What You Guys Write?

[jameswatts]

The first draft of my novella, "The Nick of Time," was written by hand with a variety of fountain pens.

 

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/nickoftime/the-nick-of-time-chapter-one-episode-i-am-not/article_8c6ea82a-5275-5a22-8695-55a87c9df16a.html

 

 

All the notes I make in my day job as a journalist are made with fountain pens. Over written13 plays that have been produced and all of them were originally written with fountain pens.

 

Basically anything I make a mark on paper I use a fountain pen

[Shaggy]

I journal my thoughts and recovery notes (friend of Lois), I brainstorm fiction by hand, I keep a brief work diary by dat so I have a record of when things were done and delegated, and I track goals and project plans.

 

I'm a lifelong student of Italian and I often practice writing in that language.

[inkandseeds]

Raphael,

 

Can you write a book by hand? The American historian Shelby Foote claims to have written his history of the American Civil War with a dip pen. Claims the dip pen would help put him in the period. He would write with the dip pen, then type it up. Pre-computer.

 

Oh, his history was 1.2 million words long.

 

dave

[fplover01]

I keep a diary where I put down all important thoughts, events and so on. I also have a calendar where I note all my appointments and my schedule.

[AAAndrew]

Raphael,

 

Can you write a book by hand? The American historian Shelby Foote claims to have written his history of the American Civil War with a dip pen. Claims the dip pen would help put him in the period. He would write with the dip pen, then type it up. Pre-computer.

 

Oh, his history was 1.2 million words long.

 

dave

 

The current edition of his three-volume series comes out to just over 3000 pages. He wrote it all with an Esterbrook 313 Probate stub dip pen. He bought out what Esterbrook had when they stopped making them.

 

The Probate is a fairly "coarse" (i.e. broad) stub nib. Here's what a page looked like.

 

 

I would have used a 442 Jackson Stub or 239 Chancellors Pen myself. Finer and smoother than the Probate. To each his own.

[Bill]

I wouldn't worry about struggling with a journal. It should not be a chore. I've failed at daily journals many times. However, I have found value in keeping journals for specific projects.

 

An example: documenting my mother's last year in her battle with cancer. It started with notes taken in a moleskine and fountain pen at our first visit with her medical team. As time went on, the medical notes took second place to writing down her reactions, observations, and quotes. My last entry was made the day after she died and I put the notebooks away. A few months ago, I pulled one out and read some of our phone conversations and its brought me to tears. The immediacy of the raw writing made contemporaneous to the calls seems to have a power I could not duplicate by turning to a computer.

 

Also I find notebooks great for documenting consulting projects, one per client. I think I can find notes from a specific phone conversation faster in a 5x8 notebook than if I had buried it somewhere in one of my computers ;-)

 

BTW, novelist Neal Stephenson, who is so much of a tech geek that you would think he would ignore pens, actually writes the first draft of his massive novels with fountain pen. He said it helps him slow down to think more clearly and avoid including too much junk that clutters up the editing process. And he said that he can edit faster with the pen than with the computer.

[BillZ]

I keep a daily journal since 2007 when I got my first new pen in about30 years. Yes, it tends to be repetitive but that's OK with me. I also keep a separate

travel journal. I use it for any out-of-town trips that include an overnight stay. These are a great help in remembering places, sights, etc. later. I have a list of 1bout 15 friends/relatives to whom I write letters at least every two weeks. Take any opportunity to put nib to paper .

[Bo Bo Olson]

Notes to a western saga I am writing. There are still places on the net that don't allow copying, and I need the info...or think I do.

 

Occasional scene. There is a difference in flow between writing by hand and typing. With big flowing arrows things can be moved with out taking much time when writing.

Editing and with an EF in an F is too fat. That is the only time I use an EF, in normally I like shading inks.

 

Rough draft....is faster when writing by hand. ... on occasion.

 

Just because something is repeated often on the net don't make it right. I have a minor, minor two paragraph character, where it stated, he married well, his mother-in-law giving 19 slaves and 200 acres on marriage. So I was going to make him handsome.

It was his mother that gave the slaves and that was not for marriage.... He was handsome, if his brother is a guide. But one must look in the grave memorial, other than history, and the census. The grave memorial contradicted the so called history internet blurbs.

All three are 'new' if one wants some history in the book.

 

He was well off in 1860/70 and 80. Another of his brothers, who is more important to the book, wasn't quite so well off. One is in a silk shirt, the other cotton or linen.

 

City Directories, Sanborn Insurance maps are a great help too. What did the street look like exactly. Who worked in what building, where did he live. Was he young, or old. Did he have a family, and how old were his kids. ie, a bootmaker is an important minor character in one did need boots that fit...if one had the money. Or a shop that sold ready made boots, had who working in it. The exact name.

Did he move his shop/house to a better place making him vigorous. A cheaper place = too much time in the saloon for the 'free lunch'. Beer breath.

 

The old time City Directories were such a help, they listed where the guy worked.

 

Do check the census sheet, which listed wealth up to 1880, and the various ancestor com's are a help .... when free.

[Sailor Kenshin]

The first draft of my novella, "The Nick of Time," was written by hand with a variety of fountain pens.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/nickoftime/the-nick-of-time-chapter-one-episode-i-am-not/article_8c6ea82a-5275-5a22-8695-55a87c9df16a.html

All the notes I make in my day job as a journalist are made with fountain pens. Over written13 plays that have been produced and all of them were originally written with fountain pens.

Basically anything I make a mark on paper I use a fountain pen

Looks interesting!

 

I posted a fan fic today. Much of it was originally written by hand.

[alexander_k]

After a period of quite intensive work with mobile devices until 2009, when everything I wrote was digital, I concluded that neither my eyes nor my hands appreciated that. Since then I've been using my fountain pens (old love, since the early age of eight) as much as I can, for everything and anything, and as neatly as the circumstances allow. Work texts always start on paper, first as unstructured notes on A5 paper and then as complete texts on A4 paper, which are subsequently typed on a computer. I don't know if the quality of my work has improved but I'm enjoying it more in this way. As for private texts, my friends appreciate a handwritten letter almost as much as I love writing it.

[iwiber]

Guys

 

I wasn't expecting that much replies, thank you very much, it gives me a lot of ideas and will keep this post in my bookmark!

 

Raphael

[Freedom]

Since I began using FPs approx. 3 years ago, It has become a great outlet to help me express whatever is on my mind. Very therapeutic. For some reason, typing on a computer or any other electronic devices doesn't accomplish the same. The pen/ink/paper is sort of a conduit which can tap in my soul/mind.

Other than that, I have just finished handwritting close to 100 thank you cards for our wedding. I also use whatever EDC pen I've got inked up (usually a Lamy Safary or Pilot Metropolitan) for my numerous ToDo lists! lol

[william2001]

I use my pen usually at school, and of course, getting in trouble for that (only pencils are allowed for writing on my science lab guide: "William, how many times do I have to tell you not to use a pen!").

 

William S. Park

[inkstainedruth]

City Directories, Sanborn Insurance maps are a great help too.

A number of years ago I went to a thing near me called "The Old House Fair" (which was like a home show, but geared specifically to people in the Pittsburgh area renovating older homes -- our house was originally built around 1885). Someone mentioned the Sanborn Insurance map books as a good way to get information about your property and neighborhood, and the Heinz History Center's library had one from 1926 showing the original footprint of our house: the house was formerly (more or less) L shaped, much like the old farmhouse across the street from us -- one of the oldest buildings in the borough. There is a bump out I presume is may be a covered porch (sometime after that the back corner was closed in) -- but it may also be a covered well, since that's above where the "well" room in the basement is. (The map books were for figuring out the property's value, for insurance purposes -- even if they weren't *your* insurance carrier.)

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jameswatts]

Looks interesting!

I posted a fan fic today. Much of it was originally written by hand.

Thank you!

[clazbill]

I write my daily notes at work with whatever fountain pens I'm carrying. Makes me slow down a bit and keep track of what I'm doing. Also a good break from looking into computer screens.

 

 

I have a journal as well. I don't write it in every day, or even every week. Sometimes I draw/sketch (badly, but hey, it is just for me), sometimes I write lists, sometimes I do real entries.

 

One idea that has been fantastic for me: Write the date. Prompt is "today I am grateful for:" and write for 3 minutes. Or longer. Entries range from Big Serious Things to "eggs came out great this morning at breakfast". Something you can try; 3 entires a week for a month. You might surprise yourself.

Edited January 23, 2016 by clazbill

[basterma]

I am a Secondary School Math teacher. I write my lesson plans, log my assignments, reflect on my lessons and solve problems. I also reluctantly take minute notes when required.

[iwiber]

 

One idea that has been fantastic for me: Write the date. Prompt is "today I am grateful for:" and write for 3 minutes. Or longer.

 

That, I like!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thank you!

I finally finished it! Wish I'd 'discovered' it about a month ago.

[stevew443]

I keep a little journal and will just write whatever comes to my mind, mostly mindless drivel. I do this not so much to journal my life, but to force myself to put pen to paper every day and to keep in practice and work on improving my hand. One never knows, maybe one day I will come up with something worth writing and it will be put on paper for all times, or at least until I toss the journal.