Under Wraps

While my wrist is under wraps for the next few weeks I'm going to explore a few new ideas during what is normally my Monday review time slot.

Today, we make a mess.

Over the past week I've missed using my stationery immensely. I didn't touch a pen until Friday, and only then to see how bad my lefty handwriting was. It was passable, and could certainly do in a pinch. But my new, shorter, cast freed up my fingers enough to grip way back on any pen or pencil, which was even better.

But I'm still not comfortable working on a proper product review for my normal Monday time slot. It feels too weird to do it differently than I have done for almost 13 years. So this Monday, and the next several Mondays, I'm going to talk about whatever pops into my head. Luckily, that usually involves stationery in some shape or fashion.

Going almost a week without pens had me wanting to swim in the stuff this weekend. Sunday afternoon provided a great opportunity, with windows-open weather, and the Masters in the background. I went around the house and gathered up all the things I've been wanting to use and piled them up on my dinner table. Yes, I thought. Back to normal.

I went through my inked fountain pens to make sure they haven't dried out from inactivity (one had, but it was more due to the fact it had almost been written dry,) and cracked open some new uni-ball products sent to me by their new US offshoot.

I grabbed my bills (I got a bit behind), and my books, and made sure to grab my creative journal to play around with. There was a bag of pencils, a sharpener, a bunch of washi tape, and a notebook, or two.

And I just played around. How were the new uni-ball Vision 0.38 mm pens? Surprisingly good. Can I use scissors with my right hand? Yes, quite well in fact. Is a wooden pencil the best writing instrument for me right now? It sure seems that way.

Softer and darker cores are better for me right now, I've discovered. My grip pressure is lighter, and further away from the page, so a pencil like the Blackwing MMX works well, when normally it isn't a consideration.

I used that pencil to copy one of my early favorite poems from my first Billy Collins book. Well, to start copying, because I could feel my arm pressure begin to tighten up inside my normally loose cast. Too much stress for today. Oh well. My wife probably won't appreciate the cast marks on the edge of the table either. Nobody tell her, ok?

I'm writing this post in the Ulysses app on my phone, where I have also taken and edited these average photos. I've been typing with my left hand on my phone a lot. It's more comfortable than my laptop sometimes, and Myke shared with me the amazing swipe to type feature, which I didn't know was built in to the iOS keyboard already. Oops.

I still need, and love, all of the digital hardware and software that allows me to do my job, but dang if this mess on this table on a random November afternoon didn't put a smile on my face.

Time to go play some more.

Venetian Card Company Artist Series Card Review

And now for something completely different.

I met artist Zac Gross of the Venetian Card Company at the Philadelphia Pen Show this past January. I had seen his plaster pen rests cross my Instagram feed in the months prior, but I wasn’t prepared for what else he had on display at the show.

As it turns out, plaster as a medium works for making bespoke correspondence, too.

That’s what took me back standing in front of Zac’s table. Here, I was presented with a wide range of art in a range of colors and styles, but this art wasn’t only meant to be looked at. It was meant to be used.

Each Venetian Card Zac produces is a unique piece of art. He has released nine series so far in the Artist Series, along with a range of standard colors in the Open Edition. The front of the card features what Zac refers to as “traditional old world plaster techniques” to essentially “paint” the card, for lack of a better term. There is color, texture, layering, and character - everything you would expect from a unique piece of art.

Flip the card over, and you are presented with a writing surface, similar to a postcard. Yes, you are supposed to use these cards. Can you imagine opening your mailbox and finding something like this inside? My mind was blown standing in front of Zac’s table, and staring at this card on my desk while typing this review. I bet the feeling is similar on the receiving end as well.

Absorbent paper, but reasonably fountain pen friendly. This is a broad Sailor KOP stub nib, inked with Sailor Manyo Akebi.

Not having any idea a product like this exists, I had no idea what to expect on the pricing. At $86 each for the Artist Series (this particular one is Series 7-A1,) this piece of correspondence is a gift in itself. It’s expensive, no doubt, and I admit I did a double take when Zac told me the price. But I couldn’t leave the table. As a fan of art and of makers, I was captivated, and knew I was leaving with one. Especially when I got the show special price of $69.

The Open Editions are more reasonably priced at $32, and while that is still a luxury purchase, I could see myself using a few of these spread out over the year to send notes to friends and family.

Each card comes with a custom box to protect the card when mailing, and I’m going to address it and send it off across the country to see how it fares.

After I write a note, of course.

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How to keep Analog Alive in the Edit Mines

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

Last year for NaNoWriMo, I blogged about how I hand-write all my novels and short stories (and I'm hand-writing another novel this month!). Once you've written your book, though, it doesn't do much good sitting hidden away in that beautiful notebook. These days, to reach readers, your story must--at some point--become digital. It must shuffle off its analog coil and join the ranks of pixels and kb in the great big data cloud. And it's going to be there a while--months, years--before it assumes its final paper form back in your hands again.

So how do you keep the analog spirit alive during those digital years?

You're going to have to do edits--probably lots (and lots) of them--and sure, you'll have to input them into the digital doc, but if you're analog-minded, I highly recommend making your edits on a hard copy. You can get your manuscript printed and spiral-bound very inexpensively at a print shop. Of course, the paper will not be luxurious, but it's better than nothing and definitely better than a screen. Once you've got a paper copy in your hands, break out the color-coded pens, the sticky notes, make doodles or sketches, add whole scenes on the backs of pages--use those margins.

It's great to have a hard copy of your edits. You can refer back to them if you need information from a previous draft, and you can track the visible footprints of your writing process. That bound draft can go with you anywhere, so you can always be ready to get some work done. And when the work is done, the drafts make nice keepsakes.

I have two bound drafts of my first novel, plus the hand-written one, and in a few months, it will exist as a real book. There's something magical about being able to hold physical copies of its life cycle. You can feel all the weight of the work you've put into it over the years. It's tangible. Of course, the first hand-written draft is hugely different from its final form, and a lot of that development I was able to do with pen on paper.

That's not the only way to keep analog in your life while you're eyebrow-deep in edits. Edits require lots of Keeping Track of Things. Lots of planning. Reminders and restructuring and outlines. Deadlines to schedule, lists of people who have been helpful. Lists and lists and lists. I keep what I call a "brain book" (or sometimes several) for every project where I can track all of this information. In the last few years I've been using the Bullet Journal method to help tame the chaos of these notes. That brain book becomes like a book planner--and it, too, makes a nice keepsake of the process of a big project. It's fun, and a little daunting, to flip back through those notes and see all the work that went into the book.

Between paper edits and a book planner, you can at least keep your pens in rotation while you're deep in the digital doldrums of novel writing. Of course, you can also be hand-writing a new book while typing and editing a different one. Or at least outlining or planning the next one. Or all of the above. It's a slightly maddening level of multitasking, but your pens will love it.

The point is to stay busy and keep those pens inked up. And good luck at NaNoWriMo this month! I'll be posting my progress on Instagram @inkwellmonster.

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!