ideal place for me to use my pens.
This brings me to home. One thing I can do, is try to write up a review when I intend to post one, perhaps even mixing it into the photography, which would give me more uses for my camera as well. That’s something I plan to do, though the next write up may be a little bit out, while waiting on some paper to actually do the writing on. Alas, even with this idea, I run out once I’ve covered all my pens. I can move on to inks, since I’ve got a few of those, but that’s finite as well. Contrary to the addiction, I anticipate my influx of pen-related products to be slow from here on out, which limits opportunities for write ups on the review front.
Reviewing aside, my latest endeavor is a daily journal entry. Before I sleep for the night, I just write up a quick, one-page entry about the day. Not for anybody else to really read, but just for me to get some thoughts out. I’ve already missed one day since I started, but it does function to get some writing out. I even try to cycle which pen I’m going to use for any given day’s entry. This looks to be the best thing for me now, and even affords me some benefits in the end. Firstly, it’s probably the best use of the Crossfield journal. That Tomoe River paper is wonderful to write on. I’m glad I bought two of these when they were in stock. Another benefit is that it lets me handle goal setting and management better. I might finally be able to curtail my excessive spending habits, and actually save up some money if I force myself to keep on top of where my money goes. I would hope better visibility and acknowledgement of cash flow would help to tighten up the reigns, and allow more of it to be saved.
In the end, this was just a run of random thoughts I felt the desire to get out in writing. This wasn’t quite planned, and in the future I would hope to do more with advanced planning and forethought. Even with the best of intentions there, I expect I’ll still end up with random entries.
Until next time!