Not a Hobbyist

[Empty_of_Clouds]

While I don't consider eating food as a hobby, preparing it has taken on some hobbyish qualities. Cookery is a functional skill, but I enjoy learning new recipes and methods. And I enjoy being able to do things for myself which I once thought best left to others.

Similarly, I think there is an overlap between using fountain pens as preferred writing instruments and enjoying them as something interesting in themselves. I wrote the same sort of things when all I had were ballpoints and gel pens, but now I look for excuses to write. Learning how to troubleshoot and fix small problems with modern pens, and to do simple restorations on vintage ones has given me a certain amount of enjoyment. I've learned quite a bit about the history of fountain pens. And I frequent three fountain pen forums for crying out loud.

I don't dispute this, of course, just note that I am at one particular point on the spectrum right now - that point being at the preferred writing instrument end only.

If one is to take a kind of absolute view, we should endeavour to derive satisfaction from all the tasks we are involved in. For example, I actually enjoy washing dishes by hand. I find it soothing and somewhat meditational, but it is obviously not a hobby! Sometimes I think that the concept of mindfulness is in danger of becoming a hobbyist buzzword.

[catbert]

I'm just not as deeply into the hobby as some.

Yup. Moderation in all things (he said, in the unmoderated fountain pen forum).

I'm not focused, dedicated or knowledgeable enough to be a true hobbyist, let alone a collector. Appreciator/accumulator is more my speed. I enjoy stationery in general, including but not limited to fountain pens. I won’t shun a nice ballpoint or a Moleskine. If I’m handed an unfamiliar writing instrument in the checkout line, I check it out. You never know.

I do think fountain pens are more than a tool, though. They require more effort than (say) a rollerball. There’s an element of personal expression and style that goes beyond utility.

I actually enjoy washing dishes by hand. I find it soothing and somewhat meditational

Likewise. She Who Must Be Obeyed would question my proficiency. I blame failing eyesight.

[Paddler]

"The secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."
-William Morris-

[Linger]

I actually enjoy washing dishes by hand. I find it soothing and somewhat meditational

Likewise. She Who Must Be Obeyed would question my proficiency. I blame failing eyesight.

happy wife = happy life

[welch]

Fountain pen is not a hobby. It is one of the ways I write.

I write with fountain pens because they are my favorite writing instrument, and I have used them since I began writing "in cursive" around the third or fourth grade. In those olden dayes, we learned to "write" after we had learned to "print" with a pencil.

My writing instruments, in order: fountain pen, wood pencil (Eberhard Faber Mongol Number 1), and ballpoint.

However, I am fascinated by the history of the fountain pen, and I spent a year or two gathering and repairing pens from the '30s and '40s. When you have your hands on old third-tier pens -- used to be available cheap in batches of a half-dozen or so -- or Esties and Eversharp Skylines -- you feel your way back into the social history of word-production. Also a good way to feel changes in the design of everything from fountain pens to locomotives to the glass bricks used in houses. Sheaffer and Parker advertisements take me into life in war-time and just after.

[fountainpenkid]

To me, Christof's observation hits the question of the OP on the head. If we're to use the definition of "hobby" presented earlier--which hinges on "leisure time"-- then I would think any serious time spent on a forum like this one that is not somehow 'necessary' constitutes some foray into hobbyism. (Might your hobby actually be philosophizing about others' hobbies?!)

Though I'm not sure that picky materialism when it comes to fountain pens equates to a present interest in hobbyism: plenty of people are picky about their shoes, their clothes etc. without deriving enjoyment from appreciating these things outside of their function.
I've been like this myself with fountain pens recently. For the past month or two as I finished up undergrad, I more or less abandoned all forum-browsing and pen 'research.' But I still exclusively used fountain pens, and chose a variety of inks depending on my mood.

But here's the thing: I wouldn't have been able to make those picky-yet-functional decisions if I had not, in a past time, engaged with fountain pens as a hobby--putting unnecessary hours into exploring, buying, selling, tuning, scribbling, researching, writing etc. Today, the knowledge necessary to have 'taste' in fountain pens is absent in mainstream culture, so any development of that 'taste' must come from some degree of hobbyism, as it did with me. With other things that are presently very popular (e.g smartphones) the transference of taste comes naturally through the consumerist zeitgeist.

[pajaro]

This thread has helped me to realize that I began collecting pens as a child, because I liked different colored objects. Mostly ballpoints.

When I went in the US Air Force, I bought a Parker 51 set in midnight blue, like the one my father had been given. A few years passed, and I began to find Parker 51s at garage and yard sales. I saved all of them for a while. Later I discovered ebay and I began to sell some duplicate colors off. Later I discovered a pen forum and learned about many brands and wasted a goodly amount trying them out.

I am not sure where I am now. I still like Parker 51s. I have a few Montblanc 144s I like, a few Sheaffer Imperials I like, and a couple of dozen Sonnets, a couple of Lamy 2000s and a few smaller Pelikans, and other pens I consider junk, and rarely try again, only to be put off by some feature or other. I have a lot of junk. I like to use my first 51, the MB 144s and the Sheaffer Imperials. Perversely, I enjoy a couple of pristine Sheaffer school pens in translucent red and green that I have outfitted with the red tip Sheaffer squeeze converters with the PVC sacs. I have learned to repair the pens I have, and I have acquired some spare parts. I have come to find pen repair a tedious drudge work. I am not sure of where I am with this stuff. I think I collect them because I collect a lot of things but I rarely have the stamina to get rid of them if my interest flags. I suppose I have become a hoarder.

[ethernautrix]

I've long puzzled over this, too. Writing might be a hobby, but fountain pens? Collecting fountain pens is a hobby, but eventually realizing, "whoa, I have way more pens than *general bewilderment peppered with joy cos nice pens*" is different (in my opinion, than collecting.

I'm using "collecting" with a stricter definition than "accidental/unintentional amassing."

I acquired and used fountain pens mostly in solitude, never dreaming that others collected them, outside of that one article a friend shared with me (pre-Internet) featuring one man's vintage filigree Waterman collection. That felt like museum-level collecting (vintage, silver filigree, expensive). I had NO IDEA. Hahaha.

It was only in 2008 and tripping across FPN from a Google search that I felt I had found my people -- pen people, not collectors per se.

I, too, was a purt-near lifelong pen-and-office-supplies, em, aficionado until the trajectory brought me to this point of "no, not all the pens, just the ones I really 'always' use" plateau. I do still have a, let's say, an exaggerated interest in fountain pens, inks, papers (as compared to civilians) and so I watch or listen to YouTube chatter and podcasts, but... lately, listening (glancing at the screen now and again) to reviewers or enablers/collectors (in any sense of the word) talking about having to get this one and that one and waiting excitedly for more.... What's missing? Why more? When a pen person says he or she has found the perfect pen and... why does the search continue?

Hey, guilty as charged, yeah? I went through an fpn-inspired purchasing mania in search of The ONE pen. (Laughing.)

I've come to realize that I'm not going to be a ONE-PEN person, not even for one month, but it takes more to turn my head now than one or two factors (color, nib, size, and so on). And even if I turn my head... I've reached saturation and know from experience how ephemeral the excitement of the new thing is and how much more satisfying is the enduring enjoyment of what I have.

And I know it's a journey, a trajectory, a path (however winding or straight, depending on one's tolerance for spending and using and such).

This is where I am on the journey. Satisfied. Contented. Might be age-related, too -- with the influence of space restriction and other factors.

I will say this... I love pen people. I enjoy the pen shows and pen posses and sharing the joys of others' collections. I enjoy the conversations, even when off-topic. We are weirdly fun people.

(We can discuss the definition of "community" when the definition of "collection" wanes. *Smiley*)

[ethernautrix]

BTW, a nod to EoC for keeping this forum pumping with non-sales related threads. *Flowers emoji*

[pajaro]

I've long puzzled over this, too. Writing might be a hobby, but fountain pens? Collecting fountain pens is a hobby, but eventually realizing, "whoa, I have way more pens than *general bewilderment peppered with joy cos nice pens*" is different (in my opinion, than collecting.

I'm using "collecting" with a stricter definition than "accidental/unintentional amassing."

I acquired and used fountain pens mostly in solitude, never dreaming that others collected them, outside of that one article a friend shared with me (pre-Internet) featuring one man's vintage filigree Waterman collection. That felt like museum-level collecting (vintage, silver filigree, expensive). I had NO IDEA. Hahaha.

It was only in 2008 and tripping across FPN from a Google search that I felt I had found my people -- pen people, not collectors per se.

I, too, was a purt-near lifelong pen-and-office-supplies, em, aficionado until the trajectory brought me to this point of "no, not all the pens, just the ones I really 'always' use" plateau. I do still have a, let's say, an exaggerated interest in fountain pens, inks, papers (as compared to civilians) and so I watch or listen to YouTube chatter and podcasts, but... lately, listening (glancing at the screen now and again) to reviewers or enablers/collectors (in any sense of the word) talking about having to get this one and that one and waiting excitedly for more.... What's missing? Why more? When a pen person says he or she has found the perfect pen and... why does the search continue?

Hey, guilty as charged, yeah? I went through an fpn-inspired purchasing mania in search of The ONE pen. (Laughing.)

I've come to realize that I'm not going to be a ONE-PEN person, not even for one month, but it takes more to turn my head now than one or two factors (color, nib, size, and so on). And even if I turn my head... I've reached saturation and know from experience how ephemeral the excitement of the new thing is and how much more satisfying is the enduring enjoyment of what I have.

And I know it's a journey, a trajectory, a path (however winding or straight, depending on one's tolerance for spending and using and such).

This is where I am on the journey. Satisfied. Contented. Might be age-related, too -- with the influence of space restriction and other factors.

I will say this... I love pen people. I enjoy the pen shows and pen posses and sharing the joys of others' collections. I enjoy the conversations, even when off-topic. We are weirdly fun people.

(We can discuss the definition of "community" when the definition of "collection" wanes. *Smiley*)

Well said. I get this.

[Wuddus]

Perhaps you should get together with Wuddus, E-O-C. He doesn't care about fountain pens but posts about them a lot, too.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Nice one Deb

I don't care for the history, or tinkering with them either, nor with continued shopping. I really do enjoy using the three that I've settled on though, and I think it's that which keeps bringing me back here. My enjoyment of using them is not diminished by their cheap price, nor by having such a modest array.

To me, it's like using a favourite kitchen knife, and wishing you'd had one of these years ago. It doesn't have to be a hobby, nor do you have to keep spending money that you need to, in order to enjoy using that which brings you pleasure.

... and whenever I find the urge to share that enjoyment, I log in here. I figure you lot would get less tired of me saying I enjoy using a fountain pen, than people in real life would

[Deb]

I understand your point of view more than you might think. There's a duality in my interest in pens. One part of it is just taking pleasure in writing with whatever fountain pen suits my hand.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I took two letters to the Post Office today - which is now run by our University Book Store - and the clerk commented on my handwritten addresses to the extent that he thought I was a calligrapher! A long way from that I am, it is still nice to be complimented on a reasonable hand. In this conversation there was only mention of fountain pens used in general; no brand names. The interest was almost entirely in what was on the paper. I liked that.

[Wuddus]

I understand your point of view more than you might think. There's a duality in my interest in pens. One part of it is just taking pleasure in writing with whatever fountain pen suits my hand.

Yup, there a very simple equation as to what makes me happy with my fountain pens. A pen that suits my hand, inks that suit my pen, and paper that suits my ink. That's me content indefinitely, and all that's left to do is grin.

[Deb]

And, of course, there's the other side: repairing pens, understanding their design and how that fits in with the more general style of the times in which they were made, the histories of models, brands and the industry. I could go on all day...

[Wuddus]

And, of course, there's the other side: repairing pens, understanding their design and how that fits in with the more general style of the times in which they were made, the histories of models, brands and the industry. I could go on all day...

Indeed. None of that is of interest to me, but I wouldn't want to diminish anyone else's enjoyment of those things. However, not being interested in that stuff, shouldn't diminish my enjoyment either. There's many ways to enjoy fountain pens, and they're all valid, irrespective how expensive and complex, or cheap and simple they are.

[Morgaine]

Definitely more of a fountain pen user than collector. Same goes for stamps!

Was in the pub on Sunday writing a letter, to someone from this forum but I haven't posted it yet... when someone else in the pub mentioned how neat my handwriting was!

For me, a pen needs to write. The ink needs to be nice, and the paper needs to keep the words I write on it. However, I do like to use pretty papers, patterned papers, washi tapes, stickers....

I did take a semi-interest in postal history. There was a series on BBC Radio 4 a while back on the history of Royal Mail and the Post Office. Then, there's Simon Garfield's To The Letter (he also wrote, Just My Type) with some of the letters to Dear Bessie mentioned. Letters of Note (vol. I and II)... I downloaded some of the 19th century books on letter etiquette but found them a bit ... not quite sure what the words are... inferring "How dare you use lined paper for social correspondence" and was not impressed with the fad for violet ink (you must black....)

[Zou]

When I was growing up my hobby was writing, and I didn't really know or understand what a fountain pen was until well after I was done school and into my career. Having the disposable income for fountain pens, I decided to check them out as a way to get away from screens at work. Unfortunately, what I don't really have now is enough disposable time to write creatively. I journaled a few pages every day until this year, which is really meaningless disposable writing. And generally the writing done with a fountain pen has to be disposable, because of the dye based ink. As a tool, the fountain pen is horrifically impractical. It can't be knocked around, it's sensitive to changes in temperature, it can be very expensive, it is difficult to iterate with, it is difficult to perform searches on the resultant text, its paraphernalia take up a lot of space. Even when paying a lot of money from a reputable brand it can arrive writing poorly, the same model and size can be noticeably different in writing and drawing experience, which makes it unreliable to replace.

And yet, in wondering what this nib was like, or that nib was like, or wanting a spare of such a nib I liked, I acquired a dozen or so of these stupid things, and spent a lot of time watching videos about them and learning about them, and entered into the consumerism machine as I had never before. And in a lot of ways I don't like it, because I get no joy from looking at the pens I don't use or like as much as my favourites. They're all little plastic tubes to me, the ornamentation is gaudy and not really my taste.

Sometimes we just end up spending a lot of time and money on things that are very inefficient at bringing us joy, because we are trying to invest in an idealized image of how we will perfect our real hobby, like writing, once we find our perfect tool, and we find ourselves spending way more time investing in this meta concern rather than the actual concern.

I write software for a living with a programmable editor, so this is very familiar to me. I like creating things, but it's very easy for me to fall down a rabbit hole of trying to perfect my editor with all sorts of custom code and functions, either to make the experience of programming more pleasurable, or to make it more efficient, or both. I would say unless I create something very useful in a short amount of time, I usually end up feeling not that happy about the time I've spent programming my editor. And the same goes with the time spent on pens rather than writing. The first fountain pen was a huge win. The first gold nib I liked was a big win. The 12th? Not so much.

So I can see how you can spend a lot of time on fountain pens, thinking your hobby is writing, and not actually writing that much of value. Generally it's mentally less exhausting to spend time on meta-concerns, than on real work, chasing this fantasy that the real work will be so much easier once the tool is improved. I joined this forum because I was thinking about writing a post on this kind of topic, and how expensive it quickly becomes, and to meditate on what pitfalls lead to spending too much, but I wonder if anyone reading such a forum doesn't already know.

[silverlifter]

I agree with your conclusion, but not with one of your premises:

As a tool, the fountain pen is horrifically impractical. It can't be knocked around, it's sensitive to changes in temperature, it can be very expensive, it is difficult to iterate with, it is difficult to perform searches on the resultant text, its paraphernalia take up a lot of space.

I find them eminently practical. My Targa was knocked around for 20 years, and continues to write perfectly. I treated it appallingly and it never failed, burped, skipped or otherwise failed me. Iterating with a pen (drafting) is superior to a machine (unless everything is in version control), especially for those of us who enjoy the tactile nature of working with drafts. I care not for the lack of search and to claim that the accessories take up more space than the electronic crap that infests our homes and offices is simply not true.

Yak shaving and rabbit holeing are not particular to a tool or a medium, in this we are in complete agreement. But, for me, analogue tools are more effective, much cheaper, and far more satisfying to use, whether I am actually being productive or not.

[Deb]

Just looking at my desk: keyboard, monitor, speakers, mouse, USB hub and three pens. Which paraphernalia takes up more space?