More pen porn

[julesjones]

Having just Googled for a supplier of my favourite editing pen, Pentel's R56 rollerball in red, I stumbled into this purveyor of all things pennish:

http://www.cultpens.com/

*Serious* stocking of all those hard to find refills and exotic ink colours, as well as the pens themselves.

Bookmarked...

Comments

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

You're evil.

I believe I should just direct my allowance for the next few months straight to this company.

[julesjones]

[evil grin]

An amazing number of writers tend to go "oooh, *shiny*!" when faced with a really good pen shop, even if they do their actual commercial writing purely by keyboard. I thought that url would be popular.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Well, at least I use them, right? I do a significant portion of my first draft work by hand at the moment.

[julesjones]

I don't write by hand unless I'm travelling and don't have a computer, as I managed to get RSI in such a way that it's easier to use a keyboard than a pen for anything longer than a brief note. But I do like having a decent pen for the occasions when I use one, and my preferred editing method is with a good red rollerball and a printout. It's been rather frustrating not being able to get the red R56 locally, as that's the one I've found best for editing. Very fine point, but a bright red, and writes very smoothly.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Doesn't RSI usually make it easier to write than type?

People keep telling me to use fountain pens because it's supposed to help correct my terrible writing posture--I don't hold pens the way normal people do, apparently.

[julesjones]

The first time I got RSI (managed to do it *twice), it was doing something that was nothing to do with typing or writing. And it was the action used in using a pair of shears or pruners, so the pinching movement needed to hold a pen was far more affected than the hand movements in typing. Then I managed to do it again with using a very badly designed computer station, but that damage is relatively easy to support by using a decent keyboard, wrist rest, and all the other ergonomic gear you can get.

One of the reasons I like that R56 pen is that it's light and has a very smooth action, so it doesn't hurt to use it as long as I'm not writing intensively for a long time.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Must give this pen a try. Back to school shopping is a darn good reason to buy pens...right? LOL.

[julesjones]

They're nice pens, but whether you can get them easily depends on whether your area is covered by Pentel US or Pentel Europe. For some reason the US catalogue doesn't seem to include the R50/R56 Ball Pentel. Mail order from the UK might be a bit excessive unless there's a bunch of other stuff you want at the same time.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

I'm hopefully moving to the UK next month.

That's why I said you were evil, because it's such a perfect coincidence.

[brooksmoses]

The bad-writing-posture thing is why I'm fond of the Pilot V-Ball pens I mentioned in the other comment -- the way I learned to write involves holding the pen sort of pinched between the tips of my thumb and first two fingers, and since that's most of what's holding it, I have to pinch pretty tightly to keep it steady. With a normal ballpoint, the result is that my hand cramps rather quickly, but the rollerballs write smoothly enough that it's not a notable problem.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately!) I don't write enough to actually train myself out of this habit, even though I've halfheartedly tried a couple of times. So using the rollerballs is easier.

[brooksmoses]

Oooh....

Meanwhile, I'll note that Village Stationers (they've a shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto, and one up in Menlo Park, and possibly others) seem to have quite a good selection, if you want to avoid shipping. They're where I go for my Pilot V-Ball fix.

[julesjones]

Ah, I know that shop. I go there about once a year in search of things I didn't pick up on the last trip back to the UK...

Our local OfficeDepot has an excellent range of disposable pens, but doesn't do well on the refills even for what few models of non-disposable that they stock. Though they do often have Parker fountain pen cartridges, for some reason. Must be a popular executive toy with Silicon Valley executives.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Looks very useful.

Thanks for linking.

[julesjones]

Yes, I thought people would find that useful. :-)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I would so have a pen - and ink! - fetish, if I could only use 'em. Alas, my handwriting has always been impossible, and these days is painful also; I write cheques and signatures and almost literally nothing else unless desperate, when I will make notes in scrawly capitals. It's never seemed worth getting a decent pen for so little work. One time someone gave me a fountain pen anyway, and I thought I'd use it for signing books - but the first time I tried it, the book's paper was so cheap the ink splodged. Farewell, fountain pen; hullo ballpoint. Again.

Having said that, I too edit on print-out. In green, for preference... *goes back to website, in search of something green*

[julesjones]

The R50 and R56 Ball Pentel is available in green...

I *typed* my third year dissertation at university. On my mother's old portable typewriter, me being old enough that at the time only rich students had their own computers, and the university did not see any need to provide computer access to anyone not doing computer science. It was long enough ago that hand-written dissertations were standard, but my speed handwriting wasn't that legible to anyone but me.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I typed all my friends' dissertations for them. On a typewriter, yes, because nobody had computers; but my typewriter was electronic! It had a one-line screen, and didn't actually type the line until you'd read it through onscreen and corrected it!! It was like living in science fiction, man!!!

[julesjones]

I thought about buying one of those, but they weren't that cheap, and my mother had a rather nice little portable she wasn't using, which was far less attractive to thieves... I've still got that typewriter somewhere in storage. Don't think much of my chances of finding a ribbon for it in Smith's nowadays, though.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Indeed, they were so not-cheap I had to see my bank manager to negotiate a loan. He sucked air through his teeth and told me I was a classic bad risk - then gave me the loan anyway, and thus established a precedent I still embrace: a life encumbered by massive debts and beautiful machinery. It really was a highly sexy machine: charcoal-grey, delta-V in shape and the size of a Star Trek console. Indeed, it still is: for yes, I have it still. And no, I can't get ribbons for it.

[julesjones]

By the time I was in third year they were just about within range for a middle class student who didn't spend money on beer or tobacco -- but I would have had *no* discretionary money left, and it would have been but a poor substitute for the computer I couldn't afford, when I had a manual typewriter available and only the occasional need for typescript.

The only reason I already knew how to type was having done computer studies at school, on a selection of DECWriters, and then done a stint doing data entry etc, and I had every intention of going back to something with programming capability as soon as it was feasible to do so. Ideally at an employer's expense. Which in fact I did; and to the great amusement of my colleagues, I used the terminal room as a substitute for pen and paper whenever possible, until such time as I got a VT340 to call my own.

The one thing I *will* use pen and paper for is taking notes at a meeting, or these days in con panels. Fortunately I get on well with Graffiti on the Palm, which is why I bug autopope about handwriting recognition whenever he waxes lyrical about some palm-sized device. The Palm TX he was pimping to me recently is indeed a thing of beauty, and I am sorely tempted to get one in the near future.