Day Five, Friday, July 14, 2017
“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.
Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
—-Tennessee Williams
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.
Extra ink. Go to any box drug store and pick up travel sized little plastic bottles. The one with screw tops. They usually come three to a package.