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Month: September 2018

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.

Review – Awakened

Posted in Book Blogger

Awakened

by Dot Caffrey

AwakenedSeries: The Power Trilogy, Book 1
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Sorcery
Release Date: August 31, 2018 (Re-release)
Pages: 326
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | KoboiBooks
My Rating: ★★★★★

Power and Prophecy!

Seventeen-year-old Regnaryn grew up in an idyllic land among mythical beings. She believes she is the last surviving human.

Her world begins to shatter when Evil invades her dreams, demanding she relinquish unknown powers foretold by her long-deceased mother. When Graeden, a young human male, arrives, he further disrupts her once-orderly life. Her emotions in chaos, Regnaryn flees the only home she’s ever known, only to be captured by the servants of Evil from her dreams. Now she must take a stand, confronting her late mother’s prophecy while also attempting to survive and protect those she loves.

The Story of Fate’s Kiss

Posted in Exalted Bloodlines

The history of Fate’s Kiss is much simpler than the history of The Most Special Chosen (Pt 1 | Pt 2). It was set in motion on February 21st when Sonya Jesus asked if I would be willing to join her and some of her author friends in writing for the Summer Heat anthology.

The goal was a novella-length story at around 20k words. I agreed to at least give it a try, and asked her to add me to the collaboration group. Once I joined, I found out it the story was due June 1st. In hindsight, I realize just how tight a deadline that is. But at the time, it didn’t seem too bad. Silly me.

I started out trying to write a contemporary romance story, but it didn’t go very well. After a couple of weeks, I realized that that story just wasn’t going to happen.

Fountain Pen 201: Selling Pens

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome back to Fountain Pen 201, and happy Fountain Pen Friday! I originally intended to end Fountain Pen 201 last week, but it occurred to me that I haven’t really said anything about selling pens. The result of that brain blast is this final Fountain Pen 201 issue.

At some point, a pen you bought early on in your fountain pen journey is likely to no longer suit your needs or new preferences. Depending on how much you spent on it, you may choose to give it to a pen newbie friend, donate it (might I suggest looking into Pay it Forward?), or sell it.

Selling a fountain pen is easier than you may think. Once you’ve priced your pen, there are multiple avenues available to sell it, some better than others.

The Most Special Chosen, Pt. 2

Posted in Exalted Bloodlines

Alright, here’s part two of the history of The Most Special Chosen (TMSC). This is another one of those posts I can’t explain why I haven’t written. But, finally, here is the story of how The Most Special Chosen got picked up by a publisher.

In 2016, Burning Willow Press (BWP) attended Paracon in Virginia Beach. Because it was only 4 (ish) hours away, we decided to attend. Jim wanted to meet the publishers in person. I was also interested in taking photos of Ferry Plantation because I’d only recently gotten my Canon Rebel T5.

We spent some time talking to Edd and Kindra and met another BWP author, Mark Reefe. After a bit, we went inside to take photos and get out of the heat. Unfortunately, my battery died after the second room.

So, once we finished going through the house, I took my camera back to the car. No sense in lugging around something basically useless.

The Most Special Chosen, Pt. 1

Posted in Exalted Bloodlines

This is, admittedly, more than a little overdue. This is one of those posts that I can’t really explain why I haven’t written. There’s no real reason, I just haven’t gotten to it.

A favorite question when talking to or interviewing authors is “how long did it take you to write your book?” Sometimes, it’s an easy answer. Other times, like with The Most Special Chosen (TMSC), it’s complicated.

I’d like to explain why it’s complicated, so today, you’re getting the history of TMSC. As I said before, it’s long overdue, but better late than never, right?

Fountain Pen 201: Secondhand and Vintage

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome back to Fountain Pen 201, and happy Fountain Pen Friday! In this issue, I’ll be discussing secondhand and vintage pens.

Secondhand and vintage pens are kind of like rectangles and squares. Almost without exception, vintage pens are secondhand, but certainly not all secondhand pens are vintage.

Because of this relationship, virtually everything you should know about buying secondhand pens applies to buying vintage pens. There are also some extra things to consider when buying vintage.

Stipula Etruria Prisma 88 Comparative Review

Posted in Fountain Pens

Last year I wrote about my Stipula Etruria Rainbow Prisma 88 and followed it up with an update. It’s one of my favorite pens, so when the Stipula Etruria Prisma 88 Magma was announced, I snapped one up.

Now that my Magma is back in action, I’m writing a comparative review of the two. I couldn’t find anything about the Rainbow when it first came out, and there doesn’t seem to be anything about the Magma, so hopefully, this will help anyone considering purchasing either of them.

Backstories

If you know the history behind these two pens in my collection, feel free to skip down to the main review.

Regalia Writing Labs Sequel Nib Review

Posted in Fountain Pens

Collage of close ups of the Sequel nib

I’ve wanted one of Regalia Writing Labs‘ Sequel Nibs ever since Ralph shared the first photo of one. Part of my interest was based on the uniqueness of the nib, and part was a desire to support Ralph in his continued nib tinkering and modification. I’m very interested to see where his efforts take him.

Unfortunately, he teased us all for a while before making the nibs available, and then, only at shows. They’re still (to the best of my knowledge) only available at shows or via Instagram flash sales.