My ADHD brain in blog form.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.
Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉
When I got the email from Benu about the Forest Pond — and Midsummer Night — I immediately purchased it. I’d skipped the Petit Prince, and I really wanted one of Benu’s hand-painted pens.
Posted in Ink
On Wednesday (7/20/22), I finished my new ink notebook and shared a video on Instagram and Goulet Pen Co’s Facebook group, Goulet Nation. The Gouletians — I think that’s what they’ve decided we’re calling ourselves — were over the moon and had so many questions and comments, I decided to write up a quick blog post.
First of all, as I mentioned in my last ink catalog post, this format — I’m going to call it ink trading cards — isn’t my idea. Most pen stores use it at pen shows. I really enjoyed the versatility of ink trading cards — you can rearrange the swatches to add and remove colors as you buy new bottles or get rid of old ones.
As I mentioned previously, because I’ve read so many of Sydney Salier’s books, I’m grouping my reviews of their works. This post covers The Denton Connection series. Be aware, there are spoilers in some of these reviews. There is a note at the beginning of each review that contains spoilers, as well as an asterisk on the links below.
Posted in Personal
I found your interest in a post about my AD(H)D journey surprising. I included it as a possible topic in my request for help only because I’d recently experienced a lot of new symptoms. I never expected it to be in the top 5 most requested.
I’m going to shorten “ADD/ADHD” as AD(H)D. I’m not an expert on either “variation” of the condition, so I don’t want to imply that what I’ve dealt with or information I’ve found is specific to one or other. Also, some medical professionals are now using ADHD as an umbrella term to to cover hyperactive type (previously referred to as ADHD), inattentive type (previously referred to as ADD), and combined type (also referred to as ADHD).
I recently read through nearly the entirety of Sydney Salier’s oeuvre. Because I read so many books, and because I don’t want to dedicate my blog to just book reviews for the next couple of months, I’m going to group my reviews of Sydney Salier’s works. This post covers all of their “one-off” books. There will be separate posts for The Denton Connection series and the Unconventional Education diptych — or duology, depending on how you want to look at it. Be aware, there are spoilers in some of these reviews. There is a note at the beginning of each review that contains spoilers, as well as an asterisk on the links below.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.
Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉
Per usual with these posts, click on an image to view it larger.
Three weeks ago, Brian Weaver of Iron Feather Creative posted two videos on Instagram. They featured an absolutely glorious carved pen with a sakura theme. Brian had added carving and cold enamel to a pen he’d posted a few weeks earlier.
I think I messaged him within 15 minutes of posting. This beauty is my fourth Iron Feather Creative pen, and I highly doubt it will be my last.
Posted in Fountain Pens
So… remember earlier this year when I said, “I want to keep my pen purchases this year to 24 or less?” Well, that didn’t go so well. Here we are, only half way through the year, and I’ve already exceeded that limit by two.
I even tried to finagle the numbers in my favor. Rather than all pens, I first narrowed it down to purchased pens. Because, really, gifts don’t count. They aren’t purchases. And then I narrowed it down further to fountain pens. That cut out 7 pens, including the new Retro 51 Smithsonian Panda that just arrived today.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.
Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉
This will be a unique pen porn post. This material is nearly impossible to capture, but I’ve done my best. However, because capturing its full beauty proved illusive, I don’t have too many photos.
Posted in Fountain Pens
NOTE: These are new indie makers I’ve learned about since posting my Indie Pen Makers Update. All of these makers will be added to that main post, but I want to feature them, since the previous makers got their “turn.”
For the purposes of these posts, I’m putting the following limitations on the term “Indie Maker”:
Even with the addition of these new makers, that list will not be comprehensive, that’s virtually impossible. However, if you know of a maker who meets the qualifications above and is not included, please let me know. Also, if you know the location of a maker that doesn’t have one listed, let me know that, too.
Keep in mind, I have not purchased a pen from these makers, so consider this an informational list, not an endorsement.
Posted in Fountain Pens
NOTE: This is an unexpected post based on current events. Rather than postpone my scheduled post to next week, it will be up at noon today. Enjoy a double-post day!
Well, after nearly two months, there is an update to TWSBIgate.
A DC Pen Crew member shared a link to Narwhal’s most recent newsletter, sent out on 6/23/2022, which contained a joint statement from TWSBI and Narwhal. I’m not sharing the link, as I don’t know if it’s actually meant for public dissemination. However, I’m including the images and a transcription below.
Update 6/24/2022 at 7:30am: It appears TWSBI did, indeed, send out an email, specifically to retailers. I say appears as the “evidence” is an image from Reddit, which I’m including below as well, rather than a link to the email sent out, as was provided for Narwhal.
Posted in News
It’s been several years since I last updated my blog design. It’s time I fix that.
Unlike my previous site update, however, I’ve decided to work with a pre-built theme. It should save me time with this update and make future updates easier.
The downside to choosing that course, however, is that I can’t stage everything and then port it over without some extra hassle for me. Instead, I’ll be making incremental changes over the next month(ish).
So, I hope you’ll “pardon my dust” during “construction.” I’ll be working on changes to my website around my full-time job, creating blog posts, and having a life.
Posted in Book Blogger
by Amy D’Orazio
Genres: Regency, Romance, Pride and Prejudice Variation
Release Date: October 11, 2021
Pages: 382
Purchase from: Amazon
My Rating: ★★★★☆
☆☆☆☆☆ – Did not finish
★☆☆☆☆ – Hated it
★★☆☆☆ – Disliked it
★★★☆☆ – Okay
★★★★☆ – Liked it
★★★★★ – Loved it
Read the full explanation of my book rating system.
“If the thought of us being destined for one another is what caused you to laugh, then I shall laugh with you. Ours is more a story of mutual desperation than of love.”
MATRIMONY IS THE LAST THING on Elizabeth Bennet’s mind when she arrives at Netherfield Park to tend to her ill sister. When proud Mr Darcy acts rashly to thwart a compromise and tells her that the entire household believes they are engaged, she dismisses him outright and refuses his offer of marriage.
BUT MORE SURPRISES AWAIT her at Longbourn. Mr Collins is ready with an offer of marriage and it is not only her mother who thinks it a fine match; Mr Bennet is willing to press the point until Elizabeth makes clear such a connexion is impossible—because she has accepted an offer of marriage from Mr Darcy.
IT IS AN INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING, an engagement neither desires, driven to by the machinations of others. Yet what begins as a forced alliance soon changes into something quite different. Will it be enough to lead them into love?
Posted in Fountain Pens
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, as it was one of the posts you all voted on. But, better late than never, right?
It’s a little difficult to re-research a pen after I’ve identified it, mainly because I want to just type in what it is. But, I managed it. Today I’ll be walking you through the way I research pens, in this case, my vintage Sheaffer.
Posted in Personal
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since I started this blog. I originally considered writing some great retrospective with a side of holy crap, I kept this going for 5 freakin’ years!! But, then I found a tag to do instead. While I haven’t posted consistently for the full 5 years, I am pretty happy that I’ve stuck with it this long. Here’s to another 5!
This post is inspired by Angelica Nyqvist‘s video Well This Has Been Quite The Journey…. In that video, she credits Erica Conger and notyourbasicsteph with coming up with the idea.
Posted in Book Blogger
by Lucy Marin
Genres: Romance, Regency, Pride & Prejudice Variation
Release Date: April 18, 2022
Pages: 374
Purchase from: Amazon
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
☆☆☆☆☆ – Did not finish
★☆☆☆☆ – Hated it
★★☆☆☆ – Disliked it
★★★☆☆ – Okay
★★★★☆ – Liked it
★★★★★ – Loved it
Read the full explanation of my book rating system.
“You can sell Pemberley and settle as many debts as possible. Or you could marry a wealthy woman and use her fortune to restore it.”
Fitzwilliam Darcy, heir to a mountain of debt, a tarnished family name, and a crumbling estate finds himself confronted by an unthinkable choice. Knowing it is a last chance to save his birthright, he agrees to an arranged marriage with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, ward of her wealthy but vulgar uncle, Mr Gardiner. Despite entering into the marriage understanding what he is giving up, he soon finds himself resenting the actions of his forebears and the choices he feels he was forced to make.
Elizabeth Bennet knows that marrying a gentleman of high birth would allow her to reclaim the social status she lost when her father died. Having been approached by men falsely proclaiming their affection for her, she embraces the opportunity to set the terms of her marriage openly and honestly. After meeting Mr Darcy and his sister, Elizabeth is determined to give them the home and care they deserve. Believing she and Mr Darcy have a common understanding of what their union will be like, she has high hopes for a happy future.
A friendship between them soon promises to bloom into something more romantic but Darcy has unresolved issues in his past that will not remain hidden. Dismayed, Darcy at last confronts his errors…but is it too late for he and Elizabeth to find happiness together?
The Marriage Bargain is a forced or contracted marriage variation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and will be enjoyed by fans of Georgette Heyer’s A Civil Contract and other regency romances.
Posted in Fountain Pens
I’ve been on a major custom-ground nib kick for the past year or so. At the DC Pen Show, I picked up two cursive italic nibs from All in the Nib. Since then, I’ve picked up four more custom-ground nibs. In that intervening time, I’ve also had multiple discussions with people about nib grinds and the differences between them.
Those conversations taught me that many people aren’t aware of the differences in the way each grind writes. So, I decided to compare the different “common” nib grinds I have.
Posted in Fountain Pens
When Ben introduced his polycarbonate, laser-engraved pens, I knew I had to have one. While I adore the appearance of my metal Gravitas pen, there is just enough of the metal-on-metal scraping sound that, over time, I’ve decided to let it go. Now that I have the polycarbonate pen, I don’t feel as bad about that decision.
For the time being, the polycarbonate pens are only available in the “Member’s Area” — available to those who have already purchased from Gravitas Pens. Hopefully they will be available to everyone at some point in the future.
by Cherith Boardman
Genres: Pride and Prejudice, Regency, Romance
Release Date: November 1 & 15, 2021
Pages: 710 & 724
Purchase from: Amazon Volume 1 | Amazon Volume 2
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
☆☆☆☆☆ – Did not finish
★☆☆☆☆ – Hated it
★★☆☆☆ – Disliked it
★★★☆☆ – Okay
★★★★☆ – Liked it
★★★★★ – Loved it
Read the full explanation of my book rating system.
Total Want of Propriety, Volume 1: At the first light of dawn the morning after the dance at Netherfield, a carriage speeds north as Fitzwilliam Darcy flees the temptation wrought by Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s pert opinions and fine eyes. His heart yearns for the intelligent beauty, but he knows his duty to Pemberley, and his family, and cannot risk exposing his beloved sister to the total want of propriety evidenced by the rest of the Bennet family.
A month later – and now resolved to follow his heart – Darcy hastens towards Bath after Darcy learns of Elizabeth’s expulsion from her family for refusing to marry Longbourn’s heir, Mr Collins.
Soon confronted with the truth of his own family’s wanton lack of propriety – and Elizabeth’s dislike of him – Darcy must do all he can to protect his sister from her own folly, while hoping to earn Elizabeth’s forgiveness for his arrogant presumptions…
And ultimately win her heart.
Posted in Fountain Pens
I don’t remember where the idea for this post originally came from. I may have read something somewhere, it may have just popped into my head one day. I don’t know.
Regardless, in the way I discussed 10 pens in my Would I Buy Them Again Today? post, I chose 10 pens I’ve gotten rid of to discuss why they are no longer in my collection. I’m sure some of my answers will be expected, while others will likely be surprising to some. I hope you enjoy, and that my reasoning may help those who are trying to sell some of their own pens.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.
Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉
I first discovered the Shooting Star through an Instagram Post from Luxury Brands of America. While I’m supposed to be on a fountain pen low buy, I just had to get one. I’m planning to collect the Talisman series pens that have shaped confetti — like the Wild Rose — since I’m no longer buying TWSBI pens.
I honestly can’t say what I like best about the Shooting Star. To start, it has meteorite dust in the material. While I can’t “show” you that, it’s pretty cool.
