{"id":11001,"date":"2023-08-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=11001"},"modified":"2024-01-15T13:04:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:04:17","slug":"2023-dc-pen-show-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2023-dc-pen-show-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 DC Pen Show, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Joy of Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve said in previous posts that the fountain pen community is amazing. The DC Pen Show was an excellent reminder of this. For both Jim and I, the focus \u2014 and highlight \u2014 of the show was socializing with pen friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been easy, for the past few years, to forget what a great community the pen world is. In general, members are welcoming and helpful. The experienced members tend to be generous in sharing their knowledge, and sometimes inks or even pens for testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I’ve heard several stories from the DC Show of pen newbies being directed to specific vendors to get problems fixed. I overheard some frank discussion about the pros and cons of certain pen models. I even had the distinct pleasure of helping a pen-curious friend find her first fountain pen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love being part of the kind, welcoming, helpful pen world. I’m happy that I landed in a community where the jerk-to-friendly ratio is so low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to all of my pen friends who made the DC Show this year so very special! Despite how many of us caught con crud, I hope you all had as much fun at the show as I did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

How is your local pen community? Is it equally friendly? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure to subscribe to my blog<\/a> or follow me on Instagram<\/a> so you don\u2019t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My final post about the 2023 DC Pen Show. Thank you to the pen community for being so special and making pen shows so great.<\/p>\n

Keep Reading2023 DC Pen Show, Part 3<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[392,83,81],"class_list":["post-11001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pen-shows","tag-2023-dc-pen-show","tag-dc-pen-show","tag-pen-show","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/dc-show-23-3-featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-2Rr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1774,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/fp201-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":11001,"position":0},"title":"Fountain Pen 201: Pen Shows","author":"Rachel","date":"July 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the inaugural issue of Fountain Pen 201. Read on to learn about fountain pen shows and check out the international list of shows I know about.","rel":"","context":"In "Pen Shows"","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":144,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2017-dc-pen-show-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":11001,"position":1},"title":"2017 DC Pen Show #1","author":"Rachel","date":"August 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend was the 2017 DC Pen Show. I\u2019ve been waiting to go since I learned about it in fall of last year. My fianc\u00e9, Jim, and I are moving soon, so we're busy doing all the pre-moving stuff chores and errands. That means we didn\u2019t have a full weekend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pen Shows"","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of my Bag of Holding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/bagOfHolding.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10909,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2023-dc-pen-show-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":11001,"position":2},"title":"2023 DC Pen Show, Part 1","author":"Rachel","date":"August 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My first of 3? posts about the 2023 DC Pen Show. I'm starting off with what I did and what I bought during the \"main\" show days.","rel":"","context":"In "Pen Shows"","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"handwriting analysis printout","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230807_205354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230807_205354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230807_205354.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230807_205354.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230807_205354.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15680,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2025-dc-pen-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":11001,"position":3},"title":"2025 DC Pen Show","author":"Rachel","date":"August 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to the pen show with good intentions. But, I completely blew my budget before noon on Friday. I have zero regrets.","rel":"","context":"In "Pen Shows"","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"screenshot of the pen show map showing the upstairs rooms","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-dc-upstairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-dc-upstairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-dc-upstairs.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-dc-upstairs.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8112,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2022-dc-pen-show-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":11001,"position":4},"title":"2022 DC Pen Show, Part 6","author":"Rachel","date":"August 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My final post about the 2022 DC Pen Show. 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