What To Write...

[ethernautrix]

I pick a thread on FPN and copy it all down in a notebook, color-coded by pos--

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't even finish picturing that. Joke fail.

[Avetikus]

I'm keeping a webnotebook of things I think about. In a household of the Now I find that actually being able to run through some long thoughts in ink helps keep it all in perspective when everyone's home and the drama begins: yay teenage daughters. I'll also put in memories of some of the stupid stuff I did as a younger man and again, have had it be useful when a fella at work needed a helpful ear and a sympathetic voice. "This is what I did and here's how it blew up in my face."

 

I'm using a Staples arc for just pen ink combinations. Pretty dry reading. I will start using it for ink and pen combinations where all the though processes will be "seems dry.. no it's getting wetter as I write, guess I should have washed it before loading a new pen with ink".. blah blah.

 

And I think I'll start another for an idea mentioned in this thread. I've got shakespeare's completed works on my nook (easy access, no dust) and have written out a few of his sonnets. Shakespeare's not girly poems.. but it sorta is. Meh. Guess it is what it is. I'll write out some more and also some Scripture and maybe even work on memorizing more than the opening paragraph of the Declaration and the Constitution. When it gets to the lists I just go blank, though.. too much like High School history.

 

Well, good luck on yours.

[pinkbulldog]

Let's just say, I've perfected my signature. In all seriousness, any time I use a pen, if it's not a fountain pen, I consider it an opportunity wasted. In order to use as many of my pens as I can, I assign them to tasks. For instance, I have a list-making pen, a check-writing pen, an accounting pen, a pen for each journal I'm keeping, ink testing pens, etc. The rest either wait patiently to find favor, or try to one-up the last pen by adding a special flourish to that oft-practiced signature.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I see those period of "writers block" as a blessing in disguise.

 

If you don't have anything to pay attention to writing down don't pay attention to What you are writing down, focus on HOW you are writing it down.

 

Use that time to practice your penmanship.

 

There are few of us here that can't use a little help there.

 

The benefit to not worrying about WHAT you write is that allows you to focus on just the pure mechanics of forming the words you put down, not what those words mean to anyone.

 

IMO it helps here to use some poem, piece of scripture or song lyric that you've already memorized for some reason so that allows you to focus even more on HOW you're writing than on What.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Edited February 1, 2012 by OcalaFlGuy

[GemMayhem]

Tyler,

 

Thanks for starting this thread! I have really enjoyed reading everyone's contributions. Thanks to all who shared great ideas!

 

I have found that in a technology-driven society, increasingly relying on electronic communications, there is a new-found appreciation for handwritten notes. I stocked up on correspondence cards and small notecards to make it even easier for me to take a few moments out of the day to write a note of appreciation to people. I also try to send a letter every week to a couple of special family members.

 

I also love to write and doodle with my pens and have a number of journals going at the moment.

 

One is my gratitude journal that I try to write in on a regular basis. Even on the most challenging days, I look for a silver lining in the cloud. It's almost like training oneself to focus on the positive and to be more mindful of the many blessings in one's life. On a similar note, in my daily journal, I end each entry with 'three great things about my day'.

 

I also keep a journal used for creative writing and doodling. On the creative side, I draw upon all sorts of things for inspiration - people-watching in airports, short articles about people in newspapers, etc. - I try to create 'characters' out of the people and then weave a story about what led the characters to the point at which I observe them. People traveling are a wonderful source of characters and potential plots and the activity definitely makes waiting for delayed flights a bit more endurable.

 

Another journal of sorts, started recently as a result of a conversation with a fellow FPN member, is one that I am using to capture memories of my parents, their advice and some of their priceless quotes. At the moment, it is mostly for my own benefit, but years from now, it may become something other family members may wish to read, contribute to, or have a copy, so I am very carefully writing in the best penmanship I can muster with an eternal ink on archival paper.

 

And all of the above are made even more enjoyable by using my cherished collection of fountain pens and inks.

 

Happy writing!

 

All the Best,

Gem

[Essensia]

I write about...the pen I'm using, the pens it shares the collection with, how they get on with each other, what I want from each pen, which one's should go, agonise over the expense of them all, what kind of ink teams up well with them...

 

and then some diary entry notes for shopping lists and maybe even some notes for work.

 

Now this is something I have done before. I guess I just felt odd doing it, but know that I know someone else does... I don't feel so bad anymore.

That makes 3 of us . Then there are always ink wish lists to be written and revised, pen wish lists to be written and revised, and musings regarding why my experience with a particular pen or ink is completely different than someone else's.

 

This is all in the last hour or so before bed as part of the winding-down process. It's also useful to just gush a stream of consciousness onto paper to sort out the events of the day.

 

I shred almost all of it. I don't want to be bogged down by remembrances of "me" at any particular moment. They are sand paintings in the wind, and not very good sand paintings at that!

[Tberry010]

Tyler: Many good suggestions here and I hesitated to add these, but since you asked for ideas here are a few:

Write down the first ten or twenty questions you would ask 1) your favorite author, 2) the fifteen people you admire the most from ancient times, then from modern times, 3) the first person to eat an oyster.

Start writing the basic ideas and plot outline, maybe with character sketches, of your next novel.You don't have to finish the first novel before writing the outline of the next.

 

When all else fails you can always resort to the 'What if' game. Take anything ,or any subject ,or any idea, or any historic event, or physical object, and postulate the 'what if' of some major change. What if someone revealed a real cure for cancer tomorrow? What would be the effect of that? What if it was learned that gravity was slowly but surely diminishing and would at the rate it was going completely disappear within ten or twenty years? What if you were asked to re-write the rules of your favorite sport? The possibilities are endless.

 

If you just want something to write you can always open a dictionary and start copying the definitions of words you don't know or don't know well. You will enjoy the writing and learn something at the same time.

[someonesdad]

One thing I've always done is keep a travel notebook to make notes when traveling. This was especially handy for our youngest daughter, as she loves to go back and read about those things we did when she was a child. Writing also has a way of capturing things that can't be caught by photos or video, such as impressions, pulling out a tiny but significant part of the experience, etc. Trust me, kids love reading this stuff decades later -- and so do I. The words can bring back a flood of memories, especially if you make a point to read them every couple of years.

 

The other thing I do is keep a lab notebook. This is for entering anything I think is significant or took me time to figure out. It also keeps track of any ideas or designs of things I have. It isn't a formal notebook like I kept when I was working, but it serves the same purpose. Since I like to be brief, part of the challenge is to make the number of words small and put a lot in small drawings. Doing it in ink makes me more careful too.

 

And I'm jotting small notes on index cards at random times during the day because I keep some in a pocket next to the fountain pen. It's never hard to find something to write about.

[humblescribbler]

I've had great "starters" by opening up the "Random Thoughts" thread on FPN Chatter and answering for myself any given question on a random page. Sometimes I get a paragraph out of it, sometimes I continue writing into the night on my answer.

 

I've gotten through other mental blocks by treating myself like I used to do my kids growing up, "So tell me the very worst thing or person that happened to you today. And now the very best."

 

Some days when journals seem too intimidating and "permanent", I write on plain paper tablets with the intent (if not followed through every time) of throwing away every sheet. The times when something gets recorded I actually think has potential, I fold into my journal and re-copy later.

 

And or course as many have said, I write "What am I writing with now? How's this pen feel? Hmmmm, do I even like this ink?" etc.

[LeBrusc]

So guys, what do you do when you feel like writing with your fountain pen, but you have nothing to write?

 

I love my pens, but I often feel they don't get enough use. I love writing letters, but I don't have that many people to write to, who still enjoy that form of communication.

 

Any ideas? All suggestions appreciated!

 

Regards,

Tyler Dahl

 

Copying someone else's writing is an option. I had a lot of fun doing this

Then again, I have a journal for my lists of every sort of things but this does not make a lot of writing daily.

Also, I draw with my pens and doodle. This does not take any thought at the beginning and I use blank sheet if I do not want to take the risk with a journal (then I sometimes cut and paste into it).

[Zaphodbeeblebrox]

I do puzzles with my fountain pens.

 

Cramer

[Paddler]

I sometimes go to the local greasy spoon and get a story. You have to find a joint where the food is good and the prices are reasonable. At about 9:00 AM, "The Boys Who Breakfast" will come in for their oatmeal, wheat toast, and Postum. If you know one of them, try to sit in and get them talking. Otherwise, eavesdrop. Haul their stories home and write them down.

 

At about 1:00 PM, "The Ladies Who Lunch" will come in. Eavesdrop here, if you have the stomach for it. Their stories usually run to disgusting medical procedures and whose husband is on Flomax.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Paddler

[JimB]

Journaling works. Write down key points of your day, add "one good thing" that happened, and that's it. Soon you'll be writing philosophical thoughts about your life. That occurs only after you accept you are writing only for yourself, and believe it to be so.

 

I have (1) a daily journal, (2) an idea journal and (3) a writing journal. The #2 get used only if I happen upon an idea for a story or something that needs to be done, #3 gets primed from #2 and results in first drafts of stories that, hopefully, don't stink like #2. (If you get my drift)

[Zaphodbeeblebrox]

Eavesdrop......

 

Really, your encouraging people to eavesdrop!?!

 

Wow, now I know why I do not like going out in public!

[NeelsK]

So guys, what do you do when you feel like writing with your fountain pen, but you have nothing to write?

 

I love my pens, but I often feel they don't get enough use. I love writing letters, but I don't have that many people to write to, who still enjoy that form of communication.

 

Any ideas? All suggestions appreciated!

 

Regards,

Tyler Dahl

 

Your'e in luck!! Today is the start of the Month of Letters campaign organized by Mary Robinette Kowal. Take look here: Month of Letters

 

Hope that gets the addiction sorted

 

Neels

[Paddler]

Eavesdrop......

 

Really, your encouraging people to eavesdrop!?!

 

Wow, now I know why I do not like going out in public!

Of course, eavesdrop. You don't say anything in a public place that you don't want the world to know. You don't put anything on paper or in a computer that you don't want the world to know. It has always been that way. Get used to it.

[Orange25]

I write down my dreams (when I can remember them!). Amazing to read back some of the things you recall and what your mind thinks of.

 

You could also try writing up some of the major news stories for each day. Most newspapers will have a headline and a short paragraph to introduce their main story. Makes for an interesting way of keeping a summary of the news when you look back in a few years.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Orange25

[LeBrusc]

So guys, what do you do when you feel like writing with your fountain pen, but you have nothing to write?

 

I love my pens, but I often feel they don't get enough use. I love writing letters, but I don't have that many people to write to, who still enjoy that form of communication.

 

Any ideas? All suggestions appreciated!

 

Regards,

Tyler Dahl

 

Your'e in luck!! Today is the start of the Month of Letters campaign organized by Mary Robinette Kowal. Take look here: Month of Letters

 

Hope that gets the addiction sorted

 

Neels

 

 

Thank you thank you for this link !

I signed up and wrote my first letter right after... and will now run to the post office!

 

 

 

[NeelsK]

 

Thank you thank you for this link !

I signed up and wrote my first letter right after... and will now run to the post office!

Sent you my address. Or you can PM me yours and I will send the first one

[Hex]

I'm the same way Tyler and yesterday, for the 1st time I began copying some of the examples on the penmanship thread, especially by member GClef.

Also trying to develop my own style.

GClef