I decided to keep blogging every day for the year, but I don’t have a cute name for the blogging every day. Blogging Every Day in 2011: BED11. BED11. Hahahahahaha. Maybe that name is cute enough. Or will it make me too tired?
I received a number of fabulous prompt suggestions. And I also went through my little dayplanner and wrote a word or several on each of the dates for the first few weeks of January. The prompts are loose and easy breezy so there is lots of wiggle room for interpretation. Things like “dog.” It is entirely possible that I will not have time or energy to go into five thousand words about my feelings every day so let’s just put it out there, sometimes there will be a rhyming poem instead. Or a chunk of random character development. Or a photo with a very clever caption. Don’t worry i intend to be as clever as I can. If at any point you feel like using a prompt at your own blog, DO IT! I support you!
Today’s prompt is Which Writing Implement is your Favourite and Why?
First, let me say how much I hate pencils. Hate them. Torture devices, pencils. Maybe it’s the reminder of school days or the smell of “math” in the lead or the squeaking noise they make if they’re not sharp / too sharp. Maybe it’s that they BREAK when you’re using them and then you have to stop using them and sharpen them, what a pain in the ass that is. But I do love pencil sharpeners, not as much as Amber, but a fair bit. Especially the wall-mounted kind.
I guess I don’t like pencils because I use a writing utensil for writing, not drawing or drafting or doing calculations, and pencils are not good for writing. They are too pale and capricious. If you press hard, they protest. Also, they are erasable, which is not useful when you are prone to fits of self doubt. You can cross out an entire paragraph written in pen, but it’s still there, underneath the strike. Erase pencil and it is gone.
So, PENS!
My preference is for black, roller-ball pens. 0.7 mm. I used to swear by the Pilot pens – all my old notebooks are coated in Pilot pen ink. But this summer I was at a random big box store and I bought some pens made by Pentel. They are called the Pentel EnerGel, they are also 0.7 mm and there is a little green blob on the side that says “recycology” which has got to be the most awkward word I have read in a while.
(If you say it out loud, it’s okay. It sounds like Re-Psychology. But when I read “recy” my brain wants to finish with “cle” and the “cology” is confusing. To me.)
From the website:
In our Recycology™ products we ensure that all products meet strict environmental standards. We use both recycled content and post-consumer recycled content in these products. All products in this line are made from a minimum of 50% recycled content excluding consumable content and refills.
What I like about this particular pen is its smooth, even, dark flow. It doesn’t blotch, or run. It doesn’t make annoying scratchy noises on the paper. It doesn’t have a clicky top to distract me from what I should be doing. I will write in any colour, in a pinch, but black is my favourite. I think because in school we could only use blue pens. Apparently I have been quite damaged by school. A topic for another day.
What do you like to write things with?
PS: A respectful nod to my laptop, which allows me to write a lot of things. I don’t want to piss it off and make it stop working by ignoring it in favour of pens, because that would end this little year-long experiment real quick-like. I suppose I could write blog posts on index cards and leave them lying around on the ground but then I’d lose a lot of readers. I love you computer!
BED11 sounds a lot like bedlam.
I agree with the above; it does sound like “bedlam” and that is awesome. Nice post. I’m a Uniball Deluxe (blue) kind of person and I agree with you about pencils. Except machanical pencils. Those I can live with.
If I write longhand, I rather love pencils. I like their glide. I imagine it has to do with handwriting – pressure, angle, all that jazz.
REALLY. That is interesting. I have handwriting that is not conducive to pencils. Maybe. Hm.
ps you could totally work for the government, they lurrrve their pencils.
BED11 will surely also add traffic flow? I do like a pen but I like glittery $store sparkly pens when making to do lists. I like my desktop for other writing.
Black pen. I kind of like the Papermate flexgrip ultra fine because the barrel isn’t unforgiving hard plastic. It’s just a little cushy, but not so cushy you have lost control.
I remember when we wrote report cards by hand, one full page of cursive writing per child with enough pressure to make three copies. Then the choice of pen mattered.
Pencils are good for sketching, I like the B variety for sketching and shading.
But, I’ll take a computer anyday. Cut and paste. Try and do that with your pen!
The finest tip blue pens I can find. At work we have these fine tipped blue pens that are a retro 70s shade of yellow. Bliss.
I am also going to try to get back to one post a day. I high five you and look forward to your amazing writing.
Green or purple ballpoint. Pencils for crosswords and my calendar.