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Your Carry For Writing Letters?


mikeschu

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I'm considering writing letters again. On most days I have a few moments at work when I need to stare at a blank piece of paper, because my eyeballs have been glued to a computer screen for hours.

 

For those of you who write letters, want to write letters, or have the materials to write letters and can't get to it - what do you carry around with you on a daily basis? Obviously I need paper, pen, perhaps envelopes and stamps, but I'm looking for more specifics with what you personally carry with you to write a letter if the mood strikes. Knowing how many letters you write (or try to write) in a day or a week is also helpful for context.

 

Bonus points for those who share what they carry it all in, for organization's sake.

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149! :)

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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Parker 51, broad stub.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Well, let me see. I carry a Midori Traveler that holds some envelopes and stamps, plus addresses. Separately I have a Rhodia No.16 top-stapled lined pad that find suits me for general letters (and is actually the only decent paper I can source locally at less than exhorbitant pricing), and an Age Bag (Clairefontaine) lime green leather pencil case that houses a few ballpoints (yeah, I know) and various pencil related products. Oh, and recently I was given a Saki (?) pen roll by a friend to put my fountain pens in - though it is embarrasssingly holding just cheap Chinese pens at the moment as that's all I have. All of this gets chucked into an Osprey Quasar backpack and taken to school. If I had the funds I would try and source a murse that fitted the MTN and Rhodia plus a pen or two, just for convenience throughout the day.

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I have a Kokuyo Campus notebook with addresses and related information (user name/real name address) It has some other stuff in it too, but that is just doodles, and random stuff mostly. I keep track of IN/OUT - who and when both on the incoming letter and in this notebook. (that is a recent trend though in the notebook since mid April)

 

A manilla folder with the paper I usually use (Southworth Granite Specialty paper) and other paper, any letters I am responding to (3 in que at present), some envelopes (#10 business envelopes), which right now, are not in the folder but on the outside. At a job fair or someplace I got a vinyl envelope looking thing that I throw it all in.

 

I do a lot of writing on breaks at work. Pens, I usually have at least 3-5 with me at the office (usually more), but today I only had the one I put in my shirt pocket this morning before I left the house. My pen rolls never made it into my bag..... That was a weird feeling - only one FP and a Parker Latitude ballpoint as a backup....Fortunately I didn't need to use it as I had enough of an ink charge to make it through the day.

 

I often have a second paper of some sort as well. Something like Black n Red notebook paper as it has micro perfs on the wirebound versions so I can take it out easily.

Edited by Runnin_Ute

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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I carry

1. An inexpensive Apica notebook for first drafts

2. Seven Seas Tomoe River pad for final drafts (or whatever stationary I choose, but this as of late).

3. A small case for my arsenal for pens for the day

4. The last letter I received, for reference

 

I carry this in my LeSportsac Clio bag which also houses my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, an umbrella, and, in its own separate zip bag, my breakfast (today its grapefruit and whole wheat raisin toast), lunch (cottage cheese, crackers and fruit), and snacks (granola-morning and Lorna Doones-afternoon).

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I've been there several years ago and decided too to start writing letters again, only I write them at home, at leisure and with my favourite pens, which I certainly refuse to carrry with me all the time. I have several loose-leaf notebooks for various purposes, so I always have one on me and can write down what I want to include in a letter on a separate sheet, of course with a fountain pen like the Pilot Capless (excellent for this kind of work regardless of environment: standing up, in a cramped tram or train etc.). When at home I transfer the note sheets to the right place and when the mood takes me (practically every other morning or evening), I incorporate them in the letters I'm writing. I've tried writing the letters on the go but my handwriting tends to worsen under inhospitable conditions, which never elicits negative comments from my correspondents but nevertheless displeases me.

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I keep a modest supply of paper & envelopes in an old choir folder (quite sturdy). The folder's pockets are ample enough for me to include a couple sheets of blotting paper, stamps (paperclipped to the outside of the pocket), and the 3x5 cards on which I write my pen pals' addresses & keep track of I's and O's.

This goes in the main area of my ever-present book bag: a Maxpedition Larkspur. The front pockets of the book bag have storage for sample bottles, should I find myself in need of an ink refill.

I like to write at least four letters a week, but it doesn't always happen

Lux in Obscuro Sumus

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I carry a notebook and a small fountain pen in my shirt pocket. If I think of a good to include in a letter, I jot it down in the notebook. By the time I have gotten out my letter writing materials, I have probably thought of better ways to word the subject.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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I have an A4 Maruman notepad holder. Cheap, robust, holds a notepad or loose paper and has a pocket in the front for bits and pieces. Elastic strap holds it all together. Never had anything fall out. http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/maruman-septcouleur-notepad-holder.html

 

In it I carry my writing paper (usually Tomoe sheets, Rhodia A4+ 90sm ivory vellum pad, Basildon Bond pad or Clairefontaine Triomphe pad. Usually A4 size paper). In the pocket I have envelopes, return address labels, stamps, airmail stickers, scrap paper for taking notes, the letter(s) to be answered, blotting paper and lined guide sheet, any tuck-ins to be added to the letter(s).

 

Addresses of recipients are in my Contacts on my phone and tablet, password protected of course.

 

I carry my fountain pens(s) in a separate case. Maximum of 2 at work.

 

I rarely have time to finish a whole letter at work so I usually finish them at home. I keep a record of letters in and out and copies of the letters I send. I send an average of 4 a week, national and international.

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I'm fussing with different ways to carry letter-writing materials in my Midori. I'll be sitting down shortly (re-arranging the living room) to make a pocket-folder for my Midori, so that'll likely be where I store any paper and envelopes.

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I write letters primarily at home in a big comfy chair with my laptop serving as writing desk. My paper is mostly Tome River (so nice!) and have all my pens and inks available and frequently switch pen/ink/nib combination just for fun. Envelopes, I usually just buy cheap #10 envelpes.

 

Thanks for the idea of keeping a pocket notebook to jot down ideas to include in a letter or a response to a specific comment. I record when I receive a letter and when I reply but do not copy replies - though I have considered this.

 

I would enjoy additional pen pals. If anyone here is interested, drop me a line (PM).

 

Rob

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I have an A4 Maruman notepad holder. Cheap, robust, holds a notepad or loose paper and has a pocket in the front for bits and pieces. Elastic strap holds it all together. Never had anything fall out. http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/maruman-septcouleur-notepad-holder.html

 

In it I carry my writing paper (usually Tomoe sheets, Rhodia A4+ 90sm ivory vellum pad, Basildon Bond pad or Clairefontaine Triomphe pad. Usually A4 size paper). In the pocket I have envelopes, return address labels, stamps, airmail stickers, scrap paper for taking notes, the letter(s) to be answered, blotting paper and lined guide sheet, any tuck-ins to be added to the letter(s).

 

This post made me put in a small order at Nanami. It's nice to have a place like that relatively close by.

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I think I write around 3-5 letters a month at my desk. I like being able to look around my pens before I decide to write depending on the paper texture/quality. Also, I don't remember which pens I've refilled sometimes so ink bottles are stored in the drawer too. I do like to write on a pencil board for a smooth surface.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

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I normally write my letters at home, but I always carry a Leitz A5-notebook and a Vanishing Point. In the notebook I have 2-3 envelopes and a few stamps for letter-emergencies...

 

If I'm somewhere on vacation or the like, I prefer to write a post-card, but it's getting harder to find post-cards made out of FP-friendly paper.....

What a strange world we live in, where people communicate by text more than ever before, yet the art of proper handwriting is seen as a thing from the past.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/Badges/5EH4/letter.png

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I always carry an FP in my shirt pocket. On out-of-town trips I carry a pen wrap with up to five pens, plus the one in my shirt pocket. For correspondence I like to use an italic so the recipient knows I used an FP. I keep plenty of postage stamps and a manila file folder full of various papers—currently 24lb HP Laserjet, "natural" Mohawk Via Smooth Writing, ivory Southworth 25% cotton, and some A4 Fabriano dot sheets peeled from a gum pad. (These are separate from writing pads and jotters.) I also keep a small paper bag full of various greeting cards—a handful of birthday cards, a handful of blanks, and one each of just about every event or condition. They come in handy when I'm out of town and realize I need to post something now. The letters I start away from home almost never get finished there, except on very long trips.

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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I travel a lot for work, and often end up writing a letter or two (depending on the length of the letter) at airport coffee shops, hotel rooms, and other random places.

 

I always carry two or three fountain pens in my pocket bag. Then, in my letter-writing bag (a large size freezer bag,) I have...

 

1) Writing pads (always two pads- one for guys and one for girls. I LOVE cute writing papers, but I discovered that guys tend not to appreciate super-cute pink die-cut writing papers with Hello Kitty and other sweet/ kawaii design on them... But then they don't seem to mind simple, plain papers, or even the stationery from random hotels. In fact, one guy- pal seems to get such a kick out of seeing hotel stationery from random cities, that I intentionally save/ use those for him LOL. Some female pals would be offended by those "freebie"/ cheapie papers.)

 

2) Envelopes

 

3) Received letters that I want to respond to

 

4) Stickers... several sheets of them in varying sizes, as I use them to cover up my mistakes

 

5) Sharpie (in dark purple and red) for those occasions when fountain pens don't work

 

The bag itself is right up against my iPad case.

 

I usually don't mail out letter from "outstation", as I always want to weigh them before putting them in the mailbox. I used to carry around my food scale (about the size of an old-fashioner Blackberry,) a bunch of stamps, a glue stick, and a Scotch tape (in a doughnut- shaped case, so that the tape doesn't stick to everything else,) but it just became too much. I like to travel as light as possible.

 

I always wipe-down the table before start writing (once with water, then with a bit of hand sanitizer.) It is not OCD at all, you won't believe how nasty some airport food court tables can be....

 

Incidentally, when I am on the road, my writing pad are always relatively smallish- 8.5 in x 5.5 in. or smaller. When I am at home, however, I do use writing papers of all sizes, including standard "letter size" ones. Also, when I am on the road, I have limited number of pens, whereas at home, where I have access to all my pens/ ink, I often change colors by page, or by topic.

 

Some pals love to receive letters that are written from the "outside world," as I always add a bit about where I am writing from, whereas others prefer to see more ink colors and all, so I do try to write to the ones that enjoy receiving letter to the former when I am on the road.

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Here's something I picked up from Staples recently. It's a letter-size folder with a few pockets. I think I paid $4+tax.

 

post-104844-0-32493800-1402969786_thumb.jpg

 

post-104844-0-66036700-1402969787_thumb.jpg

 

It won't carry A4 paper without being folded, but I'm fairly sure it will carry enough for a few letters in other sizes.

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Here's something I picked up from Staples recently. It's a letter-size folder with a few pockets. I think I paid $4+tax.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_1374.JPG

 

attachicon.gifIMG_1375.jpg

 

It won't carry A4 paper without being folded, but I'm fairly sure it will carry enough for a few letters in other sizes.

 

Thanks for the tip. This looks like something I need, some one thing to corral my correspondence paper, stamps, and cards.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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Thanks for the tip. This looks like something I need, some one thing to corral my correspondence paper, stamps, and cards.

 

My only "complaint" so far is that it's cheap and plastic, but I'll see how it holds up.

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