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Tag: People with Pens

People with Pens: Rachel de la Fuente

Posted in Fountain Pens

I’ve always been a fan of hand writing. I can type almost as fast as I can think, so there’s nothing to slow me down. Sometimes, that can be a good thing. But when I want to devote some thought to what I’m writing, I switch to hand writing so I have to slow down.

This is especially useful when I’m writing books and/or blog posts. Writing “stream of consciousness” isn’t typically great when you want what you’re writing to make sense. It’s much better, for me, to slow down some and make sure that what I’m writing is cohesive and coherent.

The biggest downside to hand-writing, though, is hand fatigue. Over the years, I’ve developed several different grips for holding my writing implement to increase the amount I can write in one go.

But the pressure and effort required to write with pencils and ballpoint pens increases hand fatigue. Fountain pens help alleviate that with the lack of pressure needed to write. Something about not needing to press down to write makes it easier to hold the pen in a looser grip, which also helps with hand fatigue.

Fountain pens, perhaps because of their design, or our association of nibs with older things, also tend to make people want to write nicer. They certainly did for me and many of my pen friends. But, despite my great love of fountain pens today, it’s a relatively recent hobby for me.

People With Pens: Cameron Yorke

Posted in Fountain Pens

Fountain Pens – My lifelong love affair

fountain pen

Fountain pens, to me, are the epitome of style and class. A page of written prose looks so much more elegant when written with a nib, no matter what width, style, type or colour.

My first experience goes back to the age of eight when I received my first fountain pen at primary school, with which, back then, it was compulsory to learn to write. My first attempts at mastering handwriting with a fountain pen were dismal to say the least, and I still have memories of huge ink blots all over my initial exercise book pages, of which no amount of blotting paper could clean up.

Being left-handed it was doubly difficult for me as my hand would rub across the page, following the written word, meaning I would invariably end the day with smudged words and an inky left palm. I very quickly learnt to angle my book, positioning my hand above my work so as to at least leave something legible at the end of the day.

People with Pens: Wendy Van Camp

Posted in Fountain Pens

Fountain Pens in the Creative Process

I love fountain pens.  Sometimes I think I’m the ambassador for using these pens in life.  I’ve introduced them to my friends, to my husband, and to many of the writers in my circle.  Making converts everywhere I go.  What is so great about them?  Well, for me, they not only make the writing I do easier, but they help me when planning my short stories and novels.

I discovered the fountain pen back in 2013.  At that time, fountain pens were not cool.  To use one invited stares and derisive comments.  The pens drew me because my cursive writing had fallen into disuse and was unreadable.  I took up journaling to counteract this, reasoning that if I wrote one entry a day in cursive, my penmanship would improve.  The more I wrote with the ballpoints, the more my hand cramped.   I googled about writing and learned that fountain pens need not press onto the page as you write. You hold them at an angle that is more comfortable for the hand.  You could write more words and for a longer time with a fountain pen than with a ballpoint.  I had to try it.

The inexpensive Chinese model I bought to find out if I would like writing with a fountain pen was easy to write with.  I loved the feel of the pen in my hand, the myriad of ink colors to choose from, and that I could select different nibs to change the way my words looked on the page.  I went from using a standard medium nib to a fine nib and to an italic nib, which is a smoother version of a calligraphy stub nib.  It was fun!  I became hooked on the pens as a hobby.