Stationery While Traveling

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Packing for any trip is a challenge, and I love it. I especially love packing minimally, ideally with just a backpack, occasionally with a second carry-on bag. My May travels were a particular challenge, though, because my trip was going to include: airline travel, a family reunion, farm chores, bus travel, painting, lots of driving, some Ubers, big city rambles, public speaking at readings and panels, luncheons, private meetings with business professionals, an awards gala dinner and presentation, a film festival, a book signing, a private party at a very fine house, more driving, hiking in the mountains, dodging mountain lions and cacti, and napping. Also writing--lots of writing.

I wrote out my schedule for each day, important dates and times for picking people up from airports and confirmation numbers for shuttles and hotels. I wrote down notes from panels and quotes from speakers. I wrote out my own reading material. Made lists of more books to read. I recorded thoughts and feelings and passing poems. I worked on novels and story ideas.

I still managed to do it all with one backpack and one rolling carryon suitcase. But that's not the impressive part. The impressive part is that I did it all with one pen.

Okay, and five notebooks.

I know, I know. "Five notebooks does not sound minimal, Sarah." Here's my reasoning: a Kokuyo Field Sketch Book as my trip book--that's where the notes and lists and things went. The planning notebook for the book I'm editing (Graphilo), as I'd be meeting with the agent I'm revising it with. The novel I'm currently writing, because I knew I'd have writing time (Barnes & Noble leather journal), and the planning notebook for that novel (Field Notes Dime Novel). And my short story notebook (Nanami Seven Seas Writer) that contains my short works in progress. Several of these are small, so the story notebook, trip notebook, and both planning notebooks traveled in a Lochby Field Journal. The novel draft was solo. Now, did I use all of them? No. I did not actually get any work done on the new novel--the largest item I dragged around through several states. I did use the other four, though. And I SHOULD have made time to work on the novel.

As for the singular pen, it was my new addition--the Schon Dsgn Pocket Six fountain pen. I did bring other pens: a Pilot Vanishing Point, my Spoke Roady, and a ballpoint. But I never got those ones out. The Schon was almost always already in my hand and I used it happily for everything. It was durable enough to go in any pocket, and the very EF point could handle any paper. It's the ideal travel fountain pen.

I'll also note that despite all these travels, airplanes, and over 10,000 feet in elevation changes between my locations, I experienced zero pen leaks or burps with either fountain pen.

The trip was wonderful and successful. I saw family again, and my writing community, bonded with my horror fam, and celebrated with them. I communed with nature, breathed mountain air, and did not get eaten by any apex predators. My writing career nudged forward a bit and there are exciting things on the horizon! I also did nothing that could be defined as work or homework. Amazing.

Returning from such a trip is hard. As I write this, I have six tabs of homework open and a long list of chores and tasks in front of me, as I count down the hours till my day job shift starts. And I count down the days, weeks, and months till my next adventure.

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Posted on June 2, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Travel.

Luddite Liberator 4 Pocket Case Review

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

Pen cases (and bags in general) are one of the products that I have a lot of trouble keeping under control when it comes to my collection. I want them all because I can envision a unique purpose for each unique bag or case. The main problem is that there are so many different worthy designs and products out there — it's almost impossible to choose. That makes it so much more important to choose wisely to ensure my collection isn't needlessly large.

It's not very often that I come across any products that have any critical flaws or weaknesses, so that makes it even more astounding when it happens. At least in this case, it makes the decision of whether to add it to the case collection all that much easier.

What I'm leading up to is a specific pen case that I've tried using for the past couple of weeks. The Luddite Liberator Cordura 4 Pocket Pen Case looks interesting on the surface, uses some good quality materials, and hits a couple of trendy checkboxes that should interest many different customers. But be warned, dear reader, that this pen case has a critical flaw: it doesn't actually close when zipped up. The zipper works smoothly and flawlessly, but it's undercut by the two large gaps in between the zipper panel and the side panels of the case — one on each end of the case!

When I was first unpacking and inspecting the case, this design stood out to be almost immediately, but I shrugged it off thinking that it must do an adequate job of keeping objects inside the case — otherwise, how did it make it to the market? After loading it up with a few pens and trinkets, I did a quick test. I used both hands to smoothly rotate the case end over end to simulate being tossed in a bag. Three of the four pens fell out and onto the floor. One more rotation shot out the last pen as well.

At this point, I'm inspecting the case closer and trying to find a manufacturing problem — missing or broken stitches that might provide an answer for why it was so obviously ineffective at its one job. Nope — the fit and finish are fantastic and only show that this case is operating as designed.

And for that one simple reason, all I can do is dissuade any potential buyers from purchasing this case. I could talk about the main compartment and how it's divided by a nifty internal pocket sleeve, but that doesn't matter. The mesh zippered pocket on the front of the case is the only thing that works great. But there's no point in using the mesh pocket if you leave the main compartment empty. I could also talk about the Cordura fabric and overall build quality, but that doesn't matter either. Just for fun, I put as many pens as I could into the gap between the case walls and the zipper strip. I could easily fit three to four pens into the gap with plenty of wiggle room. What?!

In looking at Luddite's other Liberator case options, it seems that they definitely understand how to make a case that completely seals. This just further confuses me for why this 4 pocket case even exists, and that's the real problem I have with it: this is a product that shouldn't exist. There are so many good cases on the market that can fit almost every use case, and they all fulfill the most basic requirement: keep my stuff inside the case when I zip it closed.

The other case options look interesting, but this particular case design just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to this brand. There are so many excellent options out there that will serve you well. In my mind, Luddite has to offer a truly exceptional product to get me over this initial setback.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on June 1, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Luddite, Pen Case.

Tesori Venezia Fountain Pen Giveaway

Yesterday, I reviewed the Tesori Venezia Fountain Pen, and today, we give one away! I bought the pen in yesterday’s review for myself, and Jon Tello, the maker behind the Tesori brand, kindly donated a second one to give away to my amazing readers.

The giveaway pen is the beautiful Teal Blue Pebble model, with an added bonus. Not only does it have a great piece of Venetian glass on the top finial, I happened to pick out a sneaky model with a second piece inlaid in the end finial as well. Jon tells me this is done randomly throughout the product lineup as a bit of secret fun.