Day Five, Friday, July 14, 2017
“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.
Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
—-Tennessee Williams
Fish on the sidewalk,
Governor Nichols Street
New Orleans, Louisiana
Every day I have to select what I will be handwriting for the day. I carry a burlap zippered bag that used to hold five pounds of Basmati Rice that I bought from the local Indian market (a great bag, by the way) and into this bag I put one, two or three journals. I also select a couple of fountain pens, usually of contrasting ink colors, which I put into an Otterbox armored cigar case (two cigars) for protection.
Pens – I usually have about 5 in rotation – I may put a new one into or take one out (clean it of old ink, place it back in storage) rotation.
Things to think about:
- Value – Don’t want to carry an expensive pen someplace risky.
- Age – The older pens are fragile and won’t carry one if I’m going somewhere active (like on a bike)
- Line Width – If I am going to write a lot I’ll want a pen with a narrow line – wider lines are fun for short writing
- Ink Color – I like to vary this – for the heck of it
- Reliability – how long will I be gone? If more than a short time, I need a reliable pen.
- Amount of ink held – again, how much writing?
Journals:
- Bullet Journal – go to, usually carry
- Idea Journal
- Goals Journal
- Straightening Journal
- Fiction snippets journal
- … several others
This has to be done every morning before I leave the house. The rice bag will fit in my work backpack if I’m going to work.
I don’t know how to carry extra ink (bottle, cartridges, syringe?) – need to work on that.
Bill Chance 