Posts filed under General

The DC Pen Show Is Here!

The craziness that is the DC Pen Supershow is upon us, and if you want to follow the action here is where Jeff and myself will be posting throughout the show:

The Pen Addict Twitter

The Pen Addict Instagram

Nock Co. Twitter

Nock Co. Instagram

It seems like the primary hashtag for the show is #DCPenShow across all platforms, so follow along there as well. I'll hop on Periscope from time to time, and feel free to join the Pen Addict Slack Room and say hi in the pen show channel.

If you want to hunt me down in person, my schedule is as follows:

Thursday: Early afternoon hotel arrival, hotel bar in the evening. Friday: Wandering the show during the day, Pen Addict Meetup at 7pm in Seminar Room 1. Saturday and Sunday: Working the Vanness Pen table all day both days. Come say hi and buy some ink!

Posted on August 13, 2015 and filed under General.

The Unintended Circumstance of Life with Only 4 Pens

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

At the end of May, our house was entirely packed up and we were ready to start our journey from Huntsville, Alabama to Berkeley, California. 2,700 miles, 35 hours, and several days of driving, not including stops.

The journey across several vast states was a welcome experience. When you grow up and stay in a particular part of the country for very long, everything around you becomes normal. A massive shake up is good for everyone, and I was excited about the imminent displaced feelings and excitement for the unknown.

As it happened, I packed everything but the essentials. Our storage container was picked up about 5 days before we left home, so we were mostly camping inside our house for that week. Included in the storage container was my collection of pens, inks, paper, as well as all of my camera equipment. I don't remember consciously making the decision to pack all of that stuff in the container, but that's where it ended up when the big push came.

What's a pen addict to do when the collection is taken away, along with the ability to order new stuff to a soon-to-be expired address? Well, in my case: I get to use whatever my absent-minded self forgot to pack in the container. Really, it's like a pen/paper/ink lottery.

When I collected the items that managed to escape the storage container, I was pretty pleased with the resulting limitations. Here's a list of what I currently have with me as we stay in hotels and look for permanent residences in California:

Pens

Paper

Cases

Not a bad roster to be stuck with, right? Still, it's so much less than I'm used to having within arm's reach at my desk (oh man, I'd love to have my desk back too). I don't have any of my fancy pens, none of my inks or refills, and none of my more niche-purpose notebooks.

It's not ideal, but when I look around and realize what's happening, pens and paper don't really seem important. My wife and I are starting a new chapter in a different part of the country and trying to settle down and start a new life. The fancy pens and paper are doing just fine in their storage container (I hope). There's so much in life that's far more important than writing instruments and stationery.

But, I miss the hobby — the pastime. People aren't very interesting without their interests, and pens/writing was a big part of that for me. I also miss having my nice camera with me, but my iPhone takes decent pictures. It's been fun living with the limitation of just a handful of pens and paper that I must use. When you remove the labor of choosing, it's so much easier to sit down and write.

So, fellow pen addicts, I challenge you to pick out a small set of pens and paper for a month and restrict yourself from changing it up. Did one of the pens run out of ink? Oops. If you can't replace it at Target or Staples, then you're out of luck! It's a fun exercise and one that I hope brings focus back to the point of these fun tools — writing.

Posted on June 17, 2015 and filed under General.

Review Update: What's Next?

Every now and then I like to reach out and see what products you would like me to review that I haven't reviewed already. I have plenty of fountain pens and inks in the pipeline, but only a handful of standard pens, pencils, and accessories. Leave a comment below and let me know what old products I have missed or what new things I just haven't checked out yet.

While we are in update mode, I made a big push to update my Pen Friends list, so if you or anyone else needs to be included please don't hesitate to let me know.

And finally, I have a new post rolling out in the morning that I hope you enjoy and look forward to as a Saturday Ink Links replacement. I'm pretty excited about it!

Posted on October 3, 2014 and filed under General.