Montblanc

The Montblanc 100 Day Writing Challenge — Epilogue

/ Pete Denison / Leave a comment

All done. With the Montblanc 100 Day Writing Challenge tools laid down on September 8, we stepped away from our worksheets and prompts to take a look back through 100 entries.

I must say I found this an enjoyable undertaking, having set out (and succeeded) with a plan to limit each day to one A5 page — that is, as manageable as it would ever be. The “challenge”, however, did come in days 80 and beyond, where my not-so-dab hand at calligraphy was brutally exposed. Of course, that was to no-one but myself, and perhaps you dear reader, should I decide to add a few images to this post.

The Tools

Notebook

The canvas hosting my challenge was a “25th Anniversary” edition of Montblanc’s A5 sized #146 Notebook. The anniversary moniker is of course entirely my own making, having bought a pair of these notebooks for myself and my wife on our 25th wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. Monogramming undertaken at the best pen shop in the world completed the picture. Given the challenge honoured Montblanc’s 100th anniversary, it seemed an appropriate occasion to break open and use the notebook.

Tools down and book closed…

More on the pens below, however in terms of paper quality, I find the Montblanc notebooks handle almost anything, except for the wettest of inks and broader nibs. Now, a caveat here: ”wettest” and ”broadest” being extremely relative terms. If you’re reading along here, please understand these are based on the inks and nibs in my collection. One of my broadest and fastest running nibs? The OMAS Ogiva Alba — it’s a “medium” (albeit a European medium). One of my wettest inks? Van Dieman’s Oakwood Brown. Put those two in combination and there is distinct feathering on the page and show through on the reverse. This does not happen for example, with the same ink in my Pilot Custom 823 — a Japanese medium nib.

I would say it’s probably a case of creating a notebook suited to “our” pens and inks if you asked Montblanc, for I’ve typically found my Montblanc inks to be drier than some others. Of course, not being a BB nib type of pen owner, take this commentary how you will.

I do love the Montblanc notebooks, in so far as they really are the complete picture in themselves. The leather cover in a variety of styles (the subject notebook here carries a Saffiano leather cover), the gilded silver paper edging, and just the overall weight suggestive of a quality item. And yes, all of which you will indeed pay for. Probably not one for your daily driver — you most likely don’t want to be buying one every month or so.

Pens

With most typical days involving gel pens (a Traveler’s Notebook bullet journal system) and ballpoints (standard work notes in the office), I like to balance that out with some fountain pens. This mostly involves some other form of journaling, writing or planning in what I’d call a “desk book”. The 100-day challenge was of course a great fit.

As I look back through the challenge (where 80% of the time I captured what I used on the day in a footnote), it was a rotation of the following pens (and inks):

  • Montblanc 147 Traveller; Medium (Montblanc Royal Blue cartridge)
  • Pilot Custom Heritage 92; Fine-Medium (Edelstein Tanzanite)
  • Pelikan M805; Fine (Montblanc Irish Green)
  • Montblanc M; Medium (Montblanc Burgundy Red cartridge)
  • Lamy Aion; Medium (Van Dieman’s Oakwood Brown)
  • Kaweco Ice Sport; Medium (Kaweco Black cartridge)
  • Parker 75; Medium (Parker Quink cartridge)
  • Pilot Custom Heritage 92; Fine-Medium (Iroshizuku Shin Kai)
  • Platinum President; Medium (Iroshizuku Momiji)
  • Montblanc 146; Medium (Bookbinders Red Belly Black)
  • Montblanc 144; Medium (Montblanc Burgundy Red cartridge)
  • Pilot Custom Heritage 91; Fine-Medium (Van Dieman’s West Coast Sunset)
  • Pilot Custom 742; Sutab (Iroshizuku Shin Ryoku cartridge)
  • Lamy 2000; Fine (Robert Oster Peach)

A few other non-fountain variants made their way into the mix as well. Two colour variants of the uni-ball Signo 0.7 mm, a Pentel Kerry mechanical pencil, and a couple of Pentel Energels in 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm.

If I had a favourite combination during the challenge, I’d say it was the Pilot Custom 742. I love that Sutab nib, and I hadn’t tried the Iroshizuku Shin Roku before, so I’m thinking that had a fair bit to do with it. In general, I’d say they are all delightful to use, and worked pretty well on the Montblanc paper.

Accessories

This heading — though plural — really only offers one type used a few times through the challenge: stickers. It’s one of those cases where talented sketch-noting would go a long way, however in the absence of that, sticker (stick noting?) additions are it. Here it was a combination Traveler’s Company stickers, a few from a Melbourne creator I picked up at the Rose St Market on a trip to Melbourne last year, and a sticker sheet received with an issue of Standart (a coffee publication).

Much more appealing decoration than my efforts below…

I find the stickers a great way to break up the blocks of text, and are certainly more visually pleasing than my shaky calligraphy efforts.

Speaking of which…

Challenge challenges

I have long held ambitions of becoming better at the more creative side of my writing, and by that I mean the visual side of said writing. Calligraphy is the most obvious choice here; however, I’ve never really had the motivation to start. What better way than rolling through days’ 84 to 93 of the challenge and working on a page a day of modern calligraphy?

Well, shaky at best, simply weird at worst. I’m happy I gave it a shot, although I’m not even sure modern calligraphy is a style I particularly enjoy. To that end, I’m not even sure that some older styles like Copperplate or Spencerian appeal to me either. To say I just need to find something that appeals to me would perhaps be a little flippant. I feel in the back of my mind, the truth probably lies more closely to the fact that I’ll never really get around to putting in enough time to get more proficient — regardless of the style.

Pushing on…
Questionable…
Could it be working?
Calligraphy with comments

As far as writing each day is concerned, that wasn’t difficult at all, and I’m sure anyone reading this is most likely a daily writer as well. Having the prompts? Well, that does make things easier, and is perhaps a lesson learned from me, as someone who never uses them and occasionally resorts to re-writing song lyrics to get something down each day.

Wrapping Up

In summary, the Montblanc 100 Day Writing Challenge was both enjoyable and a success. It does make me wonder why I don’t use more prompts in my journaling, and also why I choose some “challenges” and let others pass by. Whether that changes in the future is another matter, and I’m glad I chose this one — shaky calligraphy and all.

The Montblanc 100 Day Writing Challenge

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

Thinking back, perhaps I should have written about the Montblanc 100 Day Writing Challenge a little earlier, however having started myself a few days late, this post was always going to be a mid-challenge update.

With day 37 just completed, it is of course a fine time to tell us now… Well dear reader, you are indeed correct; however, this blog certainly isn’t known for its cutting edge hot takes on the stationery and writing communities, releases, or events.

Carrying on that tradition, things are going pretty well at a little over a third of the way through, and it’s been an enjoyable diversion in addition to my usual pen on paper ramblings.

The Challenge

I could say “never one to miss a marketing opportunity” about Montblanc, and while that statement is true enough — why would they? There is nothing inherently wrong with a business promoting itself or its products, and the emphasis on ”any tools will do” in the webinar sessions is certainly welcome (though of course you’ll see an array of Montblancs’ used on screen).

The writing challenge ties in of course with the 100th anniversary celebration of the Meisterstuck pen, which also brought a few new pens, other associated products, a Wes Anderson short film, and quite a few other events if social media is anything to go by.

Image courtesy Montblanc

A quick aside: the 100th anniversary pens? Well, nice enough yes, however never has my excitement peaked more than when I thought a re-release of the original versions may have been coming upon seeing some promo photos earlier in the year (for me, it’s the original green version from halfway down this page). To say my disappointment peaked even higher upon realising the anniversary release was simply a modern take paying homage to the originals, would indeed be accurate. Don’t get me wrong, the pens are indeed impressive, though not a patch on the aesthetic of the originals. Time marches on, I suppose.

Finally, the Wes Anderson designed Schreiberling pen does look intriguing, however at an estimated price tag of $2,500, is certainly not for me either.

Anyway, back to matters at hand. You’ll find details of the Writing Challenge through Montblanc’s Inspire Writing series, under Creative Writing Courses on the Montblanc website via the Discover menu (or more easily from the link above).

Having dabbled in some of these webinars in the past, and looked at others (with calligraphy I have intent, yet to date, no action), the 100 Day Challenge seemed both achievable and worthwhile at the same time. Catching up on the kick-off webinar in the “past sessions”, under presenter Brittany DeSantis, I came in a few days late, however quickly caught up given the writing prompts lead to as much or as little time investment as you like.

The Idea

On the surface, exactly as it says on the tin: to write daily for 100 consecutive days. Now for those of us who are well into the thousands of consecutive days writing (journaling, blogging, note-taking or the like), I generally consider the occasional challenge like this one as simply: 100 days of different writing.

The challenge is divided into a couple of parts, the first being Your handwriting and history, comprising 43 days worth of daily prompts, mostly on writing and stationery habits, though also some general life themed questions as well. Part 2 will apparently be delving into lists to “discover more about ourselves and plan ahead” which I believe will begin at the next webinar taking place on July 10.

A daily commitment of about 5–10 minutes is the pitch, and I don’t find it overly burdensome, having limited myself to one page of an A5 Journal for each prompt. Accessible and achievable — always the best way to ensure those who start do a fair job of engaging, continuing, and finishing.

The Prompts

I’ve never been one to use journaling prompts, though at times when I sit in front of a blank page I think perhaps I should. Adding an extra A5 page a day as part of the challenge certainly provides no great impost, and given the fairly straightforward prompts, I’ve not found myself staring at a blank page.

Perhaps the secret is to take the prompts literally if that suits, or simply as a guide if there is a tangent you’d like to work through on a particular day. It really is a choose-your-own adventure. I’m sure if you are a prompt user, then you’ve likely seen them all, however a couple I enjoyed:

  • Your earliest memory of handwriting
  • How your handwriting changes based on what or where you’re writing
  • How your tastes in pen and ink have changed

There are also quite a few around “your favourite…”, along with more inspirational and life-themed questions, however the general Part 1 arc of Your Handwriting & history seems captured well enough through the prompts.

Signing off

Acknowledging I’m a bit late to the party in passing on the message out there about this challenge, there are still two remaining webinars and another two thirds of the writing days still to go. Perhaps it’s something to pick up now or even retrospectively complete at your leisure. I’ve certainly found it an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavour.

Google App Camera Search — A Handy Pen Identifier

/ Pete Denison / Leave a comment
The Montblanc Ballpix – at the centre of all of this searching

I pay attention — honestly, I do. I even take notes, whether at the time or soon after, yet sometimes things come to pass where the elusive (though likely straightforward) name and model of a particular pen simply escapes me. In some cases it would seem, never to return. Of course, this is unlikely to ever happen when ordering pens online or shopping in a store (receipts, order confirmations etc), but for those acquired like this, or perhaps in an antique or second hand store, you might occasionally be in the same predicament.

When recently considering options for an EDC type of pen to carry with a pocket notebook, I had a few specific requirements, as you’d expect:

  • reliable knock mechanism unlikely to accidentally engage
  • related to the above, a standard top clicking pen would be unsuitable (if not a twist, some sort of side mounted knock mechanism)
  • very light and on the thinner side of average
  • probably a ballpoint for maximum utility

Thankfully, I wasted only an hour or so trawling the internet before realising the very pen was in my drawer awaiting its next occasion of use. It was absolutely spot on in terms of that list above, and not only that, is a really enjoyable pen to use.

Of course, I thought — that’s it! I’ll use this Montblanc… err… ummm… yes, this one(!?). What is it again? It was then I realised I had no idea what it was actually called, probably to the horror of the wonderful pen-friend who kindly passed it on to me. Had I written it down? Did I ever know it? Of course I would have — though I’m not sure, and proceeded to open Safari to get to the bottom of this quandary.

It couldn’t be that hard, surely, as I began searching: ”vintage Montblanc ballpoint with click mechanism in the pocket clip” and every version of a similar term to no avail. It might have been buried in the search results somewhere, but I certainly didn’t find it. In any event, it seemed a little more difficult than it should have been.

Enter the Camera Search function in the Google App on my iPhone.

Point, shoot, search and bam! Results (see screenshots below). Nothing could be easier. I guess depending on what you are searching for, a certain amount of verification might be needed with the results. That said, I’ve not had it fail me so far on any pen, refill, or whatever stationery product you’d care to be looking up. The worlds of analogue and digital colliding with utmost harmony.

Ready… aim…
Fire…
A good bundle of accurate search results

Oh, and the pen? Yes, well, that is a Montblanc Ballpix, and the search yields a good page or more of accurate results similar to this one. As I’ve mentioned in my requirements list above, this pen is perfect for the task at hand. Slim, light weight, perfectly designed to avoid accidental engagement of the refill from the tip. Topping it off is the rather ingenious clip/knock mechanism, preventing it from being placed in a pocket or clipped anywhere without the knock being disengaged automatically — no pocket leaks here. Love it.

Perhaps given most of the search links provide seller links, someone needs to write a bit of a review just for posterity on the internet… Oh, right you are, I guess that would be me. I’ve just added it to the list.

Meanwhile, I highly recommend the camera search feature in the Google app for those times your search terms don’t quite hit the mark. Maybe even for those times when, like me, you are a bit lazy and can’t quite find the motivation to look back through notes when a pen model name escapes you.

A phone and a tech giant — handy companions to the humble pen and paper.

A pen and notebook – 25 years on

/ Pete Denison / 2 Comments

Towards the latter part of last year, my beautiful wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. As you can imagine there were gifts exchanged, and among them one suitably appropriate for a household (husband?) with an affinity (obsession?) for stationery. Before we get ahead of ourselves, while there is indeed a pen involved in this story, it is not in the “shiny new” way you might be thinking.

In this case, the “shiny new” is a notebook. In recent times I’ve taken to embossed notebooks to mark certain occasions, firstly a 50th birthday, and now the anniversary I’ve mentioned above. In all the excitement, something else quietly slipped by and has just come to me now. Four months later.

You see the bookend which begins this story is indeed a pen, and it was shiny and new quite a few years ago. It hit me just the other day — the pen I received as a wedding gift from my wife is of course also now 25 years old. My first fountain pen. All the way back then. Before the blog. Before any sort of foray into pen nerdery.

The pen

The pen? Well I’ve written about it before, even making the bold suggestion my first fountain pen was actually my grail pen. As pens go it was a fairly ambitious entry into the world of fountain pens. A Montblanc Meisterstuck Classique, in your standard black with gold trim. I don’t see many Montblancs recommended in the best beginner fountain pen lists out there — and for good reason of course.

The fact is though, I loved it then and I love it now. I get it, of course there are plenty of “more appropriate” beginner pens, though whether a more appropriate pen exists to mark the best day of your life? That I’m not so sure, but maybe I’m a little biased. In many ways it also leads directly to the point doesn’t it? These types of purchases are just as emotional as they are technical. Perhaps even more than we think.

The Classique along with another small anniversary getaway project. I probably wouldn’t recommend spending all weekend building the Death Star or the Millennium Falcon…

Little did I know the extent to which that pen would eventually contribute to a deeper dive into pens themselves, the internet of pens, and the genesis of this very blog. To say it developed an ongoing affinity for the brand is probably not too far from the truth either.

I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a good number of pens since that day, on varying ends of the price spectrum, however there can only be one original, and I’m pleased to have had a certain naivety in the process of acquiring it. There were no apparent choices in size, nib, colour, filling systems or anything else that becomes a consideration the further into the pen world you go. Nope. Of course there were indeed quite a few options, however it was always this one and only this one. Even knowing what I know now about pens, I’ve never felt that pang of: I wish I’d picked a …….. instead.

So how is it fairing after 25 years? Well I’d have to say it’s doing very, very well, and firmly maintains its place in the standard in and out rotation of pens along with the rest of my collection. It’s faultless medium nib has never failed me and has now seen both the wisdom and folly of thousands of words from the mind of its owner, having long forgiven my stumbling first few months of ownership.

How sensible people enjoy the afternoon sun on an anniversary weekend getaway…
…while silly people with pens get a cramp in their hand from holding a phone weirdly for that “perfect shot”

The notebook

And the notebooks? Well, at the current time they remain in the yet to be used category, given I have a few others on the go currently. Their time will come. I say notebooks in plural, as the purchase involved one for each side of this anniversary occasion. I’m not sure what my wife might have planned for hers (the navy if you’re curious), however I’m thinking my black one will be up next as my home desktop notebook. When using an “occasion” notebook, there may be the tendency to designate it for a “special” project or use. The birthday notebook I mentioned above has indeed been assigned the duties of my long form writing project, and there is certainly benefit to that — possibly even from an increased significance or meaning to the notebook itself.

Mind you, I’m here to also sing the praises of getting them into general use as well. The same as my pens. The significance or sentimental value in my mind is not lessened by using them in this way. I’m sure many of you are the same, it’s often by use that the connection is strengthened: the patina on a pen or leather; the change of a page from crisp and blank to crinkled and full; flipping back through bold, colourful, ink filled pages.

…and yes, I emboss on the back cover, preferring a more subtle acknowledgement of the occasion.

Its fairly evident from the images in this post that the notebooks themselves are of the Montblanc variety, and are a little more expensive than your average notebook, however again, the spend doesn’t necessarily equal (or need to) the significance. I’m sure that affinity for the brand I mentioned earlier certainly influences my decisions here, and also further illustrates the myriad of factors which may go into this type of purchase.

In closing

Such a peaceful place…

I guess one of the real joys of a pen and stationery habit is that there is always a “list” from which to choose when the time comes for either gifts or gift suggestions. Occasions like birthdays and anniversaries are of course prime candidates to cross something off that list and there will no doubt be a wide budgetary spectrum at play.

In the end it may be something expensive, or not so much, but the value to each of us will be inherent in the occasion it represents. Sometimes that will be a planned purchase for a life “milestone” but might just as easily be simply what you were using when a certain “thing” happened.

However it might occur, that significance will never be lost, regardless of cost, grandeur, or even whether or not it shows up on social media or written in a blog. It might even come to you out of the blue, say, four months past the event it commemorates, and that’s okay.

Just don’t wait four months after the date to remember your actual anniversary. No. Don’t do that.

Never an Unusable Pen

/ Pete Denison / 2 Comments

Perhaps that’s not entirely true, however I’ve been a pen and stationery enthusiast long enough to not only have a fair idea of what suits my writing style and taste best, but to also know exactly where to deploy pens which may not quite fit that ideal window on my usability spectrum.

While there are a couple of ballpoints in the mix here, the slimline black Montblanc and to a lesser degree the Montblanc Noblesse (top) are at the centre of the discussion. Pencil for a little scale.

The slimline fountain pen of the 70’s and 80’s being one example, however there are quite a few others which sit squarely outside my typical usability criteria mentioned below. I remarked recently to a good (pen)friend that much of the “pen discussion” which occurs in our correspondence would make great blog posts, so here I am putting that theory into practice. You see, accompanying a recent letter, I also returned a few pens generously passed on to me by said friend, in the knowledge they would be forwarded on and re-homed to a user perhaps more suited to them.

On a brief side note, I have written about this gentleman before, and truth be told he is one of the most helpful, generous, knowledgeable, and selfless people I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know as a result of writing this blog.

Back to matters at hand, and as it turns out, most of those pens were slimline (read, very slim and narrow) fountain pens which were in their heyday in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Whilst they may not be what I’d reach for to write a thousand words, they were certainly far from unusable, and a few have certainly remained in my collection, to be enjoyed and put to good use. As I wrote in my correspondence, I’ve found there are not too many pens I cannot use in some form or another.

A Usability Window

Don’t get me wrong. We are not talking “unusable” pens with faults or defects that render them, well… non-functional and unable to be used at all. No, here I’m simply referring to those pens which at first glance, hold, or use, give us the: ”well… ah… yeah… not sure how this is going to go for any significant writing…” type of feeling. I suppose it’s the fine line between less-suitable and unsuitable. One of the joys in talking about this stuff is when writing those previous two sentences, I know with 100% certainty that anyone reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about with no further explanation necessary.

I’m sure we all have pens that if we were to sit down and write a few thousand words in longhand, would be the first pulled from the pen pot or case and we’d be eagerly scribing away. Others not so much, where even the thought of making it to the bottom of an A5 page begin those muscle fibre fasciculations which precede writers cramp. It may be size, weight, balance, or many other factors alone or in combination telling us that even beginning with a full cartridge of optimism simply won’t cut it.

For me? Well its usually related to:

  • length: too long or too short (I’m generally not a cap poster, so aside from your pocket pens designed to be the appropriate size upon posting – a la the Kaweco Sport which I love – posting generally makes them feel too long to me). Your smaller pens such as the Pilot Prera and Pelikan 205 I can get away with, however prefer something a little larger if the writing task is looking similarly sizeable.
  • body thickness or diameter: no doubt we all have a sweet spot here. Slimline fountain pens of the 70’s being a little outside mine. That being said, personally I find this to be a wide, wide spectrum
  • taper: I find this an interesting one. Thin and straight – not so great. The same thin diameter at the grip which has come down in a taper – much better. My usual preferred thickness but in a gun-barrel straight body? Sometimes not as good. As I said, I find this an interesting one…
  • finish: I typically find metal barrels a little on the slippery and hard to manage side. That said, the humidity of a Brisbane summer generally affords a bit of tackiness in that regard.
  • weight: often not a deal breaker on its own, given you are of course also thinking this is inextricably linked to balance (as is posting the cap more often than not). A mid to lower centre of gravity if you don’t mind. Combined with the above point — a weighty metal pen can present a challenge.
  • appearance: yeah, I said it… looks. Not in the way you might think though. I’m talking about the output on the page. Those times when the pen doesn’t feel right but your writing just looks fantastic. I’ve typically had most of these experiences with pens I’d have considered a little on the thin side. To be honest it’s often quite a “wow – this goes well” type of moment. Yet, and perfectly illustrative of the point to this post, “wow” is soon replaced with “oh, starting to struggle here — that’s getting a bit messy…” if any sustained writing needs doing beyond maybe a few minutes.

I’ve kept the above list devoid of the even more finicky aspects of nib type/size/grind or liquid ink vs ballpoint, with these really beyond what the post is about. And granted, the above are exceedingly obvious and far from groundbreaking to anyone reading this. In its simplest form we are merely talking about those ”oh this is too big/small/thick/thin/long/short/heavy/unbalanced/slippery/knurled/smooth moments that first flood your mind upon picking up and using whatever writing instrument it may be.

Tale of the tape out of interest: 8mm at the grip section, running to 10mm on the barrel

But of course, all is not lost…

Strategic Deployment

It is here the crux of the argument lies. I’m sure none of us will put up with something we genuinely don’t like using, and with various online marketplaces or simply exchanging with others, there are plenty of ways to offload something of that nature. I guess what I’m referring to though is the genuine joy that exists in having a certain amount of variety available in our day to day tools. Also, it’s not hard to see most of us in this pen caper have some sort of “rotation” in use at any given time. The variety may therefore come weeks to months later, depending on just how many pen soldiers are in storage before they are called to active duty.

I wax and wane as far as numbers in the rotation are concerned (largely depending on when I decide to clean and refill), however I’ve also noticed a trend in having a secondary group — a “special teams” if you will. It’s in this group where the slimline fountain pen sits. Or the outrageously heavy pen. Or the pen that is too short. I think you get the idea.

A short A6 journal page entry? No problem.

This secondary group exists in parallel with the main group for two main reasons. One, they perform what I’d call “writing support” functions (more on this below) and two, they get a run in the main group when the urge to clean isn’t strong enough to reinforce the dwindling ranks of the “in-rotation” group. The funny thing is, it’s the latter of these two scenarios which frequently reminds me that many of the pens assigned a support role deserve a spot in the main rotation, and that is often a change I make moving forward.

So what of these writing support functions? We all have them I’m sure, and I present a second exceedingly obvious list for your reading pleasure:

  • markup: perhaps the most common of them all. Editing your 2014 NaNoWriMo novel for example — a task that remains unfinished (errr… I mean tasks like that anyway, surely no-one is that slow… right?). Those office ”can I get your thoughts on this” type of queries — often printed, hand-written feedback applied and returned (or at the very least hand written for my own thoughts before applying tracked changes and returning a digital document)
  • lists: not much to be said here. If I cannot use a certain type/style of pen for a few pages, I can generally use it for a dozen one or two word bullet points
  • index: essentially the point immediately above
  • headings: where you might prefer the analogue equivalent of H1, H2… etc
  • contrasting text: colours, underline, highlight. Some of this blends into markup, yes, however I also often use different colours in the primary text of a notebook for ease of emphasis or finding something upon scanning through pages
  • injection of joy: not the artistic type by any stretch, however at times I’ll add a little flourish such as the one in the image below if I’m so inclined (“flourish” considerably overstates what you see below, however that’s about as good as it gets — notwithstanding the numerous Bujo YouTube videos I watch at times…)
Merry Christmas one & all…

You’ll have your own lists with far more in them than mine, and I’ve likely forgotten a couple I use as well, however I just want to emphasise one thing: “strategic deployment” is by no means a synonym for “begrudging use”. If I really don’t like a writing instrument, then yes, it will see no use and will leave the collection. It’s just that with all the possible uses, this very rarely occurs, and that is something which gives me considerable satisfaction.

What has always worked for me is loading them up with atypical colours (if you write with all the colours of the rainbow then it won’t matter anyway) to utilise the benefits for markup and contrasting text; having them located at their assigned task (ie coupled with the notecards or notebook in which the list is made); ensuring horses for courses (no free flowing nibs with feather heavy inks in a pocket notebook or on cheap paper if I have too use it — long live the ballpoint!!! — that’s genuine praise, don’t get me started, I love them).

Signing Off

In wrapping things up after taking far too long to say that I rarely can’t find a good use for a pen, there really is nothing more satisfying than having an arsenal of pens, with a reasonable amount of variety, which all see their fair share of use. Use them and love them I say.

And a final word to the generous soul now back in possession of those pens — I’m sure they’ll bring as much joy to the next new home as they did to mine, and as always I am forever grateful to you. And that folks, is an expansion of my letter, as a blog post — unsurprisingly it works pretty well.