If a new pen release is “strictly limited” to 5000 units, is it even limited at all? Myke and I discuss the new LAMY 2000 Pine Green, look at swatches of the upcoming Pilot Iroshizuku inks, and sharpen a few pencils.
This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:
Ooni Pizza Ovens: Bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. Discount automatically applied at checkout.
Enigma Stationery: Shop online with code PENADDICT24 for a free gift and discounted shipping on orders of $50 or more.
(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 her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
Writers around the world are experiencing an upset to their November plans. The organization behind the annual National Novel Writing Month is imploding due to its own incompetence, and writers, like myself, who have participated for decades are leaving the community in droves.
The death of NaNoWriMo has been drawn-out, ugly, and depressing for a lot of longtime participants. Arguably, the trouble began, as so much trouble did, in 2020 with the Covid pandemic. That year, it was prohibited for groups to gather for NaNoWriMo sponsored events (for obvious reasons). Municipal Liaisons (who are in charge of regional events) were forbidden from hosting or planning any in-person activities. Which was good! That was a good rule. But a lot of them didn't listen. That led to a lot of liaisons getting fired and banned, resulting in the disassembly of a lot of local chapters. NaNo was in the right, there. But that might have been the last time.
In 2022, scandal broke when NaNoWriMo partnered with a scam artist vanity press called Inkitt, which preyed on ambitious young writers who didn't know they were being scammed. NaNo's endorsement of the company was called out, and eventually an apology was issued, but a lot of damage was done to the good faith people had in them. It was another huge hit to the platform's popularity.
And then 2023 dealt what should have been the final blow. The story broke that a moderator who was in charge of the Young Writers Program forums had been grooming, exploiting, and harassing the children participating in the program. And he hadn't just been doing this himself, but also allowing other internet predators access to those forums in order to groom victims. It's a terrifying, reprehensible thought. And what upset people the most was that this had apparently been happening--and had been reported--for YEARS. NaNoWriMo's initial response was that they knew nothing of these happenings, which fell apart pretty quickly when these very organized young people provided proof that they not only knew, but that the concerns had been repeatedly brushed aside. It was truly a pathetic lack of accountability--an exact demonstration of what not to do. What followed was a mass exodus of both participants and org staff. There didn't seem to be anything left of NaNoWriMo, and it seemed like that might be for the best.
But it's a new year, and as November draws closer, there seems to be room for one more scandal. This time, NaNoWriMo seems determined to finish the job by abandoning literally everything they stand for. The challenge that was based on putting in hours of hard work in order to embrace the creation process has decided to take the stance that it's cool if you just want to use AI bots, tho. Forget the work and discipline, which was the whole point. Forget the creativity, which was also the whole point. Just push a few buttons, and BAM, you'll have a fresh project ready to be exploited by a network of scam artists.
Anyway. This is the time of year when I usually post about what I'm planning to work on for NaNoWriMo. For obvious reasons, that's not happening this year. I was done after last year, seeing how they had ignored the very serious problems in the forums. Last year, they were monsters. This year they're just a joke. I'm actually too mad to be bummed about it.
I'll still be writing, as always. I'll still write with friends, and I'm still going on my annual writing retreat to the lake. We can still make goals and track our progress. But NaNoWriMo is over for good.
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(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Clairefontaine is a paper brand from France that you'll be hard-pressed to miss if you spend any time at all in the stationery community. Their paper products are top-notch and fairly priced, making them great entry points for trying out exceptional paper that handle all sorts of writing instruments with relative ease.
The Triomphe A5 notebook features the great 90gsm paper on the inside with a stark, classy white and gold-leaf cover. The notebook has 50 sheets of paper inside with zero additional front or end matter. The front inside cover is blank outside of a small logo that is just a shade or two different than the color of the cover, making it blend in. The back inside cover has some information about the brand and notebook specifications, but that's all. No organization blocks or admin folders in this notebook — just glorious, beautiful bright white paper.
The front cover of the notebook is really quite pretty. The Triomphe name is bold, debossed and inlayed with gold-leaf foil, along with a rectangle that outlines the outer edges of the cover. It definitely grabs your attention because it's bold and not something you see on notebooks often. There's also a smaller Clairefontaine logo on the front, but the color is faded so that it takes a distant back-seat to the gold-leaf design. The back cover has a single Clairefontaine logo, debossed and inlayed with gold-leaf foil, along with a standard name and barcode block, which is printed on the notebook directly. This isn't a sticker that you can peel off after you unwrap the notebook.
The notebook is thread-bound and feels great to open and close. I have no doubts that this binding will still be in good shape after spending the time with it to fill all 50 pages. The notebook doesn't like to lay open when it's new, but some gentle breaking-in solves that problem quickly. After using the first few pages, the notebook easily lays flat on its own.
The paper is Clairefontaine's standard fare — 90gsm acid-free bright white paper. The corners are rounded off on both the covers and the pages, making it less likely to get caught on things when taking it in or out of bags or pockets. The version of the notebook I have is a blank paper, which is somewhat rare for Clairefontaine. In most cases, Clairefontaine is only available in lined paper, with only a few blank or grid options in only some of their product lines. The blank paper is a nice change of pace, and I've taken to keeping a sheet of lined paper tucked into the notebook so I have a line guide when writing. Or, if I want to do something more free-form, I can put the guide away and just use the blank page as I see fit.
The paper in this notebook (and any Clairefontaine paper product) is so nice to use. It may not be the best or the favorite paper of everyone, but it's a good, solid option that handles many kinds of writing instruments without any hiccups. For fountain pens, rollerballs, gel pens, ballpoints, and pencils, it's a fantastic experience. The paper is silky smooth with just a small amount of feedback to make handling your writing instrument easier. The paper is also really consistent, meaning there aren't random spots where ink behaves differently. It's just a really good paper, and you should absolutely try some if you haven't had the pleasure.
Being 90gsm, it's a tiny bit thicker than comparable brands, but it doesn't feel any thicker in use. Inks don't show through easily, so using both sides of the sheet is easy unless you're using excessively wet or wide nibs that lay down ink like a wet mop.
Using Clairefontaine paper, and this particular notebook, is a great sensory experience, and it really makes your writing instruments shine. It offers an ideal environment for using the pens and pencils that are so special to us. And, at $12 for a notebook (or cheaper if they're on sale), it doesn't break the bank either.
My only complaint about this notebook applies to Clairefontaine in general: give us more options for the ruling! If Clairefontaine had blank, lined, graph, dot options for all of their most popular notebook lines, they'd be so much more popular. Since they mostly standardize on wide lined ruling, that instantly turns some people away, and that's a shame. I'm hoping some day they'll see the light and add more options to their lineup! Until then, I'll make due with what they already have since lined isn't that bad and blank is also fun to use from time to time.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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