Just a quick hello since I have been lurking a while. I am new to the whole fountain pen experience having just purchased a Varsity as my first. I really enjoy the different feel but quickly realized there was a lot more possibility to this than I had imagined.

If you asked me a month ago if i had any interest in pens I would have laughed. My wife has always had a strange fascination with them but I certainly could not relate. I generally have avoided writing at all cost since I was quite young. My handwriting is nearly illegible - I think it is highly likely I am a victim of sinister hand retraining as all three of my kids are lefties and I have always been a bit ambidextrous. I am an IT professional so I have used a keyboard rather than pen whenever possible. The past couple of years though I have been in management and spend much of my day writing in notepads or day planners so I have been on a quest to make the chore as pleasant as I can. I am finding that the little things help a lot.

First the path sent me down the dark roads of day planners which can be an addiction all their own. Then I figured a decent pen was in order so after happening across a reference to the Varsity I got a pack of three to try. Now I find myself in the odd position of wanting to learn better handwriting after 36 years on the planet... A month ago I couldn't fathom spending $10 on a pen and now I am strangely drawn to pens that can put a decent dent in a paycheck. Worse, I can see having MANY such pens.

Anyway, hello and I will go back into lurking mode until I start shopping again. I think I hear a flex nib calling my name...

-Craig

Hello & welcome to the great, and sometimes costly, world of pens.... I love your part of the world. Sat here in a very damp, cold & rainy Manchester but going to view my pens in a bit so it aint all bad is it

Hi and welcome too. I haven't yet been to your vicinity but I know where that is and have heard that so many of us senior citizens etc move to Florida just because they are sick and tired of having life-long rain.
Well back to the topic... I wish my wife would like FPs as much a I do, thus I can't relate either.

'ave ze nice dayo.

Mike

Craig, welcome to FPN!

Hi Craig.

Welcome aboard. It looks like you are falling under the spell too. I am afraid that it might already be too late for you if you have the encouragement of your wife. I, unlike Lapis, appreciate the fact that my wife is not into pens or else my collection would be a lot larger and our back account a lot smaller.

Regards,

Neil

Hello,Craig--welcome to FPN! I'm just down the road from you in Tampa! You'll find lots to see and know
about fountain pens,ink and etc. Plenty of folks to ask questions relating to FPs!

John

hello and welcome to FPN

Kurt

Welcome Craig.

Welcome, Craig. I have family in the Ocala area and I've been to Disney World 35 times so I know
Orlando area fairly well.

There's so much to enjoy about pens; enjoy it all!

Regards,
Vintner

Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I might be willing to trade climates with a few of you after the last couple of years with the Hurricanes and Tropical storms - I am just now finishing the drywall repairs to my home from the last round of storms...

Curiously not 1 day after my first post my wife approached me with a half dozen fountain and dip pens to see if i was interested in them. Most are shaeffer calligraphy point pens but it feeds the addiction...

-Craig

You gotta start somewhere...........

John

C'mon Craig, you know we don't discuss those things until November arrives safely...

Hello, from across I-4!

-Jason

I think there are more central Florida people here than any other place I go.

And, of course, there are no pen stores anywhere to be found in Orlando save for the boutique at Milennia.

Welcome!!
I also am in Orlando... really in Orlando, near UCF.
I share your feelings about penmanship, and I'm an addicted Day Runner user.
Two pens you might consider, without breaking the bank, are the Waterman Phileas
and Reform 1745. I bought one of JJ Blanches' 1745 and am very pleased with it. Others sell
the 1745 but JJ tunes his, if you'd like.
The people on this site can answer any question you have about pens, ink, paper and journals.
In my 63 years on the planet, I've never kept a journal. Now I do, if only as an excuse to write.
Again, welcome, and all the best.
Barry

Hi and welcome to this lovely network!
I think almost all of your questions about FPs will be answered, if you ask them here

Hello Craig!

Welcome, Craig.

If you currently use Pilot Varsitys you're likely to enjoy a Pilot 78G--an inexpensive but tactilely pleasing "permanent pen" corporate sib of the Varsity.