I commented earlier that my current job seems to require a lot more physical, actual pen on paper, writing. I’ve slowly, very slowly, adjusted to this. Last year, I bought a pretty Lamy ballpoint pen which I have to say has worked out rather well. Writing with a good pen does make a difference and has a much happier hand-feel.

Recently I bought a Lamy fountain pen as the ballpoint version in deep violet didn’t fit comfortably in my hand ie my desire for the right sort of fit and the right sort of colour meant that I’ve ended up migrating to the fountain pen world. I’ve taken to it like a duck to water and from the start it’s felt good…mostly. I have to be a little careful as writing feels a little like scratching the paper rather than flowing across it. However it dries quickly and otherwise feels nice, and forces me to take more care. I have a suspicion that longer term it will strongly encourage me to write with improved clarity. This is not a bad thing.

That’s the pen part sorted. The other part of this equation is finding the right sort of pad. Both Kate and Con have commented on their love of Midori pads., Indeed, I too love the look of them and suspect they otherwise would work well for me. However I have discovered that I don’t like the book style approach to pads. Come to think of it, I don’t like it for ereaders either and prefer flip over covers. So the Midori traveler approach of books held together with elastic growing ever larger doesn’t quite work for me. Alas.

For a while now, I’ve been buying cheap spiral based based notebooks from Officeworks as they’re about the right size and form that I like. The feel not so much. Thankfully, I have recently discovered that Moleskine make a notepad they call Reporter-Large. This is just about right though I suspect I’d like a slightly fancier version. The feel of the moleskine is lovely but I think I’d like something a little more leathery. It’s tightly ruled which means my writing is shrinking to fit the space yet remaining legible.

I suspect I can categorise this post under things I never expected to write. I’m a tech boy afterall, and a keyboard dedicated tech-boy at that. Oh well, perhaps that means I can still change my ways in new and interesting directions.