Category Archives: Writing

Thoughts on InCoWriMo

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InCoWriMo (international Correspondence Writing Month) just ended (February {written in early March}) and I was participating. I just wanted to say a few things about it.

I really enjoyed the process of writing letters and finding friends and family members who would be willing to read them and possibly reply. I worked on my handwriting to make everything look nice (because I’ll just say it: this was all really an excuse for me to use my pens and practice penmanship with some great things happening because of it). I sent letters to family members, far-away friends, and even interesting acquaintances. It was all rather exciting, but I still got to sit in my chair.

I will admit that I didn’t finish. I was struck by a string of migraines in the middle of the month that decimated my output of everything, including letters. I only got two-thirds of the way done. But it was a very rewarding two-thirds.

I haven’t received many letters back at this point, but I hope to. I have been writing letters for some time to various people and really enjoy getting letters back.

I just thought I should share, for any pen lovers out there, or people who want to write to people but don’t get around to it, there is this wonderful month put on by the people over at fpgeeks.com and incowrimo.com. You should definitely try it out next year. I know I will.

Using Different Notebooks

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Quite a few people still use notebooks, it seems. I use them more than most. Unfortunately, most people use them for school. Composition and spiral bound notebooks are the most common everywhere. For most of the people using them, the only distinction between their notebooks is the class they’re used for and maybe the amount of subjects or the color of the cover. I use my notebooks differently. For starters, they are of all different shapes and sizes. Colors and bindings, too. I do have preferences, but I also want to find new preferences.

I use my notebooks based on their type. By that I mean I have a different one for every task. I have one for stories (several actually), one for sketches, one for my “drawing every day” drawings, one for story notes, one for general notes and cartoons, and many others. I’m not sure how many people do this or something similar, but I find it handy to be able to grab a notebook and know exactly what is in it. This over-specialization has backfired and it resulted in me combining several notebooks into one, leaving a few books without a home.

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Those instances are few and far between, though. In general I’ve found it good to specialize my notebooks. If I am doing a certain task I can take a small notebook that is suited for the task instead of a large one that covers everything. It also enables easy referral since I don’t have to constantly search the one and only notebook for something on a specific topic.

It doesn’t just come down to using different same-brand notebooks or even differently sized notebooks. I use completely different brands with completely different styles for my various books. I use Mead, Moleskine, Field Notes, Top Flight, Bienfang, Strathmore, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, and even military-grade Memorandum books. I use all different rulings from blank to dot grid, and I’ve even found a hex grid notebook.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, I just think it’s weird that I use notebooks like this. Is it? How do you use notebooks? Most of the people I know seem to use them in the way I described above, where they just have one that holds every thing. Or a large one and a pocket one. Either way, my giant bag of notebooks I take with me and cycle through my satchel will continue that way. And I will continue to write on paper notebooks. And I will love doing so. And I hope all of you writing on paper notebooks will love it as well.

On Writing Implements

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Writing. I write a lot. I write quite a lot. I write for the web. I’ve written over 40,000 words of short stories, I’m halfway through a novel (and in the starting phase of several others). I write everyday in some form. Mostly in notebooks from Moleskine to Composition. And while doing all this writing I’ve come across many writing implements. Obviously you have computers (or typewriters) if you always want  things to look plain and boring. But for paper there are hundreds to thousands to even hundreds of thousands of writing tools. And one is free to pick. You can pick any pen or pencil you like, very few are gated by price.

Which one you should choose is a hard question. Do you want cheap ones to have everywhere? Do you want a quality one to last a lifetime? Do you want a thin or thick line? Do you want one that writes more but less easily? Do you want ball, fountain, dip, click, mechanical, sharpened, pen or pencil? There are so many options to consider it sometimes gets overwhelming. Well… most people wouldn’t consider what to write with overwhelming. But if you’re really serious about writing it is.

Well how do you choose? Well… process of elimination is really your best bet. Try the least expensive pens first and work your way up until you get to ones that start to behave like you don’t like or you feel are too expensive to really use. Some people might say, of course, the more expensive pens are better, to which I would respond with the Paper Mate Write Bros. pen which writes better and more accurately for me than many several hundred dollar fountain pens I’ve handled (which to be fair is not many). Those are the pens I personally use for the most of my writing, though I do have several other brands of pens lying around and several fountain pens for using upon occasion.

For me what I’m doing dictates what writing tool I use. Ball points for journals, fountain pen for formal stuff, technical pen for inking et cetera. There are some “standards”, but none that can’t be broken. The really important thing to consider in choosing you writing implement is you. Only what you want matters for what you’re going to write with. No one is going to make fun of your choice and while a few may turn up their noses they don’t really matter.

Writing is an art, and just like all other arts it is personal. So choosing what you write with is important. And choosing the absolute best pen for you is one of the hardest things to really do. So I hope that if you write you have or will soon find the right pen/pencil for you. And I hope you keep on writing.

Moleskine Customer Service

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Moleskine, the company that produces moleskine notebooks under the trademark seems to pride itself in its customer service. This is something they would have to do considering the fact that they are inferior to most other notebook in their price range in most ways. In fact, each Moleskine book comes with a little sticker and a quality control number. If you receive a defective notebook in theory all you have to do is go to their website, enter some info, and they’ll send you a brand new replacement. How does this work in practice? Well, I was unfortunate enough to get a defective book and have to find out.

moleskine problem

The first thing one has to do is go to the website and fill out a form. The questions are fairly easy and harmless.  It does require the QC number and a photo of the defect. It’s all nothing too difficult. Their media uploader needs some work, in my opinion, but I’m uploading content all the time with some of the best uploads in the world so I guess I’m spoiled.

Something a bit misleading here is that they ask for your email address. I thought this would mean that they would send me some confirmation email about whether or not my new book was shipping. I got no such email, I got no email at all. Moleskine has, to this day, never emailed me.

So I sent off my request for a notebook and waited. They guarantee a new book in two weeks so that is how long I did this waiting. Deciding I must have done something wrong (Like enter my email wrong) I resent the request.

The literal next day I got a package in the mail that was my new Moleskine. It had only arrived two days late, which was no big deal, except for the fact that I had just reordered this book.

it was a lot better than this

it was a lot better than this

Now I don’t want people thinking I’m a thief, so I called the customer support at the number on the package (the American distributor for Moleskine) and had them stop my second request. It only took a couple of minutes and everyone sounded very pleasant.

So, does Moleskine live up to the customer support they say they have? Absolutely. I received my a new notebook almost within two weeks of sending in my request (this is understandable because Moleskine is in Italy and I’m in south-west Texas, i.e. beyond the middle of nowhere). The entire process was quick, easy and painless. It would have been even better had it not been for my internet paranoia. So if you do receive a defective Moleskine, know that your problem can be quickly and painlessly rectified.

If You Can’t Write… Don’t.

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Articles are hard, just sayin’ that. Depending on the definition of article being used they can be even harder. What exactly makes an article is really up to either the author or the publisher. The same thing applies to when a short story becomes a novella, a novella a novel, and so on. But other than that they’re just plain hard. Writing is hard, every writer is the first to admit that (every high school “artist” wouldn’t in a “million” years). And contrary to popular belief, writing is becoming harder. While anyone can now become a writer, attention spans are becoming shorter. People who “write” write very little. Bloggers even have to force themselves to come up with interesting content. At least the interesting ones do. How many times have you come across a dead Blog with a promising start, that just disappeared. Or, more realistically, just sucked and piddled out. Everyone has a Blog, everyone posts words, or videos or something on the internet. However most just wither and die. Most “writers” don’t have the attention span or the drive to continue writing. Even people who are attentive to their Blogs fail because they can’t push themselves to continue creating content. Eventually preconceived ideas drain and nothing new comes. It seems cliche now to say that every writer finds it hard to write and most have to force themselves to start, but it is true. The difference is that most people say that to encourage people to write. I am not trying to encourage you: writing is hard, really hard and time consuming. But I don’t mean to discourage you either, if you write well then write, if you can force yourself to. Just because writing on a computer is easy, doesn’t mean you have great ideas, just because you have great ideas, doesn’t mean you can force yourself to write them, or that when you do it will be good.

Most writers that continually create content write as either their job or as a major hobby, and it works like any other hobby. Just like how the movie buff spends most of his free time watching movies, or that model collector you know spends his putting together little plastic pieces and painting them, writers spend theirs writing. It takes time and dedication to do, and if that is not applied, it is crap. And as much as the writer in me wants to say it’s hard because you’re continually being attacked by dinosaurs, going to parties, flying pigs around Mount Everest, and communing with the soul of William S. Burroughs, that is simply not the case. Any writer able to continue creating deserves commendation, but those unable to should not be concerned. The ubiquity of the Blog is unnecessary. Not everyone needs to be a writer. There are other ways a voice can be heard, or maybe it won’t even be your voice but your actions. Writers may be able to write more and arguably better then you, but you can do better than them at something. And if you are a writer continue to be so, the amount of dead Blogs grows every day from forgotten passwords to lack of content, don’t let yours fall into the same hole. But my intent is mainly a caution: do what you do, and not what the internet does.