What do you write?

[eriquito]

I often have an "emotional need" to use a fountain pen, but no real need to write anything in particular.

Do you ever find yourself in a similar situation, wanting to write but having no particular "assignment?"

In those situations, what do you do? What ends up being applied to paper?

[Ernst Bitterman]

Sometimes I just make little squiggles, regarding the deposition of ink onto paper through a loupe... and then they do up the sleeves on the coat and take me back to my room.

When I'm in a slightly less obsessive mood, the journal suffices.

[lucasmines]

I have numerous things that I do - I keep a journal for random doodles, writings, and penmanship practice. Inside it you will find song lyrics, poems, quotations, and what seems like a metric ton of abecedarian sentences ("The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." or my favorite, "The exiled queen, justly moved, celebrated with a dazzling fireworks display.") copied over and over again. There are also notes to myself, funny stories from my day, or random things I've seen or heard throughout the day. I've also started trying to learn a nice Italic script, so I will practice that as well.

With my last Goulet Pens purchase (no affiliation, just a happy customer), I threw in a bunch of ink samples, and this gives me an excuse to try them all out without really having a reason or purpose for inking up the pen.

(side note - please skip me for the giveaway, I'm responding because I thought this was an interesting topic!)

[Walter]

It's a little bit strange but I write whatever words I hear on TV, not full sentences but, since I cannot write fast enough, a mix of several sentences put together. I often end up with a weird mash-up of commercial slogans intertwined with film dialog.



For nearly two decades, for people like you, the time to call is now. If your credit card dept is your guns. She could tolerate mom's law and order, tomorrow at four, on news channel four. We're gonna lay down for you. Get out! get out! Don't shoot. I am hungry for your love, baby.

[Erasmus]

I practice my figure-eight squiggles that you typically see people do when testing a pen. At some point I will do that in a pen store or at a show, and I want perfect squiggles. I also experiment with flourishes, flourons, dingbats, or whatever you call those little design things someone might do on a card or at the bottom of a letter. I tend to do curvy arrows and things, too. So basically, I doodle.

[John the Monkey]

I keep a book of ideas I've not had time to mess with, and draw or write something from that.

[Struthious]

Funny quotes and one liners from stand up comedy
Meaningful quotes
Letters to family (or friends who know I like pens) that just say boring stuff... Sitting in cafe trying out a new ink. Its...
I sometimes write dialog from tv too.

[DET]

Given that I get bored easily, a mix of things: the alphabet, the names of the pen and ink I'm writing with, the standard pangrams like "A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs" (my favorite), and, much like Walter, overheard sentences if I'm somewhere with a TV or radio on or there are people speaking. If I want to really test out a pen, I might copy a poem or paragraph from a book, usually T.S. Eliot, Lewis Carroll or Herman Melville. If it's a pen with a flexible nib, I'll do some arcs to test the flex too.

And, unlike Lucasmines, I do want to be included in the giveaway!

[Okami]

"I don't know what to write, I don't know what to write" "blah blah blah"

[BillyL]

I like using fountain pens to write checks. I like the looks I get, when I write a check in my best cursive script. One of these days, I'll write a check that looks like Thomas Jefferson wrote it. In the mean time, I practice writing one to a hundred whenever I get on a writing roll.

[writingrav]

I write a letter.

[John the Monkey]

Looking back through an old notebook, I notice that I'd tested one pen by writing a page of "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy."

HEEEEEEERES JOHNNY! indeed :)

[Tracy Lee]

Letters to friends and my new pen pals. I send notes to my clients, which they love. I still take notes in meetings, correct documents by hand, and even draft some of my legal documents first by hand. I think better with my pens, than with some keyboard.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[bgray]

I have a couple 2.3mm italics that I've made into real crisp italics. I love to go from a super-crisp-hairline-cross-stroke to BROAD-BRUSH-DOWN-STROKE!

Here's an example, and actually, this is not totally crisp. Probably between cursive and crisp.

150

[manoeuver]

I do the overheard words from TV and conversations too. I like to try and do 20 minutes or so of stream-of-consciousness writing first thing in the morning. that's not for future consumption even, just sort of a clearing of the mind, kind of like emptying a tube of toothpaste in one fell swoop.

[winedoc]

"All work and no play made Jack a dull boy" from my favorite scary movie.

[dannzeman]

"All work and no play made Jack a dull boy" from my favorite scary movie.

That's a classic! It's been far too long since I've seen that movie.


Sent from my iPhone

[gordyt]

Eric I have a few goto things to write whenever I have nothing else pressing. They include:


A one-page summary of my day
A page of exercises from the Write Now book
A poem
A Buddhist Sutra
Interesting excerpts from whatever book I happen to be reading


--gordon

[peterpen53]

How about:

my journal
a story, sometimes short, sometimes surprisingly long
my thoughts or even a short treatise on whatever subject keeps my mind occupied at the time
dipping some of my pens in ink in unknown combinations and writing out their names in full and what I think about them
and if all the above fail me, that bloody fox can jump over that ol' lazy dog in many variations.


My job also requires a fair amount of writing and you just can't always use a laptop or an iPad.

Cheers,
Peter

[fountainpenkid]

ALL of my school papers, tests, quizzes and notes I do in FP. ALWAYS. when my pen runs out of ink ( which doesn'nt happen unless I am using a c/c), I actually can barely write ledgibly---possibly a disadvantage of the the FP?

[Maestroram]

Sometimes I just write nonsense to practice my favorite letters. I get most of my writing done to Penpals though, an art form in and of itself.


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[Sailor Kenshin]

Thoughtful topic. Sometimes I feel the urge to play with a new pen or ink, but lack the energy to tackle anything as demanding as a letter or journal entry.

Hmm... TV dialogue? *wonders how to capture the sound of hoofbeats*

[@penfancy]

In order to keep my crazy schedule together I write and rewrite my list and annotate in different colors and fonts.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

[writingrav]

My initial response on this thread was incredibly insufficient. I don't know where my brain was. I do much more than write a letter. I do, generally, write between 3 and 5 letters a week, but I write them each twice. First in my "rough copy" journal so that I will have a record and then again on fine paper for mailing. I also write in a daily journal that is at my side throughout the day and I write updates as I go. I also write a daily mini essay in a pocket notebook for posting on my blog Like letters in a bottle. Lately, feeling the need to write more, I started a copy book in which I am simply copying from classical texts in order to practice handwriting. Presently working through John Donne's Holy Sonnets. Copying is not as easy as it sounds.

[JustDaveyB]

I have six pens in rotation (the capacity of my boot leather brown penvelope) at any one time, normally split between fine-medium nibs and broader ones. Of those I usually have two in the pocket most work days, one fp for note taking and a broader nibed one for marking up documents, my admin girl loves it when I have one of my bright iroshizuku inks in use for marking up changes to documents. She bought a Lamy Safari just so she could use some of my iroshizuku ya-yake (sunset orange)

A home I use FP for journalling, correspondence and general scribbling. If I am just doodling at the writing desk I practice figure eights and have a couple of favourite quotes that I write out of habit or if I am in front of the tv I will write lines from the dialogue.

[gwgtaylor]

I draw stick people and write about how much I love the pen I'm using.

[caribbean_skye]

Before I found some pen pals to write to, I used to just copy poems, recipes or articles from newspapers. :D

[Manny]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/0515131500-1_zps1cbdf0ce.jpg

[BikerBabe]

I use my fp's to do most of my writing, whether it's jotting down some quick notes in my notebook, writing a lot of pages in my motorcycle diary, or jot down the results on my job hunting list.
I use them to write birthday cards, sign letters, draw quick sketches, all things that doesn't instantly require intelligible writing right away. :D

[ndw76]

I use my fountain pens to write letters. But when I don't have any letters to write I use a Mabie Todd Blackbird to sign students work to show that they have completed the activity and to sign my paper work.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Now I'm writing a story draft and to-do lists. Fun with fountain pens!

[jbb]

I write a lot of lists to organize my day and my life. I'll also write letters.

[Pensfan]

Random letters to my wife, writing down phrases the kids are saying to each other, prayer journal, personal journal, weekly planner... pretty much anything I can write on or in.

:)

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I am writing a novel. I played with lots of colors in the outlining/planning/research stage, but my writing is mostly black. When I get to editing and rewriting, I'll play with colors again.

[tandaina]

I write notes at meetings and conferences.

Personally I keep a journal, a prayer journal, and a poetry journal.

[cwent2]

@BikerBabe
pages in my motorcycle diary Do you ride your own bike?

[snedwos]

Currently translating some documents fro a relative. Using mostly dark blue, with green and winey red for any highlighting and markup.

[oldstoat]

Letters. Not enough and not often enough but I enjoy the fact that the thoughts seem to form in the pen and flow on to the paper. Though sometimes I look down and think "Whoops!".

[cedargirl]

This is an old thread that's been resurrected, but I thought I'd add my thoughts - because I do have an emotional need to write - and if there is nothing else I feel I can do effectively/constructively, I get out my "day book" - it's not a journal, has nothing about me or my day - it's where I collect useful/ interesting/ whimsical/ intriguing stuff. If I don't have anything at hand, I write out poetry that strikes a chord with me - and find Poemhunter.com and Garrison Keilor's Writers' Almanac very useful.

[jor412]

I do a lot of writing with my fountain pens. Apart from writing letters and updating my journals, I brainstorm, draft, conceptualize, and plan everything on paper. For some reason, I have more clarity when I write by hand. When have something substantial, though not entirely fleshed out, I type it out and save it in hard drive. In the process, I end up revising what I wrote by hand.

[cedargirl]

I do a lot of writing with my fountain pens. Apart from writing letters and updating my journals, I brainstorm, draft, conceptualize, and plan everything on paper. For some reason, I have more clarity when I write by hand. When have something substantial, though not entirely fleshed out, I type it out and save it in hard drive. In the process, I end up revising what I wrote by hand.

:) That's what I do too.

Anyone want to hear my theory as to why this works for me - why I feel more creative writing by hand?

I'm right handed. When I write by hand, I'm using my left brain to drive the pen (motorskills). I'm normally very logical/analytical. That's a left brain skill too. If I type - using two hands - some of that work is done by my right brain. But when I write by hand, my right brain is left free to do what a right brain does - think and create!
(This is partly tongue in cheek. I know that motor-skills and thinking are in two different parts of the brain. And yes I can be creative when I use two hands to type - or do other things. But there is some resonance there for me.)

[jor412]

:) That's what I do too.

Anyone want to hear my theory as to why this works for me - why I feel more creative writing by hand?

I'm right handed. When I write by hand, I'm using my left brain to drive the pen (motorskills). I'm normally very logical/analytical. That's a left brain skill too. If I type - using two hands - some of that work is done by my right brain. But when I write by hand, my right brain is left free to do what a right brain does - think and create!
(This is partly tongue in cheek. I know that motor-skills and thinking are in two different parts of the brain. And yes I can be creative when I use two hands to type - or do other things. But there is some resonance there for me.)

Hehe. In my case, it might be habit. I also remember things better when I write them down, even if I don't ever refer to my notes. Like I don't forget appointments that I list in my appointment book.