Writing

This week, I am taking the somewhat unusual step of actually writing my latest essay. Now, you will have to understand that I mean actually taking pen to paper.

As we hurtle forward thru the computer age, we do most of our “writing” at a keyboard. We don’t write, we type. Writing has come to mean composing, but there is an experience that we are missing and I can foresee penmanship as a lost art in the very near future. Even now, few can write legibly, even when they print.

My own history with writing goes back more than 45 years. In the fourth grade, I learned cursive along with the rest of my class. I won’t claim that I loved it, or was even particularly good at it, but I mastered it.

In High School I took Architectural Drawing and learned to print neatly and carefully between the lines on my house plans. I think it was here that I developed the skill of writing legibly. It has stuck with me.

In 1975 at the age of 18 I started keeping a journal. I won’t claim that every word was neatly written, but I did get lots of practice. I have filled many volumes with my scratching.

In 1984, I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and I even tried my hand at calligraphy. That is writing that takes a long time.

I have always preferred liquid ink. Long before they were popular, I rode my bicycle the four miles from Corte Madera to San Anselmo (in California) to buy the original Pentel Rollerball Pens, the Pentel Rolling Writer. Later I discovered fountain pens and that is what I am using to write this.

I have spent a lot of money on pens over the years, but found that one of my favorites is one of the cheapest, the Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen. I have several Parker Fountain Pens, following on from my first, which was a Parker.

I have probably spent an equal amount on books to write in. Now, Bookstores have whole sections devoted to journals, but through the 80s, I had to look long and hard for something suitable. I am writing this in a Moleskine and I found some excellent notebooks from Miquelrius. Now I seem to have more nicely bound books than I can fill.

The quality of the paper and pen make a big difference in the experience. Good writing paper will be smooth, but not slick. It must be rough enough to present some resistance to the pen, but not catch the nib and porous enough to hold the ink without letting it bleed through.

Pens are a very personal element. I have many pens that I like. Some have metal barrels and others are covered in rubber. Some have slim barrels and others stout. My favorites are Parker Pens, which have nice round nibs.

But, beyond the pens, the inks and the paper, there is the actual writing, the scratch of nib across the paper. When you take the time to form the letters carefully, your writing slows, and so must your thoughts. Whole lines of thought can come and go while you form one sentence correctly. The experience is so very different from flashing your thoughts through your fingertips onto a glowing screen.

Of course, you also don’t run out of ink, as happened while I was writing this.

For now, the writing of this essay has fulfilled my desire to write…though, maybe someone needs a letter…