Hello, I’m Brad.

Welcome to The Pen Addict!

Every now and then, I like to share with you all of the fun things I am up to in and around the amazing world of stationery. There are new readers here every day, and long-time readers who may not know all of the shenanigans I am up to. Here we go!

I started The Pen Addict in 2007, with The Pen Addict Podcast following in 2012. As of January 1st, 2016, this became my full-time job. Yes, this is what I do for a living, so all of your clicks and downloads and dollars are important to me, and I want to make sure I’m doing my best work in return.

Each week on the blog, I post 3 to 4 product reviews with the help of an awesome staff of paid Pen Addict writers. We cover everything from your simple $1 wooden pencil, to fountain pens worth hundreds - and everything else in between. We try to keep it fun and loose, while providing you helpful information if you are in the market for new stationery.

Every Wednesday, I jump behind the microphone to talk with my friend Myke about all of the goings on in the stationery world. We discuss new products, how we use the products we own, and answer your questions. With 467 episodes in the can as of this post, you are sure to find some stationery fun along the way. If you have never listened and are interested in jumping in, Myke and I created a new starting point at Episode 400 to catch you up on what you have missed.

One of my latest fascinations has been Twitch.tv. I’ve been streaming for almost three years, but decided to make it a focus in the last year or so. You can catch me discussing stationery live each Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern, and on Wednesday around 11:30 for a post-podcast stream. I hop on at other times randomly as well. If you miss the live stream, all of the replays are uploaded to YouTube to view at your leisure.

I also make stuff! At Nock Co., I make pen cases and paper goods, and at Spoke Design, I partner with my friend Brian to make standard pens, fountain pens, and mechanical pencils. In The Pen Addict Shop I offer all kinds of branded merchandise, ranging from stickers and swag to custom pencils and pens.

Possibly my favorite thing I do is offer a Pen Addict Membership, which is the single best, and most direct, way to support my work here at The Pen Addict. Each week, I send out Refill, the Pen Addict members newsletter. It contains a new article from me on a wide range of topics - mostly stationery, but also life - along with links and commentary on other articles I find interesting, monthly giveaways, discounts to The Pen Addict Shop, and more. I have over five years under my belt in offering this program, and am completely thrilled with how it is progressing.

On the socials, I can be found mostly on Twitter and Instagram. You can email me too, but Twitter is the place if you are looking for a quick response.

What else? I’m sure I’ve missed something. Regardless, thank you all for hanging out with me for all of these years and allowing me to call this my job. I feel very fortunate, and take none of this for granted, so let’s see what the future holds!

A Holiday, an Update, and a Story

It’s Labor Day here in the US, and with this federal holiday, I am taking a federally mandated day off from writing a review. Just kidding - at least about the mandate! I’ve just been super busy, so skipping review day needed to happen. What have I been working on instead? I’m so glad you asked!

— Retro 51 Celebration shipping: I’ve shipped through backer #500, which means I have about 300 more to go. Not bad! The big question remaining is will I have any left over to sell once I’m done. The best answer I can give right now is that I don’t know. It’s going to be close, but if I do, I’ll post here with the details on how I’ll be handling it.

— Pen Addict x Caran d’Ache 849 launch: I’ve been holding these until I get closer to finishing the Celebration shipping so as not to crush myself, but it is almost time. Pen Addict Members will be notified first, and will also receive 25% off. You should join!

— Nock Co. Waxed Canvas Brasstown and Sinclair Kickstarter: I’m not crazy, you are! Yes, another project on the plate, and one I am super excited about. I have most of the photography done for the launch, I just need to write it up and get it going. It could come as early as next week, so sign up for the Nock Co. Newsletter to be notified. Plus, there will be a business announcement in there that you don’t want to miss.

— Raffle for St. Jude: The annual Relay FM charity drive for St. Jude is underway, and I’ll be doing my part by raffling off the wonderful urushi Lamy Safari that Jonathan Brooks donated. I know how I am going to do it, but I need to finalize the details to launch it. Soon!

— Now Streaming at Studio PA: My home internet upgrade is complete, which means I’m streaming from home now. It’s a load off! There is a lot of work to be done on my stream setup, but that is taking a backset for now. That hasn’t stopped me from going live every Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern at Twitch.tv/PenAddict. Come hang out! And, if you can't join me live, you can catch all of the replays on YouTube.

— And finally: I wrote the below piece for Refill, the Pen Addict Members Newsletter, a few weeks ago. I mostly talk about stationery in those pages, but sometimes it gets personal. This was one of those times. I hope you enjoy it, and if so, please consider signing up. It’s the single biggest way to support me directly, and I’m forever grateful to everyone who has. Enjoy.

Refill #240

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. And today, as I write this on my 49th birthday, not growing up has put me exactly where I want to be.

When I graduated high school (barely, as I mentioned last week,) I had no college plan. I went to a local college, because that’s what you are supposed to do, and dropped out of each of the first two semesters I attempted. I was lost.

I took a year off, worked at a golf course, and tried to figure out my next move.

The move involved getting a degree of some type just to say I had one, so I enrolled at the Art Institute of Atlanta in the Music Business program. It was a two-year associate degree program - not great, but hey, it checks a box I’m supposed to check. And almost immediately after graduation, I turned down an internship at a record company and moved to Chattanooga to take my first golf pro job. Those two years at school only brought me one thing: Debt. But that’s what I was supposed to do.

As I worked in Chattanooga, I fell out of love with the business side of golf, and fell in love with the woman who would become my wife. She was just starting her school journey, a six-year program that would lead to her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree. She knew what she wanted from the jump, went for it, and is still in the field today.

I shuffled from job to job during her six years of school, which included a move back to Atlanta. I was always searching for a career I could sink my teeth into and have it become part of me. I was always good with computers, so I started back to school once again. This time, in an IT program, while continuing to work a retail job. Because that’s what you are supposed to do.

My break into the IT field came when a friend told me about an entry level sys admin job at his company. I applied, got the job, and left school for good. I am not a school person, clearly.

That job began a 15 year career for the same company. I liked the work, and it was stable. I had health insurance, a 401k, and a good support network. My wife had the same. Because that is what we were supposed to do.

But I had a bug. I didn’t like school, but I liked discovering and sharing information. The internet made both of those things easier, so I started a baseball blog. And not just any baseball blog, a highly specific baseball blog that only covered the Atlanta Braves minor league system. That was my escape from the day job. I liked it, and gained a small following.

I eventually gave that up, but that idea stuck with me. The idea of exploring something small but important to me, learning more about it, and then sharing it with others.

Maybe I should start a pen blog? I wanted to find pens that worked better for me. They were out in the world, but there was almost no accessible information on them. I bought what I could, wrote about them, got some feedback, learned more, shared that information, and kept doing that over and over again.

Writing about stationery was my escape from my day job. I liked the job, but working at a 24/7 data center brings along certain stresses, and using stationery, and sharing what I discovered, helped me get away when I wasn’t working.

9 years after starting this strange little blog about pens as an escape, I left my 15 year IT career behind. It’s not what I was supposed to do. And I’m thankful every day that I did it.

I’m right where I was meant to be.

Help Us Prep for Episode 400

Myke and I are recording Episode 400 of The Pen Addict Podcast next week, and we want to produce a “Start Here” episode. New listeners have asked which episode they should the start with for years, and we have never had the perfect episode to point them to. We want to make Episode 400 that one.

In preparation for next week, we would like your help on what topics to cover. We are treating this as a 101-level stationery conversation, so we will be discussing things like ink differences between ballpoint, rollerball, and gel, fountain pen terminology, paper types and sizes, and other topics along those lines.

We will also be discussing Pen Addict podcast-specific topics, like Kickstarter campaigns that have gone down in history, why I hate fountain pens, and other show stories and lore.

Here is how you can help.

I’ve created a Google Form to collect anything you would like to share. Do you have a favorite episode? Let us know. Is there a 101 topic you found helpful in the past? Tell us so we can include it. Do you have another idea we haven’t thought about? Please share!

Click here to access the no login, anonymous form. And thanks for your help!