How Much Do You Write?

[khalameet]

Hello!

 

I wanted to ask you all a simple question (which is pretty much the title of this thread).

I often have times where I don't need to write something with my pens at all. I am a student. Of course I have to take notes at university (as a soon to be electrical engineer many things are done on computer and not hand written) and I write notes and calculations at work, but when I am at home I don't have a need for my pens. I have a journal which I use at least twice a week, but that is pretty much it. I would like to write more and go through my various inks and empty bottles (yes, that is a thing). But I don't have a practical use for my pens.

 

How is your situation?

[Charles Skinner]

Yes, yes, YES! ---- Most folks these days, rarely have a need to "put pen to paper." I gave my son a nice pen about twelve years ago, and about two years ago, he gave it back to me, saying ----- "Dad, thanks for the pen, but I almost NEVER write ANYTHING with pencil or pen these days. About the only thing is to write and sign checks. Everything else is done electronically!"

 

So, there will come a time when our handwriting will be something like drawings on cave walls by prehistoric people! Our handwriting days are numbered!

 

But, for me, I am a very, very serious journal writer, for the past thirty or forty years or so. MY VERY LAST WORD IN THIS "VEIL OF TEARS," will likely be a hand written word from a fountain pen!

 

So the only thing that never changes, is that "ALL THINGS CHANGE!"

 

I am not worried in the least by the fact that likely many, if not most, people in the future will not be able to read my cursive handwriting! I WRITE FOR MYSELF, NOT OTHERS!

 

Be for real, and WRITE ON!

 

C. S.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I don't know if I write a lot, but I do write daily.

 

I make shopping lists, take notes for research, make notes for myself. Sometimes when I'm writing an article, I'll write the first draft by hand but much of the time I'll use my typewriter.

 

I probably go through one to three refillable converters of ink on a normal week. More if I'm writing for a big project.

 

 

In other news, someone was telling me their kids didn't learn cursive writing in school. I thought that was really funny because when I was a kid, we always sought out ways of communicating that the adults wouldn't understand. Secret codes, languages, pig latin. Now, as an adult, I have a secret language (cursive writing) that the kids won't understand. oh, how things have changed. I'm going to annoy so many of my friend's kids with this.

[PAKMAN]

Sadly not as much as I used to .

[dan in montreal]

I write every day. I'm a compulsive list maker (stuff to do, daily objectives, books to read, etc). It's something I've always done, even as a child. I also take notes here and there for work, I grade papers, write in a journal. I write fiction, but not seriously enough. Writing keeps me grounded and when things get hectic, relatively sane. And it's fun to do.

[WarrenB]

Not anywhere near enough to justify the pens in my pot and on my wishlist.

[inkstainedruth]

In other news, someone was telling me their kids didn't learn cursive writing in school. I thought that was really funny because when I was a kid, we always sought out ways of communicating that the adults wouldn't understand. Secret codes, languages, pig latin. Now, as an adult, I have a secret language (cursive writing) that the kids won't understand. oh, how things have changed. I'm going to annoy so many of my friend's kids with this.

 

I keep a morning pages journal. So at the very least I'm writing three pages every morning.

I make lists, write checks, make research notes for projects, copy down recipes from books, draw sometimes, write poetry first drafts, and have made a stab at a novel.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ridiculopathy]

I started a 3-year journal this year.

 

With only a few lines allocated per day, I just write down what I remember happening that day without worrying about how interesting it is or if I miss a few days. I have another journal if I feel the need to expand on particular days. The benefits are: I have a use for the A5 Tomoe River notebook spare(s) I bought, I write with my pens almost everyday, and I don’t feel like life has passed me by when I read the reminders of each day.

[TaylorJ]

I write in two journals (long story) as well as making all my notes and lists by hand. And I do Morning Pages - see: Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way. Basically 3 full pages of freewriting every morning.

Oh, and I send snail-mail to some of my family, and I hand-write all that of course.

 

In the end I write probably the equivalent of 4-6 pages a day, on average. There have been days in which I use a whole converter's worth of ink, if I focus on one pen that day. There is the rare off day when I miss my Morning Pages and am too busy to do much journaling, but those are rare.

 

-Taylor

[Studio97]

I write in my journal almost daily and make notes about this that everyday. I do not own a computer...don't want one, don't need one,....computers need attention, security, updates and so on. No thanks. Managing a smart phone is enough for me. I prefer to write on paper than keep digital records.

[MHBru]

I have found opportunities to write daily.. I use fountain pens exclusively for work and I work from home so no worries about carrying expensive stuff around. Certainly all of my scratch notes made during phone calls go into one notebook. (brands vary) If I have a software demo there are notes in a separate Rhodia meeting book both to prep and for any notes and followup. My monthly planning and any project work go into a Leuchtturm 1917 dot grid. I keep a common place journal that is a Rhodia A5 notebook. (It's my only hardcover notebook on the assumption that it will be around after I no longer am.) I write personal note cards to customers and prospective customers. Finally, I have a couple of pen pals that I write using G Lalo A4 paper. One final notebook is my ink journal which is a Black n Red A4. Fountain pens are used exclusively for all of the above. I have 9 pens and more than that in ink. Each day I use a different pen. I thoroughly enjoy using them and am working on improving my penmanship. I'm within a few years of retirement and will have to come up with other ideas when that day comes...

[ardene]

I try to write daily, even if only ramblings which end up in the recycling bin. On average I fill in from two to twelve A4 pages every week. When I take notes I need, there’s some empty space on the page, naturally.

[Moruk]

I suppose I have, some would say, too much time on my hands, but I've finished copying out Homer's Iliad (Peter Green's translation), and I'm now deep into Emily Wilson's new Odyssey. I keep 10 or so pens inked, and ever time there's a break in the poem, I change pens. Silly, I know, but at least I'm able to use my pens purposefully. I tried a book or two of Paradise Lost (I need relatively short lines to copy, I think), but abandoned the project because Milton is too "Latinate" for my tastes. Great stuff to read but less so to copy.

[penwash]

I don't write with my fountain pens, I draw sketches.

[Tom Kellie]

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I don't write with my fountain pens, I draw sketches.

gorgeous work!

 

I wish I could draw but I understood at an early age, this isn't a skill I have. I draw with words instead. But nothing as beautiful as your art. Wow! Thank you for sharing with us.

[MyPenAndI]

I have lived with a personal mantra since the Christmas just before my 8th birthday:

 

"I am a writer. Writers write...every day."

 

Recently, I amazed myself by realizing that I hadn't written a word in more than a decade. I've typed them.

 

In 2019, I will write them. Every day. It's not, for me a goal, but a necessity...mostly of my soul.

[Studio97]

gorgeous work!

 

I wish I could draw but I understood at an early age, this isn't a skill I have. I draw with words instead. But nothing as beautiful as your art. Wow! Thank you for sharing with us.

I am back to my Midori Travelers journal. I draw on the pages, paste in photos and photos of my artwork, street photography photos and my notes. If you don't draw I suggest adding photos and paper ephemera. My writing is about any subject: personal, local national, world wide.

[DrDebG]

Great thread!

 

I have kept a written journal for over 40 years, and have kept them stored away in plastic boxes in the attic. Someday, my children/grandchildren may like to read them.

 

I also use my fountain pens for work, make notes from readings, and anything else.

 

Many people have told me I have an interesting way of working: I make extensive notes, drawings, etc. then import the information to my computer, redrafting, reworking and revamping, then back to pen and paper for final edits. Somehow the written word on paper helps my thinking process. It slows me down enough for complex, critical thinking.

 

When I was in graduate school, all of my fellow students thought I was crazy. I took handwritten notes! They all took notes on their computers. The act of taking handwritten notes helped me remember molecular and cellular flow. All of my professors thought I had a photographic memory. I don't. I just take good notes and remember the structures, flow - how it all came together or flew apart.

[WarrenB]

I wish I could draw but I understood at an early age, this isn't a skill I have.

Few do! It's a thing that must be practised, like any other skill.

 

And I agree: lovely sketches.

 

The act of taking handwritten notes helped me remember molecular and cellular flow.

I took handwritten notes and diagrams of the Krebs cycle. Beforehand, my response was 'duh?' Afterwards, my response was 'guh?'

 

I should have practised more.

 

Tomorrow (well, today, but let's give dawn a chance) is the First of January. A new bullet journal and... burble journal are ready and waiting to go. 'How much I write' should shoot up by a few hundred percent.